My string of bad luck continues. I went to the supermarket today and left something in the cart when I packed up the car…. When I drove back to the parking lot it was missing… It was a rather expensive item (\$10), so i’m kinda pissed at myself for forgetting it.

I did manage some reversal of fortune today… I traded in my busted GameCube and 6 old games (Tonk Hawk 3, Star Wars Rogue Leader & The Clone Wars, Luigi’s Mansion, Extreme G-3 Racing, Sonic Adventure Ass) in an attempt to get something for it that I could put towards a replacement GC in the future. I figured the machine only locked up periodically, so it would pass basic scrutiny. They gave me \$55 for the machine, and they told me that if I put down \$5 towards Madden 2004 or Soul Calibur 2 I would get a \$5 bonus on each game I was selling back. I sold back all six games, which after the \$25 bonus came to \$121. After the transaction was completed the girl behind the register asked me if it was defective or not. I said no, lying through my teeth, and asked “Why, do you buy back defective units?” and she replied “Yes”. I asked “and you pay the same either way?” and she nodded. All my subterfuge was irrelevant. :)

I have a \$121 credit now that I will use to buy a replacement GC. If I knew they bought back defective units I would have just gotten the replacement right there.

Yesterday I wanted to clean the common areas of the house since they were getting pretty untidy. I busted out the vacuum cleaner and started vacuuming the rug. I got just-about-finished with the rug and the vacuum cleaner shut itself off. There was a warning light on the back telling me that the motor overheated and there was a clog. I unplugged the thing and took it apart to unclog it, but the clog simply wasn’t coming out. After 45 minutes of struggle I got most of the clog out and figured I would try powering it up to see if the rest of it would get sucked out when turned on. I put everything back together and powered it up, and the belt burned out. So I threw the fucking vacuum cleaner down the trash chute with extreme predjudice. Rory said that me and the vacuum were now even. The crash that came up after the vacuum finished it’s 7 story journey down the chute was ever-so-satisfying.

Matt came by for a visit yesterday. We played some poker, and after a few hours of playing it was determined that some Soul Calibur 2 needed to be played. The problem was that the machine kept locking up. We did a bunch of diagnosis to determine that my GameCube is now fucked as well. And it’s out of warranty (of course, since I bought it they day they came out), so it would cost me \$75 to get it fixed, which is out of my 0-income budget.

The bullshit level slowly rises….

After everyone got home in the evening Tad stopped by for a visit. I had seen him at the wedding, but didn’t get to talk with him too much (as it was one big happy swirling mini-CSH reunion). Tad, Rory, Adam, and myself all went out for dinner, attempting to go to this Italian place downtown (Maggliano’s or some such), but they had a 1.5 hour wait, so we ended up at this Irish place across the street. I got Shepards Pie which was really good (although others in the party disagreed), and as an appetizer I got Curry and Chips, which was this delicious curry dipping sauce surrounded by french fries… I wish I would have gotten another order of them as my main course… they were *that* good.

Corinna had stopped by after work, I was going to drive her home with her suitcase, but between her leaving and arriving I learned about Tad’s visit. She still wasn’t feeling good, so she stayed behind during dinner. After dinner, us 4 boys continued our conversation, and Corinna milled about. I felt bad about her getting the short end of the stick… Eventually I broke off from conversation to actually drive Corinna home like I had originally planned… She seemed ok with the evening’s turn of events, but I wasn’t really. I hate reneging on plans.

After I got back from Corinna’s, Tad was still there, so we ended up talking about various topics. At some point we got on old computers, mostly the C=64. Tad and I exchanged stories about old commie days, and we eventually got on the topic of some of the old 64 games. Spindizzy was an awesome isometric version of Marble Madness, but much harder than it’s “cousin”. We downloaded Frodo (a C=64 emu) and the disk image and played it for awhile… The we putzed around the c64.com looking for other games of our youth.

