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6.30.2003
Ahh! I forgot how nice it is to sleep-in... or at least sleep after I attended the 6:30am Mass. Let's see...what did I do with my newfound energy? ::thinks a bit:: I played GoldenEye on the N64 Console for a while, did some downloading, and started my preparations to get ready to leave this Wednesday for California. So, I think I did nothing extra special today with that new-found energy...but then again, I think that energy was used to catch up to my tired self from last week. So, all's not lost. I think a good night's rest would do me some more good. Ya know, I found out that having decent hours of sleep each night (about 6-8) will help my mood and outlook of things throughout the day. Honestly! If I only get my usual 4 hours of sleep, I'm not as "up to par" as I know I can be. I've learned (but not have placed into immediate practice as of yet) that if I really wanted to stay up and play a game so that I can actually believe I was able to spend some time enjoying myself, that its really just a bold faced lie. "What!?" is perhaps what some of you may be thinking. But I can assure you that its true! Think about it: let's take a game like a FPS (First Person Shooter) as in Unreal Tournament. Ok, so you shoot 'bots' and play with 'bots' in team games. What happens after you're done playing the game? You have achieved a higher rank in UT (and the only person who would really care about that is...well, frankly...just you) and perhaps have developed your hand-eye coordination which is a very good thing. Now, at what expense was this achieved? Lost time (which, we all know, is one of the most precious things we are given here on Earth) and perhaps a degree of aggravation (if one kept on loosing against the various 'bots'). Now, you may be thinking that..."You've increased your skill in hand-eye coordination though! What's wrong with playing UT for as long as you want?"
The thing is...there are other ways to increase your hand-eye coordination without truly wasting all of the time you spent trying to achieve that goal. You can partake in various sports and be able to get in some much needed exercise. Exercise, to me, is truly important in one's life. We need to cultivate that daily. Should it be the summit of our days and perhaps take most of our time each day? Absolutely not. We all know (well at least for those who are Catholic) that the Eucharist is the summit and high point of everyday and should be certainly treated as such. Back to exercising...we should at least set aside an hour for some decent exercising to be in shape. Many Americans do not take exercising seriously and even now, they are introducing these pills to 'burn the fat' faster and 'sculpt your body' in the way you want. For me, I say 'phooey' to those pills? Why!? Its because I rather have my body adjust according to what actions and exercises I do rather than what I take down my throat. And who knows...maybe after several years, side effects may appear on those who have taken those pills. ::shivers:: Even a more incentive for me not to take those things.
Ok, here's the bottom line point I was trying to get across: "Exercise daily and get an adequate amount of sleep as much as you can." It also shows that you have control over your life, and that you are not a slave to a game. Now, am I saying that one should never play video games? NO! One can play video games as a sort of past-time with friends. In that way, you are able to interact with each other in ways you could not do in real-life (i.e.: two knights fighting an evil wizard bent upon the world's destruction). Playing games also stirs up the imagination...something that can be overlooked by some. One's imagination is a very powerful tool especially when it comes to solving problems or finding alternate solutions. I myself do not recommend playing games by yourself (I do it but am trying to distance myself away from such things one day at a time). "But, what is there to do? Watch TV?"
I recommend sitting down and reading a good book. It helps with expanding your knowledge and, not to mention, your vocabulary. I myself am finding it hard to adjust to reading...but I think its because this culture focuses a lot on visual images and what the eyes can see ,rather than having to use one's imagination in a good medieval novel. ...I also heard that making web-sites is a cool past-time... ::looks around::
As you probably have noticed, I have began making frames! Yay! Also, if you wait a while at the 'welcome page,' you can hear a sound .wav play in the background. The quality of that .wav is pretty poor, and I am planning on enhancing that as soon as I purchase the DVD for The Matrix. Ok, that's all for today! Until tomorrow...keep checking this site for further updates!
-VashMatrix
6.29.2003
Oh man has it been a kuh-razy couple of days (hence the missing entries). Let me see if I can recap what went on.
(typed up the previous entries and came back to this one)
Ok then! The weekend is almost over, and I have not done much to enhance this site other than type more entries. But I think that'll keep some of the people's interests. I think I better call it a day and start on those frames. Not to mention moving that guestbook from below the disclaimer to above it. Kinda makes sense that way. Ok, so until tomorrow...be safe!
