I am forever a changed man...

Because of this...

Vacation Journal: July 29, 2005

Well, we found the cat's home today. It only took five phone calls to the humane society.

Today is the last night on the lake. We leave after breakfast tomorrow. I'm sad but relieved. I'm sad because I would really like to live here. I would be completely content just hanging out on the lake, working at some restaurant or bar.

I'm relieved because I've had about all I can take of Mike. This morning, all four of us start clearing the breakfast table and cleaning up. He rushes off to the bathroom and when he comes back crawls into his sleeping bag to read. Geez! I yelled at him to come help out. Do you know what his excuse was?!?
"Oh, I didn't think that five people would fit in the kitchen."

Now, just to give you an idea, two people don't fit in the kitchen, much less four or five. But the point is that everyone is working. SO I told him to go wipe off the table. I mean, when other people are working, I try to actually look for stuff to do. If I can't find anything then I ask to help. If, and only if, I am convinced that there is nothing else to do and the task at hand is a one-man-job, do I go relax.

Oh well, other than that we just laid out. Lesleh and I went out for a boat ride to the store. And now we're packing.

-- Craig

Vacation Journal: July 28, 2005

So Mike seems to be getting on everyone's nerves of late. I think of late it's that he doesn't seem to be doing anything to help out. I've pretty much cooked dinner every night. Sean and Nancy have been doing and cleaning every lunch. And Lesleh has done the dishes after every dinner.
Mike pretty much goes nothing. Yesterday we had him do the dishes after dinner and the dishes were dirty and put back wet.

Tonight he's in charge of the fries. Hopefully that will go well. He's kept pretty much to himself today. He and I played some chess in the morning. He is actually a really good chess player. Then we went out on the pier with Sean, Nancy, and Lesleh; while I stayed in and worked on Beowulf.

I went down after a bit and hung out with Lesleh, Sean, and Nancy while Mike was still reading. That was fun. We'd like to all take a trip again, but without Mike.

He also just relaxes differently than all us. We were driving down to the outlets the other day and he was explaining how he was getting "stir-crazy" because he has nothing to do. To me, having nothing to do was the point of this whole trip. I was even a bit leary that Lesleh would give me too much to do.

But alas, I have a suspicion that our friendship is coming to a close. It is a good thing that my friendship with Sean has been strengthened, and that my relationship with Jenny is already at the point where I don't need Mike to hang out with her.

I feel bad about the fact that most of the things that I liked about Mike are what really piss me off about him now. I liked the fact that he liked to fix things, but now if he isn't fixing something he is so high-strung. Also, I don't like the way he talks about Jenny. She's my friend and while I think that they just need to go their separate ways, I don't think that.... I forgot what I was saying there....

Other than that we found a cat tonight. It's a wonderful cat, very loving. We are keeping it for the night until we can get a hold of the humane society.

-- Craig

Vacation Journal: July 25, 2005

This morning we woke up after sleeping in late. We decided to cook a big breakfast and ended up having bacon, eggs, pancakes, strawberries, bananas, and toast. I cooked the bacon and eggs; while Lesleh cooked the pancakes.

After breakfast we rode in the car to Killington to use the louge. Unfortunately the louge is only open Thursday through Sunday. Instead we just walked around and marveled at the ski slopes.

When we got back in the car I put in my Mitch Headburn CD. Mike ended up using his really obnoxious laugh the whole time we listened to it. I think that I've figured out what annoys me most about Mike. It's two things really.

1. He has and makes known his opinion about everything. And he does it in such a way as to try and sound like an expert about it. It's like he is constantly trying to impress you with his intelligence.

2. The second thing is that he is extremely pushy about anything if you disagree with him. And he tries to make it sound as through he is just throwing an idea out there. The whole time we've been here he has really wanted to get the big boat out so we can water ski. Sean does not want to mess with the boat because he doesn't want to and because Nancy has issues with boats. Sean has really only told us that he doesn't want to get the boat out because he doesn't want to deal with it, but I could sense that there is something else. Mike refuses to drop the subject. Finally, after Mike brought it up for the 6th time and said, "But if you don't want to do it then that's your choice." I looked at mike and said, "He's been telling you that he doesn't want to do it all night." That shut him up about it. But then I learned this morning (when I was gone) he was asking about it again to Sean.

We all played Monopoly tonight. Lesleh kicked out butts. It was pretty cool. Right now she's reading out on the couch.

I also do not like how Mike can't do anything alone. He either has to be doing it with someone, or someone has to watch him. Today I bought a pack of cigars to smoke, and so did he. I know he doesn't smoke cigars. I know he's never tried them before, but he bought them because he things that I am so cool and he wants to be like me. I wish he would just be himself.

