Huge-Ass

So I wander into BG early today to take care of some business. After reporting my debit card as missing/stolen (in fact, it went missing on me) at KeyBank, I made my way to Honda to schedule some routine work. I knew this was going to a big deal (30,000 miles maintenance, $400!), so I was hoping to get it done on a Friday or so, when I'd be less-busy with school. Well, they took it right away, and now I'm driving this huge-ass Honda Odyssey van, which is quite the contrast to my tiny Civic... but oh well...

DayQuil = Happiness

Well, well... what a week I have ahead of me.

A major program is due for me this Friday, I have a movie screening to attend tomorrow, I won't have a care all day Thursday, and Friday is my next chance to have a "Brandon day."

And to top it off, I've spent all day in bed today (save for two classes), feeling shitty as shitty can feel... hopefully I get better soon, I'm practically living off DayQuil right now...

A New Poem

Fighting Grace
by Brandon Bruno

A quick and sudden fall from grace
quickly put all my friends in place.
I have nothing to hide, nothing to lose,
friendships now are merely a muse.
My choices are now black and white,
to all my friends, you've lost the fight.

Wha...? Lostprophets Concert

Indeed.

So much for healthy hearing. After a rather quick drive up to Headliners around 6:30pm yesterday, we only waited in line a little bit before shuffling into the building and onto the floor. The opening acts, The Rasmus's and Kill Hannah were all and well, but it wasn't until Lostprophets came out that the entire floor went nuts, most of my group got crushed by a wall of stampeding people, and quite frankly... it was a blast, up until logic and reason took over and some of us moved to the back of the room. All in all it was an awesome show, although...

... I want my hearing back.

Dead?

I promise I'm not dead... merely, busy. School sucks as usual. Maybe I'll find the time for a big update soon.

As you can see, colder weather is coming. Lovely PJs I'm wearing.

Boo!

Vodka and rum and Mike's and Jack's and... Sunny D?

All in a wonderful night's work!!!! See Facebook for updates!

Second Life

Tonight, I've just discovered my new love...

She's somewhat slow, kind of chuggy, and weighs an amazing 23 megabytes.

Hello, my dearest Second Life.

Yes, I've been dabbling around with Second Life on and off for nearly a year now, but it was not until tonight that I've finally figured out that all the pieces are coming together. It was supposed to be another aimless night on SL. After logging on around 8:00pm, I set about stumbling around a few regions as usual, simply marveling at the sights. By 8:40 I was quite bored, so I did a search for something to do in the area. I stumbled upon events that were under the category "Live Music." I choose one entitled "Kevin Burdick" and teleported immediately, since the show was to start within 10 minutes.

After watching a fairly sizable crowd of two dozen or so people fill the area, an avatar took the stage, sat in front of his piano, and the next thing I knew, a live musical performance was being streamed to me, entirely through Second Life.

I'm amazed. The event was designed as a real concert - the venue was properly set up, complete with a photograph of the real Kevin Burdick, event sponsers had ads on display, and the event staff kept everything flowing smoothly. Kevin played an hour-long set, and it was beautiful. Afterwards I ventured to his website, here, and downloaded some of his music. I highly recommend it.

So what does this say? After my interest in music in a virtual world brought me to a live performance by a real person, I am now a fan. Does Second Life have the potential to be a real venue for independent and young artists? I believe so, and this weekend will be devoted to me tweaking my avatar (I'm designing clothes finally, via PhotoShop), aquiring Linden Dollars (Second Life currency, currently with an exchange rate of about L$1000 to US$3.92), and finally getting around to meeting new people in-world.

It's not a game, afterall... it's a way of life, and I look forward to growing in it. My name is Gannonite Poutine in the metaverse. Kevin's playing again this Sunday, so if you wish to go to the show wtih me, IM me in-world and... Let's go!

(PS - I created my first piece of original clothing below: check it out. Yes, it's an Alternate Control Computing t-shirt... and it only cost me US$0.38 to make... hurray!)

In the Corner

Why am I beginning to become isolated from my friends again?

Lonliness, nervousness?

What's happening to me? Hopefully it's just stress...

Oops

Well I failed miserably. I forgot to take pics at the festival today, so I have nothing to share :-(

But........

I'll try again tomorrow, as I might spend a few more hours checking the art out before it closes officially at 5:00pm. Between that and running to Meijer with Colleen and Co., I'll have another busy day to round out my (too fast) weekend.

The Days of Summer

Look at today's forecast: 77 degress, sunny, with a slight chance for evening thunderstorms. Despite the potential for rain, thus far it's been a beautiful Saturday afternoon, even moreso because I'm off work - and it's awesome!

It doesn't take a genious to know that summer is coming to a close real fast. These sunny, lazy days won't be around much longer, and I'm desperately waiting to go spend the rest of my day at the Black Swamp Arts Festival.

I'll try to take some pics and post online soon enough... stay tuned.

Out and About

Yesterday was quite an interesting day. In trying to keep myself busy away from my home (where it's all too easy to get distracted by video games), I stayed in town last night to exercise. What was supposed to be a simple half-hour workout sprint turned into a two-hour sweat-a-thon that I came away from feeling pretty good about.

After this I returned to Hayes 025 (Home 2.0) and chugged away on more (digital) homework. Afterwards I made a quick but wonderfully funny trip to Meijer with Colleen. After buying a total of fifteen-ish dollars on stickers, snacks, and Mike's (gotta have me alcohol!), we went to Taco Bell for a quick bite and then back to Rodgers to visit.

All in all, a good start to my attempt at avoiding home life as much as possible. In all honesty, the amount of work that I need to do outside of the classroom should be more than enough to keep me busy away from home.

Tomorrow: Black Swamp Arts Festival. Expect to see me there everyday, save Sunday (stupid Meijer).

Yuck

Here I am, in the thick of things.

One of my classes today was cut short, thanks to an instructor arriving very, very late. It was wonderful, although the hour and fifteen minutes that I gained went by far too quickly.

Now I have two programs to write, one due tomorrow, the other by the end of this week. It's stressful, especially since I'm so worried about other things in my life besides school.......

I guess I'll just have to do my best to grin and bear it...

Firefox That..........

Check out my sidebar -- notice the Get Firefox icon I added... if you're on IE right now, get downloading!

Anywho, I'm getting ready to dive back into another long week of school (even though it's only four days), but I get to end it with the Black Swamp Arts Festival this weekend... yay! Updates soon.

Coming Soon

Fall Bash 2006:

"Wii Are Ready"

Celebrate the coming of Wii on November 17th, 2006. All who game or wish for a good drink are invited. If you are puzzled by what "Wii" is exactly, you might not want to come to this party... unless you just want free alcohol and food :-) see you all there. Details soon.