Michael
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Homepage: http://www.twilightreverie.com/
Posts by Michael
So…
Aug 21st
So… I’ve realized that I’m not doing nearly as much with all this blogging/website stuff as I could. I enjoy it, I really do. Maybe it’s just the knowledge that, given the thousands of blogs on the internet today, who’s reading mine? Anyone, no one, just my mom? (well, that’s not true, I don’t even think my mom knows how to get here…). Anyway, it would be nice if someone out there would let me know that their reading (and perhaps enjoying…?) something on the blog/site. I know I’m sounding pathetic by asking this question, but what’s the point of writing for a silent audience.
Anyway, enough with the useless shit! Yes, that is it for my whiny ramblings… not onto the non-whiny ramblings and thoughts!
I start school in two days, and now that I’m finally this close,
and certain that I’m returning, I don’t feel like I thought I would. When I first started college back in 2005 (before my “little hiatus”), I was excited beyond belief to be crossing the threshold of useless education (grade school) and entering the realm of higher education. Those first two years held up to all my expectations. This time around… I don’t know. I seem to be lacking the expectations of my last foray into college, and I’m not sure why. It could be that, even after three years of searching, I still have yet to find the career path that could truly fill my life without causing the excruciating tedium and boredom of work. Yeah, I think I’ll go with that reason…
Well, I have come to realize that there is one fundamental difference: I’ve changed since the last time I entered the hallowed halls of higher education. I’ve moved out of my parent’s house, worked a real job (god did that suck), and been fucked by the government. I mean, what else is there? There are also a couple walls that will most likely separate me from my peers: I’m going to be balancing a job with a long commute with school, I’m going to be commuting to the college itself, and I’m a good two to three years older than most of my peers will be… Oh well, it will be what it will be…
Speaking of work, I’m now working solely for Executive Protective Services as a Security Agent. It’s good: easy work, good pay, and soon I’ll get to carry a gun. I say soon because I haven’t gone through the Act 235 course (lethal weapon training) yet. I’m starting that next weekend, and I’m looking forward to it. Hell, two weekends with nothing but guns, sounds like fun to me. In about a month or two I’m going to be working (hopefully) for the Jewish History Museum in Philadelphia. Should be a nice gig, especially wince I’ll be able to work on school stuff while I’m there. Still no idea what hours I’ll be working, or what pay rate I’ll be getting, but hey, it’s nice to know that there’s work around the bend.
That covers all the stuff that, well, matters. Onto the fun stuff!
Let’s see, for fun I’ve been playing a lot of Call of Duty (shooting digital things), going to a shooting range and firing off a box or two of ammo with my new S&W40VE (shooting actual bullets, hehe), and in the rest of my time I’ve been relaxing with my pipe, a beer, and a book. It’s been wonderful having so much time to just relax, but I know it won’t last too much longer. Soon I will be going crazy with the amount of schoolwork and actual work that I’m going to be doing, but at least I know it’s all leading somewhere.
Where’s it all leading? Hopefully somewhere around San Fransisco. That’s right, this Texas born, PA raised kid is moving to California as soon as possible (assuming I can find a good job there). Why, you ask? Because the weather there is gorgeous year-round, and the weather here sucks a donkey’s right nut three-quarters of the year. Yeah, I’m looking at you summer heat, and you winter snows. Mid spring and fall I’ll let off the hook, they’re all right. But I digress. California. If all goes perfectly (which, I’ve found, it never does), I’ll get a job with Google (holy shit that would rock!) or Microsoft (still good, but not as mind-bogglingly awesome as Google).
Well, enough of my useless ramblings and updates for the evening. If anyone has any ideas for topics that they think would be interesting for me to tackle, let me know and I’ll work it in. Even if it’s just a single topic that you want my opinion on, or a random diatribe that you would want to read, let me know in the comments section (I guess you could e-mail them to me as well – michael@twilightreverie.com – but comments are more fun).
Thanks for reading, and thanks for visiting the Twilight Reverie!
