Elph Tales

I've been saving up money for a while now so that I could buy myself a piece of electronics that I felt I really needed. The top two items on the list were a new TV (because mine is absurdly small and incredibly old) and a digital camera (because whenever I go somewhere I tend to wish I had one). After careful consideration I decided that the size of my room here at Sinai doesn't justify my getting a new TV. So, I went with the digital camera. I decided to follow the lead of my friend Steve W. and get one of the Canon Elphs. I got me one of the 5.0 megapixel beasts and I absolutely love it. Sure there are fancier ones out there, but I like how slim it is (it easily fits into a pocket). At any rate, how this affects you is that I'll now be able to post my very own pictures to my blog! I know...try and contain yourselves.

Meme It

It seems all the world wants to know more about Single H. It was only a matter or time...

Ten years ago, 1995-08-24:
This puts me in the first week of orientation at Vasssar College. My orientation group and I were sitting in a circle playing a game. Our leader passed around a box of Frootloops and told us each to take as many as we wanted. Never having been allowed to each "junk" as a kid I jumped at the chance. It was only after I took nearly 1/4 of the box that I realized the game required us to tell everyone a fact about ourselves for each Frootloop we took. Ugh.

Five years ago, 2000-08-24:
Sophomore year in college at Vassar. I had survived the hardest academic year of my life and was living in a suite with my good friend Mike and someone we only just met because we were all at the bottom of the room draw. I seem to remember a certain CCG from a galaxy far far away being new...

One year ago, 2004-08-24:
In between my second and third year as a Ph.D. student at Mt. Sinai and recently returned from GenCon as well where I had a great time working for Decipher and hanging with my friends. This time point is memorable because it holds the story of how I was up so late one night that I literally fell asleep in my soup at the Steak 'n Shake.

Yesterday, 2005-08-23:
Still catching up on labwork from being away at GenCon. I finished up most of the template for my first of two poster presentations at the ASBMR meeting that looms on the horizon. I then left work early to head to Neutral Ground and play Versus in their league, but didn't realize that the format was Golden Age, so I got crushed, dropped out, bought 6 boxes of Avengers with my store credit and opened them all in front of the wannabe Damn Sexys in the store.

Tomorrow, 2005-08-25:
My friend Mike is already here and my good friend Austin will be arriving. I have to head to lab early in the morning to make sure I get my work done before I meet him at the train station and the partying begins!

Five snacks I enjoy:
Pickles, Combos, Watermelon chunks, Chips & Salsa, Frozen Yogurt.

Five bands that I know most of their lyrics:
Bands, not individual singers? Ugh. Backstreet Boys, Barenakend Ladies, Aqua, SoulDecision, S Club 7.

Five things I'd do with a million dollars:
Give a large sum to my parents, though it will never be able to repay them for all they have given me, buy an apartment in Chelsea, invest some, donate some to the schools and teachers that have mentored me, buy a really awesome gift for each of my close friends.

Five places I'd run away to:
Iceland, Canada, Las Vegas, England, Australia.

Five bad habits I have:
Biting my nails, blaming myself for things that aren't my fault, worrying what other people think of me, taking on too much work, getting impatient when things don't go my way.

Five things I like doing:
Playing C/TCGs, watching movies, playing soccer, hanging with my friends and family, eating.

Five things I wouldn't wear:
A small sized shirt, commando pants, daisy dukes, your mom's clothes, a strap-on.

Five TV shows I love:
Smallville, Family Guy, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The O.C., South Park.

Five movies I love:
Transformers: TheMovie, The Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Regarding Henry, American Flyers.

Five famous people I'd like to meet:
G.I. Gurdjieff
Kristnamurti
King Arthur
Albert Einstein
Emmanuel Kant

Five biggest joys at the moment
Visiting/talking with my family, hanging out with my friends, renting movies, playing soccer, actually playing Versus for fun again.

Five favorite toys:
Transformers, LotR Figures, LotR TMG minis, Oversize HeroClix figures, Star Wars figures.

Five people to tag:
Steve
Triple G
Kim
Seth
Russ

Pre-Flight Percutaneous Pinning

Last Tuesday I had sugery on my broken finger so that it will heal properly. It actually wasn't what you'd expect from a surgery as the operation consisted of the doctors shooting two pins into my finger to "pin" the broken bone against the parent piece. Nevertheless, the process was an ordeal which left me very sore, despite being on Vicodin. Yes, it was the perfect condition for flying to Indianapolis the next day.

All was well, though, and it was great to once again attend GenCon (the best four days in gaming). I recieved full sponsorship to work the convention for Upper Deck Entertainment which meant my hotel and flight were free. Sweet! I judged the main event (Pro Circuit Indy) all weekend (you can see me judging a semi-final match in the picture above).

