| A shock to your friends page |
[18 Aug 2006|10:31am] |
Anyone that still has me listed as a friend a year after the deletion of this account is a true friend indeed!
I've decided to start another journal, but re-opened this one for reference. If you feel like checking it out, it's ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) more_than_blue.
If you add me to your friends list, I will add you back. I guess this is the best way to go about this. This will be the last entry in this journal, but I plan to keep it open indefinitely.
See you all around!
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| NOOOOOOOO! |
[02 Aug 2005|09:16am] |
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mood |
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 depressed |
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music |
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The Backyardigans (and Megan in her Pack-and-Play) |
] |
My greatest videogame-related fear has come true! As much as I didn't want to believe it, Somari, you were right.
Akitoshi Kawazu is the new Executive Producer of Final Fantasy XII. Just...no.
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| I secretly want to be just like Rudie |
[31 Jul 2005|09:05pm] |
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mood |
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 tired |
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music |
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"Minding the Store" on TBS |
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the Ham
(34% dark, 47% spontaneous, 16% vulgar)
your humor style:
CLEAN | SPONTANEOUS | LIGHT
Your style's mostly goofy, innocent and feel-good. Perfect for parties and for the dads who chaperone them. You can actually get away with corny jokes, and I bet your sense of humor is a guilty pleasure for your friends. People of your type are often the most approachable and popular people in their circle. Your simple & silly good-naturedness is immediately recognizable, and it sets you apart in this sarcastic world.
PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Will Ferrell - Will Smith
This is no surprise, considering my last post.
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| Confession time! |
[26 Jul 2005|11:26am] |
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mood |
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 giddy |
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music |
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The Fairly Odd Parents |
] |
What does it say about me that I am nearly 25 years old and hopelessly addicted to "The Fairly OddParents"?
I mean, seriously. This has been my favorite show on television for months now. Ok, well there are four hours of it on Nickelodeon today, so I'm gonna go watch it some more.
Shameless!
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| The college application process |
[25 Jul 2005|12:14am] |
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mood |
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 blah |
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music |
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Fugazi -- Epic Prob |
] |
So...yes. 5 years after graduating high school, I am finally going to attend college.
As part of my application requirements as a non-traditional (over age 23) undergraduate student at Ball State University requires that I:
"Please submit a one-page statement describing the circumstances that affected your academic performance and/or course selection. Outline what you have done since high school graduation or receipt of a GED.",
I have completed this, and thought I'd submit it here, for revision, and comment. Enjoy:
Teens in today’s complex and highly competitive society face a staggering amount of factors with the potential for negative influence. Of those, some of the most arguably dangerous are peer pressure, the influx of hormones, and a lack of foresight and perspective to properly handle situations and decisions affecting both one’s immediate and lasting future. In the four years preceding what can only be described as a “narrow escape from high school”, I was suffering from all three.
Though there were many valiant attempts on the part of my parents and teachers to intervene, I never was able to comprehend the scope of the choices I was making then, and how drastically they would affect my future. I busied myself dating a shameful amount of girls, both for my self-satisfaction, and to gain acceptance from my then-friends. Schoolwork was not even enough of a priority to be considered an afterthought.
I was told on innumerable occasions of my “potential”, and that I was throwing it away. I shrugged it off when my guidance counselor called me to his office to ask how it was possible that I had received the highest score in the entire school on the ISTEP+ standardized test, and was making a D in both Chemistry and Geometry. I somehow convinced myself that it didn’t matter how terrible my grades were; as long as I managed to graduate, I would be able to move on to college, or whatever next step I decided to take in life. I took the same approach to the SAT. I showed up the morning of the test having never studied, armed with two hours of sleep, a single number two pencil, and thirty-two ounces of Mountain Dew. I did manage to score an admirable 1080 considering the circumstances, but that’s beside the point.
Early in my senior year, I had gone so far as to suffer an excruciating U.S. Army physical, thinking that I would enlist and choose to be stationed near a girl I was infatuated with at the time. When that did not pan out, I decided to pursue higher education with seven of my closest friends at the University of Southern Indiana. I did apply and was accepted, but decided not to go, so as to remain close to another girl, whom I had been pursuing for six years and had finally entered a definitive (and ultimately unsuccessful) relationship with during the summer after graduation.
