Obligatory tree picture from the camping trip

You know what? I'm sick of not having an update. Thus, despite being extremely detrimental to my sleeping schedule, I'm going to burn the midnight oil and get this done.

Dobro Jutro
After my trips to the big city and the wilderness, I spent a day or two in Chattanooga before heading back to Auburn for school. This semester, I'm taking Control Systems, Intermediate French 1, Communications Systems, Analog Electronics, and Business Spanish 1. As you can see, I've pretty much exhausted my ability to avoid Electrical Engineering classes with Spanish classes. In fact, this will be my last Spanish class. Hopefully the French minor will provide a bit of balance. So far, the classes are going decently enough. I think a rather mediocre, straight-B semester might be in the cards. In fact, considering the classes, I'd be quite content with such a result. I was quite pumped to get a B on my first Analog Electronics test as the professor is renowned for his difficulty. It's a really good feeling to study 7 hours, feel like you've learned something, and make a decent grade.

In terms of being social in my classes, I haven't been particularly talkative with anyone in my Spanish classes. I've finally begun socializing with some fellow engineers though, so that helps to stave off the dullness. As for my French class, I've talked a bit with a foreign exchange student from Serbia. So yeah, I'm picking up basic Serbian phrases (which has similarities to Russian) while I'm being frustrated by the inane qualities of the French language.

"You gon' finish that cawnbred?"
As for work, I've become decently proficient at flipping the cornbread. I'm not to the level of flipping it over the rafters or doing special tricks yet, but I'm catching it with a success rate of around 90%. Several frustrations have begun to crop up though. First of all, people are confusing the heck out of me. I keep trying to surmise why they think that leaving less than 10% for good service after being demanding is sufficient. I guess they figure that if they're going to be inconsiderate on one level, they might as well do it on a second one. Seriously though, if there are any bad tippers in the crowd, what the heck are you thinking? I tip 15% across the board...maybe more if they've been exceptional. As the weeks have worn on, I can't fall back on "I'm new"... so the tips have gone down, but I've turned more tables, so I've done a bit better lately.

The second frustration is that I've gotten yelled at a number of times for innocent mistakes like not recognizing a table had been sat or not having my shirt tucked in thirty seconds after we opened. It's not as if I'm not trying. I've usually been busy being industrious elsewhere. Basically, most people at work are cool, but the owners can be frustrating.

My third frustration is that work interferes with my ability to go to the football games. I caught the first half of the first game. I'll be lucky to be able to go to another. I guess listening to the game on the radio at work (as we have no tv) is okay, but it'd be cool to watch our potentially great season.

Socializin'
Outside of work and school, the beginning of the semester has been met with some new friends. There are a few notables that have become frequent guests: Will (neighbor from theatre class), Sarah (through Robert and Shelley), and Alex and David (our next-door neighbors). Conspicuously absent recently: Cat (in Chile for the semester) and the ex-couple of Matt and Susan (who have been "busy").

Anyway, the relaxed routine of board games and hanging out is still in effect. Actually, I recently got a few new games. Namely, Scene It (Sequel Pack), Scene It TV, and Risk 2210. Free p-game at local restaurants has also been integrated into the schedule. We've had quite a bit of fun with all of those, though I've been on a pretty cold gaming streak. Before today, I'd lost two games of Risk, 4-5 games of Scene It, a game of Trivial Pursuit, a game of Wise & Otherwise, a game of Spades, and only won one hand out of eighty hands of p-game.

Thus, I was quite relieved today when I participated in a couple of ultimate frisbee wins (I've been playing more lately) and won a few hands of p-game. Most of you know that I'm competitive, but that I'm fairly patient when it comes to this stuff. The only time I get frustrated is when I get screwed out of doing decently or winning by cheap shots or unlucky rolls. That said, I think I dealt with it better than usual over the past couple of weeks. It's just not worth worrying about for the most part.