Although it was great to get more judging experience and earn a TON of product, playmats, tins, and extended art cards, by far the best part of the con was being able to see my good friends. Girard, Trevor, Mark, Triple G, Natalie, Scott Goodrich, Eric Smith, Seth Levy, Kim Logie, Sully, Seth, Rook Guy, Marcus, Clemans, Holbrook, Enrique and Dawn Roscoe were all in attendance and it was great to hang out with them even though my time was often limited. It was also great to see Scott and Bojo still hodling down the Decipher fort with all the volunteers. I was also glad to get to know some of the Upper Deck judges and staff memebers a bit better. I can't wait until the next con!

I Hate Mercury Retrograde

I can't tell you how upset I am that I accidentally erased my own blog. I have managed to recover almost all of the blog entries, save for a few of the early ones. Alas, all of the great comments people have made are gone. Forgive me for what I have done. :(

Never Saw the Sky

Of late I have been preoccupied with two topics in particular. The first is the idea of being genuinely happy with what your life is overall and the second is trying to understand relationships, be they on the level of friends or significant others. Of course, I've talked to my friends and coworkers about these topics, but the issues are still "open" and occupy my mind a lot. In an odd bit of synchronicity, these issues came to the forefront at today's visit to the GAP.

I headed visited the GAP to buy some pants for judging at GenCon and to buy a gift for my friend's birthday. While there, I met an older (50s or 60s?) saleswoman named Mary. She helped me find the pants I needed and, for some reason, took an interest in me. Amazingly I didn't initiate the topics of discussion. She initiated them all and the topics were just those that I've been pondering on a daily basis.

Initially she asked me about my job and I told her how I'm in research that is trying to understand and cure osteoporosis. We talked a lot about the disease in general, but in the end she said that when watching me talk it was very clear from my mannerisms and expressions that I am genuinely happy with my life and she also said that my humanity/compassion is very obvious as well.

I told her that I don't think of myself as all that happy because I tend to get wrapped up in the things that don't go my way or things I wish I had, but don't have. She said that that is a difficulty we all have to deal with and that it requires action on our part to seek out, seize, and cherish those things/people, no matter how small and fleeting, that bring us joy.

The conversation soon shifted to how rough it can be when you don't have someone you can be close to and share your life with. To this she responded that it is all about timing and that one has to realize that despite what one "wants", they might not be ready for it. She said that a person needs to be psychologically and emotionally ready for a relationship because one has to put a tremendous amount of energy into it, not only so it will last, but so it will not destroy them. She agreed that it can be hard to appreciate this idea, but told me to keep pondering what she said because if one "pushes it," they could wind up like her - in a "relationship" for 12 years, finally realizing that it had to end, finally becoming free again, stepping outside, looking up and realizing that all these years she never saw the sky.

Isla de Feugo

would have posted earlier, but last night I destroyed by left middle finger while practicing penalty shots (with new golaies gloves that weren't broken in) before soccer practice. My visit to the doctor today revealed that I broke off a small piece of bone near the tip of my finger. A visit to the hand specialist on Monday will tell me whether or not I need surgery - I'm hoping not. Either way, there goes my plan to try out for the premiere team in my soccer club.

At any rate, I spent this past weekend on Fire Island in the town of Ocean Beach thanks to Lauren who invited myself and Steven T. to her timeshare there. I've already mentioned before how I really relax at the beach and this time was no exception. With no automobiles permitted on the island, it's wonderfully quiet and peaceful. The beach is magnificent and you're in walking distance to everything. I had a lot of fun getting a wicked tan and frolicking in the waves. It was not fun when the waves kicked my ass as I tried to exit the ocean. I lost my balance countless times and nearly drowned - all this where the water was less than knee deep. Nevertheless, waves...wicked cool.

The highlight of the weekend was getting up at 6 am on Sunday morning to sit on the beach with Lauren. We were sitting there for about 15 minutes when a Police Officer in a beach car stopped by us and asked us if we had a place to go. We were confused as we didn't want to go anywhere. He then proceeded to say that he was asking because it looked like had been there all night. I told the Officer that, no, we just got there a few minutes ago. Unfortunately he didn't buy my story and continued to force us to admit we came to the island yesterday with no place to stay. I gave him the address we were staying at, but that wasn't good enough either. I was amazed that he thought we had no place to stay. I mean, I was sitting there with nothing more than a bathing suit and a towel. No shirt, no shoes, no wallet, no bag, etc. Did he really think I got on the Fire Island Ferry like that? Maybe it was our sleepy eyes that bothered him, but what else would you expect of 20-somethings that got up at 6 am? Ultimately we pressed the issue of how sitting on the beach was in fact legal (Suffolk County is still America right?) and he let us be. Sheesh.