I woke up feeling nauseous, but now feel like I am going to be sitting on the throne all day… I wonder if I ate something bad, or perhaps it was just too much curry for me last night..

I put my wedding pictures here. I didn’t have the patience to caption all of them, especially since many of them were duplicate shots of the same thing over and over…

Well, it wasn’t TECHNICALLY my first wedding, but it’s the first one I have been to since my childhood. I went to one when I was younger for a family friend (and former babysitter), but I barely remember it at all.

So Ben and Jen got married this weekend on Chebeague Island in Maine. Corinna and I left Cambridge around 5:20pm on Friday expecting an approximate two hour drive (already adjusted for traffic, but expecting it might take a bit longer). That was before we realized that there was not only a stinky fucking hippie concert a stone’s throw from the wedding, but also the Lobster Festival. Oh yeah, it was torrentially raining too (which might have been good if those dirty hippie fucks got out of their car…. Impromptu showering!)

We managed to get to the parking lot of the shuttle bus (to the ferry) around 9:20pm, and the final shuttle bus left at 10:15pm, so we didn’t have too much time to spare. We waited for the bus to arrive, and when it did, and the door opened, we got out of the car and gathered our two bags, our soft cooler, and the wedding present (which was huge and heavy). It’s still pouring, and so we get up to the door of the bus, and are greeted by the bus driver (who then became known as “Large Marge”). She started writing out our parking ticket, and Corinna asked “Can we step inside the bus so we don’t have to stand out in the rain while all our stuff gets wet?”. Marge answers: “You could, but I have to finish writing this out first, and these people are still waiting to get out!”. I think to myself first “Fuck them, it’s raining out here”. Secondly, I think “Why didn’t you let them off first before eclipsing the door with your fat ass?”. Corinna quickly says back to her “But they aren’t standing in the rain!”. Marge lumbers out of the way for the two passengers, and one of the passengers answers Corinna saying “Well, it sucks living on an island!”. Wait a second: There are no positive financial benefits to living on an island, the only reason to live on an island is the joy of living on an island. So how, exactly, does it suck living on an island? Stupid bitch…. Anyway, we finally get on the bus, which we got to sit on hearing Marge babble on incessantly… There were some other minor irritations on the bus, but none really worth getting in to..

We arrive at the island just shy of 11pm, check into our room, dump our stuff inside, and go to meet up with everyone who was there. Ben and Jen commandeered the entire building, so it was a pretty fun atmosphere… The Inn had a bar downstairs, so it was like a self-contained party! :) Spent the night catching up with old friends and meeting new people and drinking with said friends and people. I didn’t go to bed until 3am-ish, but Corinna went to bed before that. The rain stopped some time before I went to bed, so we were all holding out hope that the weather would be nice for the ceremony and reception on Saturday.

Woke up Saturday around 10am (I think), but Corinna woke up much earlier, in time for Breakfast downstairs… I missed it, so while she prepped and showered (and napped, probably), I went downstairs to see what was what was what. Adam had already arrived, so I talked to him for a minute. He was hungry too, so we walked to the island’s general store and got sandwiches. It was about an hour round trip, and when I got back Corinna had been looking for me. I guess i should have told her where I went. :P I had bought her Peanut M&M’s at the store though so she granted me a reprieve. :P

The wedding started at 2pm, and the ceremony was very beautiful…. Ben and Jen have been together for almost as long as I have known Ben… They are a really cute couple, and it was really neat to see them and their families so happy… The weather held out, although it wasn’t sunny it also didn’t rain (nor were the clouds ominous or anything). There were probably about 100 or so people there, only a handful of which I knew beforehand. I even danced on occasion with Corinna, how about them apples? I also danced like a retard to the Humpty Dance.