The Script – “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved”
May 19th
Ok, so this song really struck me, especially the hopeless romantic in me. The song is about a man who has lost the love of his life and decides to spend his days sitting on the street corner where he had first met her. That’s it, but it’s enough to be an absolutely beautiful concept for a song, and the music and vocals just add to the very mellow, very hopeless romanticism that the song encompasses. Listen to it, it’s beautiful…
“The Man Who Can’t Be Moved”
Going Back to the corner where I first saw you
Gonna camp in my sleeping bag I’m not gonna move
Got some words on cardboard, got your picture in my hand
saying, “if you see this girl can you tell her where I am”
Some try to hand me money, they don’t understand
I’m not broke I’m just a broken hearted man
I know it makes no sense but what else can I do
How can I move on when I’m still in love with you
Cause If one day you wake up and find your missing me
and your heart starts to wonder where on this earth I could be
Thinking maybe you’ll come back here to the place that we’d meet
And you’ll see me waiting for you on our corner of the street
So I’m not moving, I’m not moving
Policeman says, “son you can’t stay here”
I said, “there’s someone I’m waiting for If it’s a day, a month, a year”
Gotta stand my ground even if it rains or snows
If she changes her mind this is the first place she will go
Cause If one day you wake up and find your missing me
and your heart starts to wonder where on this earth I could be
Thinkin maybe you’ll come back here to the place that we’d meet
And you’ll see me waiting for you on our corner of the street
So I’m not moving, I’m not moving,
I’m not moving, I’m not moving
People talk about the guy that’s waiting on a girl
There are no holes in his shoes but a big hole in his world
Maybe i’ll get famous as the man who can’t be moved
Maybe you wont mean to but you’ll see me on the news
And you’ll come running to the corner
cause you’ll know it’s just for you
Im the man who can’t be moved
Chorus 2x
Going Back to the corner where I first saw you
Gonna camp in my sleeping bag I’m not gonna move
Looking up…
Apr 17th
Things are finally starting to look up a bit for me. Here’s the run-down:
Work. Ever since getting screwed by the Air Force I’ve been working on finding a job, and the hunt has not been going too well. Thankfully my friend John was able to help me out in the meantime by getting me some extra shifts with the security group, which has been enough to keep me afloat in the meantime. Now, I’ve got a second interview on Sunday at Wawa, which would be a perfect job for me at the moment, for a number of reasons. First off, the obvious: extra money. Also, the shifts are flexible enough that I’ll be able to continue working a few shifts at EPS (the security group), and I’ll still have time left over for the next topic…
School! I’m finally going to be heading back to school in the fall. I’ve already registered for the fall semester at Penn State Berks. I’ll be going for their Information, Science, and Technology degree. I’ve already spoken to Dr. Feinstein (my honors advisor from my first two years at PSBerks) and will be resuming my enrollment in the Honors Club. My first semester I will be taking two IST courses (the basic pre-requisite course and a media on the internet course), Elementary Chinese, Statistics 200, and Intro to Physics. Should be a fun, educational, and interesting semester. It will also be the semester that I really begin to move on with my life, since I will be…
Moving! Assuming that I get the job at Wawa (which is honestly looking good), I will be moving in with my friend Phil, and it will be legen… wait for it… DARY! He could use the extra cash, I could use a place to live other than my parent’s place (yeah, it’s great, but it’s my parent’s house and I’m going to be 23 this year), and… well… it will just be awesome. So, if all goes well, I’ll be moving in sometime next month.
Well, that’s pretty much everything. The only other thing right now is that I started working on a new novel that is as of yet unnamed. It’s a crime novel, and I have it all planned out, which honestly means it will most likely fail horribly… But hell, it has to be better than “The Dance” which hasn’t really come together at all, even through all the editing, which sucks since it’s my first major work. Maybe I’ll go back to it in a few years, but for now I’m just going to stick it in the closet and forget about it. I’ll start working on the new novel, hopefully it will go well.