During the course of that relationship, I moved from one temporary factory job at MASCO Support Services, to another at Chatsworth Products Incorporated, which offered more pay. I worked hard, and was one of only two left out of an original pool of forty, competing for one permanent position. My competitor and I were both laid off in the first in a series of cutbacks that could not prevent the company from closing a year later.
Two months after the layoff, I was hired as a temporary through Kelly Services at Eli Lilly and Company. Ten months later, I was brought on as a Fixed-Duration Employee (internal contractor) at Lilly. In 2004, I was a recipient of the prestigious Quality Advocate Award, along with 49 other people company-wide. At the end of my four year contract, however, despite the wishes of my superiors, I was let go because there was not enough money left in the departmental budget to bring me on as a full-time employee.
During the four years I spent at Lilly, I met and married my wife, and we now have a beautiful eight-month-old daughter. My priorities have changed drastically in the five years since my high school graduation, thanks to my experiences in the workforce, and the addition of my family.
It has become increasingly obvious that, in today’s tumultuous job market, it is not only advantageous, but essential to have a strong academic background. I feel that pursuing and obtaining a degree at an accredited university is the best way to ensure success and a secure position in this market.
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| P1000489 |
[03 Jun 2005|11:53pm] |
Alright, I cracked. Everyone else is doing this, so here I am. I haven't messed with it much. It's getting late, and I'm going to bed.
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| Meggie and me: Part One - Yesterday |
[11 Apr 2005|10:28am] |
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mood |
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tired |
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music |
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Dave Matthews Band -- #41 |
] |
So, yeah. Yesterday, despite the grand opening of Fry's Electronics in Fishers, was a total wash. It started out decently enough, what with our Sunday paper actually being delivered this week, ads and all! While sifting through the paper, Julie came across an ad for For Fry's grand opening sale.
What really caught her attention was World of Warcraft for only $38, since she'd only started playing three days prior on our friend's 10-day pass. I found a good sale on computer speakers, and we both thought that a 50-pack spindle of DVD+Rs for FREE after rebate sounded pretty good.
After a few phone calls, my sister agreed to watch Megan for an hour or so while I went to check it out. The store was a lot bigger, nicer, and better staffed than I had expected. I shuffled through the crowd, got the items mentioned above, the strategy guide to WoW for Julie, and Skies of Arcadia Legends for GameCube for $12, new.
It wasn't until after Megan and I left my sister's house that things began to fall apart. It hit 80 degrees yesterday, and we haven't yet installed any air conditioners in the house. Megan was hot, and fussy all afternoon and evening. Julie made a wonderful Chicken Tetrazini (sp?) and salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing. Unfortunately, the oven pushed the temperature indoors to nearly 85, with all the windows and screen doors open, and every fan on high. Megan was inconsoleable, even as Julie and I passed her back and forth in desperate attempts to calm her.
Julie was a little depressed that she'd spent all day cleaning, and the house was still a mess. Once Megan finally wore herself out about 9:00, I went to the store to pick up a couple of air conditioners. The larger one was nearly $200. I stayed up until midnight trying to install the thing, only to find that once I got it installed, and tested the amperage, it would not power on. I was so defeated that I just left it and went to bed.
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| Just a quick update |
[17 Mar 2005|01:48pm] |
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mood |
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 good |
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music |
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The sweet sound of silence (Megan's asleep!) |
] |
I recieved my first unemployment check.
$289 a week to play with my baby daughter and watch InuYasha.
That, and Julie got the temp-to-hire job she'd applied for (She's chronicled it here).It was truly an answer to prayer as she's now making more than I was making before. This is more money than we've had coming in at any point during our marriage. Hopefully we can use it to get out from under our mountain of debt.
Still, there's no insurance until Julie becomes full-time. We're praying that none of us get sick during this time.