-- Craig

Vacation Journal: July 24, 2005

Right now everyone is huddled around their game of monopoly. I am not playing due to a horrible headache I developed about two hours ago.

We arrived from Maryland yesterday afternoon at about five. From there we first unloaded the cars in a hurry so that we could go down to the lake.

I have to say that the cabin is not what I expected. I was expercting some trailer half-hazardly placed on a plot of land. It is a self-built home with two bedrooms, a dining room, living room (with a piano), den, kitchen, bathroom, and a huge deck with a view of the lake below.

The lake is another plus. It's this beautiful expanse of sparkling water. The water is clean, the temperature is nice, and the friends are good too.

On the lake we have five craft. A whaler, canoe, sail boat, sail suft board, and a paddle boat. There is technically a bigger boat by the cabin, but it is not currently running and most of us have no intension of getting it running.

I've learned a lot about each of the people I'm with this week. Lesleh is really loving all the attention I am able to give her so far. It's so much easier to give her attention now that I'm on vacation.

Michael is becoming quite whinny. though I think most of it is due to feeling out of place most of the time. I wish I could say that he only feels out of place here amongst couples, but more and more lately I've noticed that he just always is a bit awkward around people. I don't know how to explain it, but he is just intense about everything.

Sean is just the opposite of Mike. It's funny that Sean is now the cool and calm guy. When I first met Sean he always seemed like such the planner, like everything had to be planned, but here he has no plans what-so-ever. His only concern is Nancy.

And finally that brings me to the newest member of our group, and that is Sean's girlfriend, Nancy. I really like her. She seems like a good fit for Sean. She is really quiet towards me, but Lesleh and her have really hit it off.
Well, I'm going to start making dinner.

--Craig

And the countdown continues...

Two more days! How cool is that? Man. We all met last night and got nothing done. We were supposed to discuss what all we're bringing. But really we just hung out and decided that we would go shopping at 7:00pm tonight for dry goods.

Man, this is going to be great. I'm still a little leary of having to be around friends all week. But I think I can sneak out if I need to.

Anyways, I'm at work and for today, programmers suck. Ummm, my Dad is going to talk to his boss about hiring me to write a program for his company. That would be cool cause I'll get paid about $1400 for 20 hours worth of work.

-- Craig

Mumblings of disconnected phrases.

On another.... Once again.... Sometimes I... Eating a... coke.... typing furisouly....

Okay, enough of those. So last night I hung out with a bunch o' friends. Actually, I hung out with two friends and two of their friends. But when you crowd us in my dorm, it seems like a bunch.

Or maybe it's just the fact that two friends is a lot for me. And one of the friends is such a good friend she counts as two, so by that there were three friends there.

Anyways, THREE MORE DAYS!!! That's right. I'm headed to Vermont for nothing other than relaxation in three more days. There I will spend the week waterskiing, boating, hiking, cooking, and doing a bunch of other things which can only be described using gerunds. (that's for you Liz).

Well, that's it. That's all I've done. I rode my motorcycle today. That's great stuff. Anyways, back to work for me.

-- Corith Malin

Happiness

I love being happy. I look around me and I see so many unhappy people. Not only do I love being happy, but I love the fact that my happiness hinges on nothing other than me.

I know that other people make me happier. I also know that material things make me happier. But I love the fact that in the end, the things that makes me happy are the conversations I have with myself.

I can't really tell you a formula for being happy. All I know is that I am happy, and I've been happy for quite some time. I know that while I might be saddend by an event, in the end I know that I am happy.

The only thing that I can tell you is to live for yourself and no one else. Want people, don't need them.

[This blog is dedicated to a friend who is not so happy now, and won't quite admit it.]

-- Corith Malin

Cleveland, Bikes, and a Joke

Well, I'm off to Cleveland today. I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures of all the hot women I meet. Just kidding. Well, maybe not *grin*.

Nothing much has been going on lately. My friend just got a new motorcycle. One that he'll probably end up killing himself on. I give him 6 months before this one is wrecked. It is a cool bike though. He drove all the way down to southern VA to pick it up (it's like 5 hours away).

Actually, that's a funny story. He calls me up on Tuesday and is like, "What are you doing Wednesday and Thursday? You working?" (Note, I have a full time job, I work everyday Mon-Fri). He knows I work Mon-Fri. He also knows that I'm going to Cleveland this weekend. But he still expects me to get off work to drive 10 hours to go pickup a bike and then to turn around the next day and make another 5 hour trip. I dunno about him sometimes.

Well, that's mainly it. I've just been working and getting a lot done at the office. I guess I'll post more when I get back.

Joke:
Sometimes I look at myself in the mirror and I think, "Hey."