The Artifact and Living

Sometimes when I'm feeling unproductive, I try and force myself to do something. I've been writing music ever since I got home tonight, and I've, all of a sudden, got this urge to blog. So here goes...

The last month or two have gone by VERY quick, now that I look back upon them. It seems like this Winter is running at full speed. The days seem so short. The last couple weeks of school for this past semester had been hectic, but I survived, and managed to obtain a 3.18 GPA for the semester, which I'm pleased with. Since school has been out, my days have been consumed by music, work, and WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 (great game, BTW.)

This winter isn't the only time period that has been going by faster than I can believe. It's been all of 2008. It's been the past two and a half years since I began college. Time flies... 2008. What a year. Another story for another time.

I've come to realize that I'm really not one to live in the past, or even live for today; I live for what tomorrow may bring. I'm a goal setter. I keep my hopes and expectations very high for myself, and that I've realized this year that my "overachieving" nature is a huge characteristic of mine and how I view a lot of different things. I guess it's the fear of failure that keeps me on my toes and drives me to succeed. I can't help it, really. I need to be doing something productive (rather, something I view as being productive) or I get really irritated, agitated, and unpleasant. I'm working on changing this, but it's so hard. I've thought long and hard about how I've become this way, and have yet to come to a real solid conclusion. It's not like my parents weren't willing to fail, or let me fail. I guess the achievement of a goal just feeds my ego; it makes me feel like I've won... and who doesn't like to win?

It's just a character flaw. We've all got one. Our job is to learn to deal with it well enough so that it doesn't ruin our lives. Easy enough, I suppose.

I've been becoming a lot more open minded about people lately. I've been trying to be more sociable and interact more. I'm still working on the fine art of bullshitting. Maybe someday I'll get to that stage. Many of my friends are great at it; I'm not.

I've got an interview with a software company here in Dubuque coming up this week. It's an internship, and I'm really hoping I can get the position. I could really used the job experience, and it would be the hand reaching into the bottomless pit of retail and saving my sanity before it's too late. I've even cut my hair and will be shaving my beard so that I can maximize on this opportunity. Getting the job would help to bring me to the final stage of my college career. I can't wait to graduate.

But after graduation, what happens? Will I make it to Colorado with Courtney? Will I fulfill my old wish of heading to Seattle? Will I settle here in the midwest so that my mother will be able to babysit her grandchildren? For the first time ever, I can't decide what I want to do. Of course, I will be pursuing computer-related work until the end of time, but where? I suppose whatever opportunity shows its face first...

And so it begins...again...

So yeah. School started, again. It's school, to say the least. Basically my days consist of waking up at 6:45am, getting to school by 8am, sitting around in the student center until 10am and then having class until 3. From there, I do homework when I get home and go in to work most days at 5:30pm. Needless to say, I'm not really enjoying it. The weeks have been going by fast, which is good, I suppose, but I have little to no free time anymore. I'm always kind of tired and just want it to be over with. The band's progress has slowed to a crawl because of the lack of free time and that's crappy.

In unrelated news, Since my last post, the band has finally issued our first full-length album, entitled "Jailbreak." The entire album is available for download/streaming on our last.fm page (http://www.last.fm/music/Bull+Dyke+Rodeo) - if you're interested in picking up an official copy, please get ahold of me (via Facebook, email(cjsand@gmail.com), or AIM(marpstar)). All album purchases come with free stickers and other cool (read:none) shit.

So let's talk about school. This year I am taking:
1) Principles of Sociology
2) Elementary German
3) Calculus I
4) Programming in Visual Basic
5) Object Oriented Programming & Data Structures II

Basically that means:
1) Math takes up most of my time
2) Programming is a close second, but since I'm fairly driven to program, I tend to work on programs right away and get them finished, leaving me with a week of no programming.
3) I'm trying to learn a second language and it's not fun.
4) Sociology class probably won't benefit me a whole lot in my given field of study.

I can't wait until I'm done with school. I could've taken the easy route and just gotten some certificate from NICC and this would be my last semester, but I'm somewhat empowered by the fact that I'm attending a university, rather than a community college. That and I've never met someone from NICC's computer program that actually knew anything, but who knows what I could have done.

Kaylena and I are thinking about moving to Omaha once we're done with school. We visited Omaha over the summer and we totally loved the city. Plus it'd be a nice change of pace for both of us. Most people who graduate in this area stay in this area. I don't want to be one of those people who's stuck in Dubuque the rest of my life. I want to explore. I want to move around. I want to experience living in a city where there is actually something to do. I fell in love with Omaha's 'Old Market' - basically the downtown area filled with small shops and restaurants. The atmosphere was just there, and it was indescribable. Plus Kaylena loves the zoo, and the zoo is massive and is "awesome."

But, I suppose we'll see in about...4 years how things pan out. I, personally, can't wait.

Relief Sets In

So. Today was a decent day, you might say. I woke up at around noon, got a great night sleep thanks in part to Tylenol PM, the wonder-drug. As you may have heard, or may not have heard, or may not have even read my blogs or talked with me before, U.S. Cellular had expressed interest in my coming to work for them as a cell phone technician. I had mulled over my options for roughly two weeks. Yes, Best Buy is frustrating at times, and I had seriously considered leaving to pursue other endeavors, but ultimately, I decided that Best Buy has been too good to me over my two year stay for me to leave them.

Yes, U.S. Cellular was offering me more money, we're talking almost $2 more an hour. In the long run, I decided that an increase in pay was not enough for me to leave. My coworkers at Best Buy are my second family. So if you're my coworker, and you're reading this, I want to say thanks for being great coworkers.

In other news, the band is going "on tour" this weekend, so to speak. We're hitting LaCrosse on Saturday, and back to Dubuque on Sunday. If you're in the area, come to the Busted Lift on Sunday at about 5pm, get your drink on, and watch some great bands.

Phase I of zlobstudios is nearly complete. Waiting for the last pieces of gear and then bulldykerodeo will be hitting the studio next week. Our Tshirts are ready to go, stickers on the way. Overall, the band is moving forward at a decent pace, and the band still owes me $340.

I ain't got much else to add right now.

-Cody

The Beginning (and the End)

Yeah... I'm bored, and am really looking for something to occupy myself. So I figured, since the internet is turning into a giant blog, I figured I would join. I don't have much to say right now. I'm in the middle of a review sheet for trigonometry, which is the only final I have to study for. Overall, the year has gone pretty quickly, and hopefully my next 91 credits go as smoothly as these first 29, and I'll be out of here in no time.

Until next time...
-Cody