As for particularly eventful... events, the hurricane (Ivan) came through a couple of weeks ago and provided a nice little holiday. Amazingly, Auburn cancelled school for three days. This gave us occasion to have a sleepover one night, so that was fun. It also let me severely destroy my sleeping schedule. Unfortunately, it actually knocked out the power at our apartment for a day. Per usual, our block was the only one that was out in the area. I don't understand what the problem is, but our block has had a tendency to get knocked out almost every week or so. Most of the time it results in a flicker, but for a while, it would sometimes go out for minutes at a time. It gets to the point where I really don't feel like resetting the clocks. The night that our power was out, a lot of us went to go hang out at Kevin & D's place, so that was a nice change of pace. We even played a couple of rounds of Mafia for the first time in months. Afterwards, we headed back to the apartment and played some Risk 2210 by candelight. We actually just finished the second game last night after a two week interlude. Pretty amazing that the board stayed intact that whole time.

In the end, the hurricane actually didn't hit us very bad. It got pretty gusty and rainy for a while and there were threats of tornados, but it probably only really warranted a day or so off from school. Still, I was grateful for the early holiday.

Critic's Corner (aka Marchant Raves About TV/Movies)
As for my passive observation of "the entertainment"... as the kids call it... I can't believe that I neglected to mention "Kenny Vs. Spenny", a Canadian reality show that follows two best friends trying to beat each other in various competitions like "who can stay up the longest" or "who can gain the most weight". GSN was running reruns for a while, but they seem to have dropped it. If you get the chance to catch it, don't pass it up. In fact, you should go watch that pilot competition immediately if you haven't seen it.

In the movie world... for a while, I wasn't watching very many films, but I've been on a tear recently. After David W's recommendation, I rented "Wonder Boys" with Michael Douglas and Tobey Maguire. It has "brown" vibe - a strange characterization that I've made up. Basically, for a film to fit the criteria, it has to feature a prep or Ivy league school in the winter. Wood should be prominent and there should be some sort of inspiring teacher. "Dead Poets Society", "Good Will Hunting", "With Honors", and "The Emperor's Club" all have that feel, though I suppose "Wonder Boys" is a bit more wry than the others. If nothing else, it's a darkly funny film with depth to the characters.

From there, I finally got around to watching "Tarzan". Yes, the Disney movie. For some reason, I'd always avoided the movie, throwing it in with the post-"Aladdin" films. I didn't understand how they'd put together the story or pull a whole soundtrack from Phil Collins. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. While it's not on par with the Disney greats, the visuals were really quite great and the characters were certainly sympathetic.

Showing the wide variety of movies, I saw "Man On Fire" with Denzel Washington next. While violent, gritty, and lengthy, the story was engaging and the film never felt cliche or tedious. It makes me wonder if Washington will ever be in a bad movie.

In a similar vein of gritty, lengthy, and violent, I also rented the Brazilian film "City Of God". I don't watch too many foreign films, but this one looked interesting, and I'd heard good things. The director did an excellent job of weaving stories of a slum in Rio de Janeiro into a coherent, compelling, visually-stunning movie. The comedy and tragedy are balanced quite well. If I were to compare it to other films, I'd say that story-wise it's a blend of "Traffic" and a Guy Ritchie film, and visually, it's akin to something like "Fight Club".

For my birthday, I went to see "Sky Captain & The World Of Tomorrow", another piece of pretty film. I'd been pumped to see the movie ever since I saw previews early this year. An homage to 1930's pulp sci-fi, it lived up to my expectations. My sister and mom didn't particularly like it, but I liked getting lost in the fantasy world that it created. Granted, Gwyneth Paltrow's lines were awfully insipid (perhaps they were meant to be), but I don't think it detracted from the film too much.

A week or so later, David W came in town for a brief visit. While he was here, we managed to catch an "older", overlooked film called "Beautiful Girls". Don't let the title fool you, it's actually a pretty good movie with a surprisingly star-studded cast. It's one of those movies like "Swingers" with quotable, "philosophical" lines.

"A beautiful girl can make you dizzy, like you've been drinking Jack and Coke all morning. She can make you feel high full of the single greatest commodity known to man - promise. Promise of a better day. Promise of a greater hope. Promise of a new tomorrow. This particular aura can be found in the gait of a beautiful girl. In her smile, in her soul, the way she makes every rotten little thing about life seem like it's going to be okay."