So, that’s pretty much it for me. Hopefully things keep going up, and I’ll put out another update as soon as there’s any news.
Final Fantasy XIII
Mar 14th
I picked up Final Fantasy XIII at midnight on Monday, March 8, and now, after 50 hours of wonderful gameplay, I am watching the credits role. I figured that I would throw my thoughts on the game here while their fresh in my mind.
First off, this game is beautiful. There has been no other game that even comes close to this level of graphical detail, and the long wait for the game was definetley worth it. As I said, I spent 50 hours on the game, and that was just the main story, I have yet to touch the side quests (I’m going to work on that next). From everything that I’ve read, the side quests make up an additional 60+ hours of gameplay, and they are supposed to be just as interesting, albeit without the rich storyline of the main game.
Speaking of the storyline, lets go there for a moment. Most games today have simple stories with very few players, but FFXIII shines here, and more than lives up to the title of Final Fantasy. The crystals are there, which any long-time fan of the series will tell you is endearing, as not every entry into the series has used this major theme. The characters are well developed, but at no time does the story feel like it drags on. There’s no 30 minute cut-scenes like some games (::cough:: MGS4 ::cough::), and the times when there are cut-scenes, you don’t care because they are breathtaking. They equal if not exceed the quality of CG movies today.
The gameplay: The game plays like a dream. The battle system is insanely intricate and complex by the end of the game, but yet it comes easily to the player. SquareEnix did a wonderful job in designing the game just by never forcing the player to feel like a stumbling fool. The paradigm system is intuitive, allowing the player to easily shift between attacking, healing, buffing, and just about any other combination of abilities. The actual paradigm classes themselves work much the same way that job classes worked in some of the past games. Healers heal, Sentinels take the brunt of the damage, Ravagers are magic users, Commandos are physical attackers, Synnergists give helpful buffs to the party, Saboteurs give harmful buffs to the enemies…
Now, as I said, I haven’t really touched the side quests at all, but I’m sure I’ll post something else when I finish that. It could be a while though, I’m going for the platinum trophy on this game, and that could require a couple hundred hours of gameplay, lol. At least it is not time wasted on a shitty game.
So, until next time.
Final Fantasy XIII – Almost Here!!!
Feb 22nd
The game that I have been waiting for what seems like forever (five years) for, is finally almost here. For those of you who aren’t in touch with the wonderful world of gaming, Final Fantasy XIII, possibly the most anticipated video game of all time, is just around the corner. In just over two weeks we will finally arrive at March 9, 2010, and I will finally be able to play this wonderful game. I guess there is a good side to getting disqualified from the Air Force after all!
Anyway, with the game getting so close, I figured that I would share some of the beauty of this game with all of you. I have altered the wallpapers available on SquarEnix’s offical FFXIII website so that they will fit widescreen (why they didn’t have them formatted that way by default, I have no idea). Those are the images that you’ll find below. I’m also going to include a trailer for the game, if only because it is so damned pretty!!!
So, without further ado, here you go.
Air Force…
Feb 14th
So, 
I’m giving up on the idea of going into the Air Force. It turns out that to get a tattoo as large as mine removed, it would cost about $500 a session, needing 12-18 sessions, and spanning 1.5-2 years. There’s no way I’m waiting that long to get on with my life, not when I was so close to doing so already.
I’m planning on going and talking to a Navy recruiter sometime this upcoming week in the hopes that their tattoo requirements aren’t quite as anal retentive as the Air Force’s. If I can get in I can still try for a job with computers, and I’ll be able to get my degree as well. I’m looking more towards a four year career instead of a full twenty now, but that will all depend on how I feel about the military when re-enlistment time comes around, always assuming that I can get in to start with, lol.