-VashMatrix
6.28.2003 (typed 6.29.2003)
Let's see...my bro and I spent time more time with our cousins. The day started off with me cooking breakfast for them after Mass. I prepared 15 pieces of bacon, 13 pieces of those rectangular hash brown pieces, toasted 8 waffles, and made some mild loose hash browns (ya know the ones...the ones that come in this plastic bag and have these little tiny strips of potatoes). Believe it or not...but I began cooking around 9am and did not stop until 11am. Man o man was I beat...I had fun....but I think my feet can only support much weight before they need a rest. Although I could take this time to vent about feeling unappreciated for my hard work, I think I'll spare you that much.
Next off, I decided to brandish off my two new foam-covered wooden daito's for my cousins. We used them to spar each other. It was certainly a lot of fun, but man did it just go to show me how I am badly out of shape. Huffin and puffin everywhere and breaking into a sweat while my cousins looked as if they've been doing nothing at all. Note to self: Include some running/jogging in exercise routine. Then we headed off to Great Lakes Crossing, hanged out at Game Works for a couple hours, and headed back home. Ugh, was I so lacking in energy after that!
-VashMatrix
6.27.2003 (typed 6.29.2003)
Friday! Last day of work for the week! Then the weekend!! WOOT! You don't have any idea how long I've been waiting for this. Working 40 hours a week and haven't been truly exposed to such an experience before has made me exhausted especially when one works in maintenance. But, I'm glad that I have at least some sort of source of income. I just remind myself how lucky I am to be able to be given this job whereas other people out there are unsuccessful at even finding a job. So, in the end... I truly have no complaints...
Today was also my second day working with SCUBA. I was able to meet this nice fellow down there who was helping out. He was dressed as a roman soldier for the part he was in. We started talking about topics concerning religion. Was very cool, but reminded me how I needed to learn about what other religions believed in and what they involve themselves in so that I don't approach another religion outside that of Catholicism with prejudice but with fair understanding and perhaps respect. So, I think I'll add that on my 'to-do' list...just as soon as I make one of those lists up first...
...oh yeah, and on this day we took our cousins from the west coast around our humble state and showed them the joys of Laser Quest among other things.
-VashMatrix
6.26.2003 (a.k.a. "Monkey Day" and also typed 6.29.2003)
I hereby dub today as "Monkey" ...or "Monkey Day" if you think that sounds better. Why "Monkey"? For I have agreed to place the name of this certain individual whose relation to me shall remain strictly anonymous to post up his or her name under an alias. ...and yes, I believe "Monkey" is most suitable...why? ...uh, um....because, you see...hey, wait! Don't question me! This is my site!! And if I want his OR her alias to be "Monkey"...then it'll be "Monkey." Sheesh! The demands of the people...
Anyways, it was named after this person because this person spoke to me and noticed that I had not updated my site daily. Well, since he or she is so far the only one I have made contact with concerning this site, I think it best to do some daily updating. Plus, it doubles as a journal for me. Talk about hitting two birds with one stone.
Today I started helping out with SCUBA at my parish. Its short for "Super Cool Undersea Bible Adventure." Its a pretty awesome program with music and lessons for lil' kids to enjoy and learn about God. I played the part of "Scuba-Do" ( a spin-off from Scooby-Do if you did not notice already =P ). I was adorned with this dog hat complete with floppy ears, a kid's snorkel, a kid's life-jacket, and one flipper. I have no idea how I looked when I went out there to entertain the kids, but I have a feeling I'll be seeing myself in that pretty soon since a couple of the crew took pictures of me. I can still remember my lines... ::begins to reminisce about that day as Scuba-Do and appears lost in thought::
-VashMatrix
6.25.2003
Picking up from '"yesterday"...so, what do I plan to do now? Well, basically I wanted to start out with creating several frames for this section and have this section consume most of the space. I'll probably have links here to several hobbies and interests I have. Some of them deal with Catholicism (Roman), anime, martial arts, a list of favorite music I enjoy listening to (in the future, I plan to fashion several samples of each song), and green tea. I need to convert one of the many MP3's I have to a small .wav file as the entrance sound/music. Though I am having some second thoughts concerning that. It seems that when people search the web, most people enjoy listening to their own music while surfing and are irritated at another sound coming from one's website. So, I'll have to gather various people's opinions on this matter before making that .wav. Guess I'll hold off that one till a later date.