The DJ ended the night with “American Pie”, as a nod to all the CSHers there (bride and groom included)… The only semi-sad thing is that whenever we do the traditional CSH “American Pie” circle thingy, it reminds me of just after Marty killed himself and I get pretty sad…. I guess the whole tradition is somewhat tainted now, but I guess I have to think of us pulling together post-Marty as opposed to the sadness…

I’m probably going to be out of touch for a few days (unless a miracle occurs and there is T-Mobile service on an ISLAND off the coast of MAINE). Heading up to Chebeague Island for Trouble & Ben’s wedding. The wedding is tomorrow, but Corinna and I are heading up tonight to spend an extra night on the island (as well as removing any need for travel tomorrow). Should be a fun time, I get to see tons of people I rarely see, as well as getting to watch Trouble officially “settle down” (which means I lose the pool).

1. What time do you wake up on weekday mornings? When I had a job I would wake up around 9am. These days I wake up whenever I feel like it. I’d much rather be back on a schedule.
2. Do you sleep in on the weekends? How late? Sometimes as late as noon, depending on the days plans, etc. This is a pretty biased set of questions, though, because they don’t take into account how late I was up the night before. Last night I was up ’till 3am, and I woke up today at 10:30a.
3. Aside from waking up, what is the first thing you do in the morning? Usually check my email, then pee, then shower. You’d expect it was in the other order, but I am too clumsy directly after I wake up so I need to minimize risk.
4. How long does it take to get ready for your day? 20 minutes, tops.
5. When possible, what is your favorite place to go for breakfast? My favorite place was the Avenue Cafe, but it is no longer there. I guess my second favorite would be a NJ diner.

I woke up this morning around 8:30a with an intensly throbbing headache. It was the most intense headache I have ever had, and I hope they can’t get worse than that (for me). I got up, took some headache pills, laid back down, and mustered together another two hours of pretending to sleep while it went away. It never actually went away, it’s still slightly nagging me now, but at least I can function now.

Met up with Carlos, Mario, Adam, and Helen for lunch at the Royal India. Omar was supposed to join us as well, but he couldn’t make it. Omar is leaving for Princeton in the next few days, and Mario is just about leaving too. It’s weird that the crew is finally being split up, after job loss and strife was unable to do so…

Corinna came by after work and we grabbed some food and just chilled. She is napping right now, I think she is part hibernating bear.

I rolled back into Boston around 5pm on Saturday Night. I had a great time with the family in Seaside Heights, and the drive back wasn’t all that bad. I was pretty lazy Saturday Night, but I picked up Corinna and we just hung out and grabbed some simple dinner. Sunday I just wanted to blob around all day but Corinna talked me into taking her to ONE furniture store so she could buy a desk, etc. I obliged and also took her by her place after she placed her order. We then met up with the SNFC for “Seabiscuit”, which was really good. The turnout helped me feel good about the SNFC again… The turnout the past few weeks had started to make me get a bit down-and-out, but we had 7 people show which is good by my counts (for the summer, at least).

Today hasn’t been terribly interesting, but here are some pictures from the vacation.

1. If your life were a movie, what would the title be? I don’t want to be an asshole
2. What songs would be on the soundtrack?

• Faith No More - Everything’s Ruined
• Talking Heads - Heaven (Stop Making Sense version)
• Aphex Twin - Donkey Rhubarb
• Autechre - Second Bad Vilbel
• Black Flag - TV Party
• Dead Milkmen - Bitchin’ Camaro
• Dead Kennedys - California Uber Alles
• Skinny Puppy - Tin Omen
• Squarepusher - Come on my Selector
• Mr. Bungle - None of Them Knew They Were Robots
• Queen - Crazy Little Thing Called Love
• Nine Inch Nails - March of the Pigs
• Doubting Thomas - Father Don’t Cry
• Ramones - Rockaway Beach
• Other songs I am forgetting

1. Would it be a live-action film or animated? Why? Live-action, cuz I generally dislike animated films.
2. Casting: who would play you, members of your family, friends, etc? I would play the lead.
3. Describe the movie preview/trailer. It would show a drunk me, sitting in a closet at a party, drunk off his ass, crying, for 30 seconds. Fade to black. Title Card."