If the Navy falls through for me, I guess I’ll have to start looking for a school to go to so that I can get my bachelor’s degree, probably in computers. Either that or I’ll be stuck working dead end jobs like the one I just got out of, and I sure as hell don’t want to be doing that. I’m kind of hoping that something works out for me and I can get in with Google, that seems to me the perfect place to work…
Oh well, I guess there really isn’t much that I can do right now except wait. I’ve got a few applications out for a part time job to hold me over until I figure out something more permanent. Other than that I’m basically just killing time…
Air Force…
Feb 11th
So, as everyone knows, I was supposed to be leaving for the Air force on Monday, February 15th. Well, that has fallen through. I have been disqualified due to my tattoo. The Air Force has passed new regulations, and the tattoo on my left calf does not qualify under these new regulations. So, now I must work on getting the tattoo removed.
I’m going tomorrow for a consult and possibly my first treatment for the tattoo removal. If all goes well, I should be leaving for the Air Force sometime later this year…
I’ll update again soon.
Snow… lots of snow…
Feb 10th
Well, snow sucks, but at least I had some fun today! Check the pics below… Hey Mommom, bet you can’t do this in Florida!
Safetysuit – “Stay”
Jan 31st
Safetysuit is one of my favorite bands, and has been ever since I first say them two years ago when they opened for 3 Doors Down. They’re music on this album ranges from beautiful ballads to pure rock songs. Every single song is amazing, and they are all fun to sing along to. I’ve already posted one of their songs (“Anywhere But Here”), and this time I’m going with their most recent single, and it comes along with a pretty bad ass video, lol.
Anyway, about the song. It’s entitled “Stay”. The song itself is about giving your all in a relationship. There are a lot of great lines, but my favorite it easily “And I’ll be here in the morning, if you say stay…”. Just absolutely beautiful.
The video takes a slightly different approach to the song, lol. In the video the band’s lead singer is an undercover cop, and he begins to fall in love with the woman that he’s supposed to be tailing. He eventually bears all to her and admits to what he is, and then allows her to beat the living shit out of him and run off so that she can remain free. It definitely fits with the song if you really listen, and it’s a very well done video.
Enjoy!
Stay
Walking out the door this morning
Wondering what it is that’s going on with you, on with you
Thinking of a way to say
I’m sorry for something that I’m not sure I do, sure I do
So come on baby let me in
And show me what this really is cuz
Something must’ve made you say that
What did I do to make you say
That to me?
Something must’ve made you so mad
What can I do
To make you say
And come back to me?
Hoping for a moment
That I turn around and you’ll be coming
After me, after me
Cuz all I can say
It that it’s obvious
It’s obvious you’re all I see
So come on baby let me in
And show me what this really is about
Cuz I can’t read you
Come on baby let me in
And show me what this really is cause
So come on baby let me in
And show me what this really is cuz
Something must’ve made you say that
What did I do to make you say
That to me?
Something must’ve made you so mad
What can I do
To make you say
And come back to me?
And I’ll be here in the morning if you say stay
If you say stay to me
(3x)
So come on baby let me in
And show me what this really is cuz
Something must’ve made you say that
What did I do to make you say
That to me?
Something must’ve made you so mad
What can I do
To make you say
And come back to me?
Update… finally!!!
Jan 6th
Hey everyone! I just realized today that I haven’t written any updates since August, and that is a very long time. I appologize for the long delay.
Anyway, onto the updates and everything else.
It’s a new year, and this year I finally get my fresh start. On February 16th I will be leaving PA and heading off to basic training for the US Air Force. Once I’ve finished with basic training I’ll be heading off to tech school, where I’ll get training in Network Engineering, which will become career within the Air Force for my first four years. I still do not know where my permanent station will be, but that is really one of the most exciting things about this entire experience.
There really isn’t much more going on in my life at the moment. I work (only 54 hours of work left, thankfully), I go to the gym, I play video games, rinse and repeat. I could go on, but it would quickly start to sound as though I’m looking for sympathy or feeling sorry for myself, and that’s the last thing that I want to do. I’m happy with my life for the moment, if only because I know that something meaningful is laying just around the bend for me.
And now, rather than spiraling into useless rambles about meaningless shit, I bid you a farewell (only for now), and will see you again the next time that I have something worth writing about.