As you may or may have not notice, I tend to type out things without taking the time to re-evaluate what I just have typed: i.e. coming with the idea of converting an MP3 to a .wav file and then I change my mind in the middle of the paragraph. I think its unique (or perhaps sheer laziness?) that I let...some...of my thoughts go through onto this site in this manner to provide you with a sense of how I think. In no way is this how I converse with others. Totally different. Maybe sometimes...but not often...I think. So, I guess you can say that the way I communicate via keyboard is a filtered free-roaming way of thought.
Oh yeah...just occurred to me. So, you might be thinking to yourself...what is this...how you say...VashMatrix? Is it some sort of new program? or perhaps it is a cool game of some sort? or maybe just some site where this idiot who is typing can vent off his frustra- ...now hold on a second. If you have not read over the previous day's entry, I suggest you do so. But if you do not care to look for the answer there....then by all means, read on. Basically, this site is about me, my several reflections and thoughts, and several of my hobbies. So, a lot of "random things thrown together in an orderly fashion" is what it comes down to.
Now where did I come up with VashMatrix? Well, I took my favorite anime and used my favorite character in that anime...used his name...and thought of Matrix Reloaded...and placed them together. It first came into use when my bro introduced me to this MMOPG called PlanetSide, and I needed a player name. Then, there ya go...the name was born...and when I tried to register it later on with AOL Instant Messenger (after several weeks), it was taken. I grew very unhappy that someone out there would do such a thing (not really). I just didn't act fast enough I suppose. Which brings me to perhaps my first advice on this site: "Do not procrastinate and put things off." (so you are probably thinking that advice is not directly related to what happened to me, since I did not procrastinate but indeed came up with the idea to register the name on AOL after several weeks had passed by...but its a good advice nonetheless.) I mean, if you ever had a project that needed to be accomplished at a certain date or perhaps homework that needed to be done next Tuesday (and its a Thursday)...one should go and accomplish the task as soon as one can. Why!? The quicker you are done with all your tasks, the quicker you will be able to take it easy and be able to relax much easier, knowing in your mind that the task has been done.
I think I have babbled long enough and should probably get some rest before the day approaches for me to work once more. Ahh, another day...another dollar...
-VashMatrix
6.24.2003 (typed 6.25.2003)
Http://VashMatrix.iwarp.com is born! I finally decided to take some time and pick up creating web sites once more. Its actually been about 3 or so years since I've been active in making web pages, I believe. Yeah, I actually did have a nice website established on the Tripod server a couple years ago that involved Ultima I - VIII and even a little bit of Diablo II among other various things. Tripod took my site down for a crash landing though. When I came to see how my site had been doing, I noticed that I actually received one of those "404: Error Page Not Found" on my actual site! Needless to say, I was not much of a happy camper that day. I even reflected how I spent those days long ago, working on HTML with just the help of a program called Notepad (something you may or may not be familiar with, depending on how dependent you are on Microsoft Office and the like...). There was even a dedication page for everybody that had helped me throughout the years of my "computer craziness" (it was when I was into upgrading things on my computer, left and right...never stopping and always learning something new).
I probably just have oodles and doodles more to list down here on my first day, but I need to be off. A friend of mine is coming over, and we're going to head over to his pool for some good ole R & R.
...later that day...
::begins to reflect upon the events of yesterday:: Ahh! I spent about two or three some odd hours on my welcome screen bitmap. Boy did that take a long time, but since it was my first time ever trying something like that, it was entirely fun for me. (feels very proud of that bitmap as his first work of art...or at least his first "putting together of several pictures into one bitmap") Then I had the idea of starting some sort of "daily log" on the website to keep people updated on things concerning this site and about myself. Now, do I expect tons and tons of visitors to this site!? No way... would be nice, but I don't think that there are many people interested in things such as "original themes" or perhaps events and activities occurring in one's life (unless ye be a stalker ... DUN DUN DUUUN!) Well, basically this site is intended to provide a variety of flavor from all across the board (or at least all the things that I am interested in anyways). Ok! Time to type up the second day!
-VashMatrix