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| Africa, Mexico, Sicily, Tijauana...! |
[02 Mar 2005|12:24pm] |
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mood |
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 chipper |
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music |
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Yoko Kanno -- Mushroom Hunting |
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The baby is asleep, I've got a pizza in the oven, and I'm watching Mushroom Samba for the second time today.
Life is good.
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| Mr. Mom: Day Two |
[01 Mar 2005|11:01am] |
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mood |
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 calm |
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music |
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the sounds of ER from the living room |
] |
Ah, the internet. From the safety and comfort of my own home. It's been a long time, old friend.
I've officially accepted my role as Mr. Mom. It's been going fairly well. I even made my famous quesadillas for dinner last night when Julie got home.
There isn't really much to say, as yet, other than it's snowing outside, and I am more than relieved that I don't have to venture out into it, as I have for the last four years. I'm looking forward to watching my daughter grow and develop, watching an unhealthy amount of daytime TV, and attempting to catch up on my backlog of videogames.
If Julie asks, tell her that I'm looking forward to cleaning the house, and tending to the cat.
sssssh!
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| Stand ready- |
[25 Feb 2005|09:43am] |
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mood |
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 optimistic |
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music |
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Blindside -- Midnight |
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Today is my final day, after four years at my current job. With nothing lined up, it looks like I'm going to be drawing unemployment and being a stay-at-home dad for a while.
If all goes well, I'll be enrolled in Ball State University's Adult Education program this fall. It's about time.
Today is officially the day when things get crazy. We're without health insurance, after midnight tonight. Our income is going to be drastically hampered, and it wasn't all that great to begin with. If you're the praying type, start now. We're using our income tax return to supplement our bill payments for now, but it'll run out in a month or two.
Julie has sent her resume' to several employers, with no word yet. If she can find a job to sustain our family, all will be well. If not, well, then I'm going to have to find work, and probably put off college.
I guess we'll manage, one way or the other.
Now, so this update isn't entirely depressing, here's some good news:
The local cable company is having an exceptional promotion this month, so we've decided to go legit on our cable, and spring for broadband internet. It will be installed on Monday. This will be the first time we've had regular access to the internet in nearly nine months. I'm sure I've missed out on a lot of good things in that time, so I'm asking you, whoever might still be reading this, to contribute:
Send us links to anything we may have missed in this time, be it a good freeware game, or a particularly funny Strongbad Email, or whatever, and we'll check it out.
Oh, and I've already played Doukutsu Monogatari. Yes, it's brilliant. One of my favorite games ever. In the name of specificity, I'll name it my 11th favorite game of all time. There you go.
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| account twice and die |
[22 Feb 2005|08:19am] |
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mood |
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 bored |
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music |
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Hitoshi Sakimoto -- Peace and War |
] |
Doug Jones to tim
More options 8:18 am (0 minutes ago)
Dude! She's cute! Way to go!
Also, she appears to be somewhat of a nice, kind, decent human being.
If she, in fact, is all of those things, hang on like grim death.
They're very rare, you know.
Of course you know.
Good luck with the immigration office. Despite your ailments, I can't
say that I wouldn't be glad if they tell you that you must come to
America.
You know, Julie has mentioned (on several occasions!) that she's
looking forward to seeing you again. That has to account
for...something, I'd imagine.
Also, you have to meet the newest 'hot babe' in the family. By 'hot',
I mean that she puts off a lot of heat, and by 'babe', I mean that
she's still quite a baby. Just a little over three months old. I'll
attach a picture, so we can both have pictures of the newest women in
each other's lives.
Oh, yes. We went to the concert. Julie, Ross, Carin, Jeremy (whom
you've not met, and is the youngest brother of Caleb), and I all went.
There was only one open seat in the entire place. It belonged to me.
I couldn't find anyone else that wanted to go. I'll just say that it
was honorarily yours.
I've got to say- There were a lot of freakos. ...and I mean a WHOLE
FREAKING LOT. Some looked like they hadn't been in contact with
another human being in years. Everyone was nice enough, though.
We ate at McDonalds, before the show, and ran into some people we knew
who were also in town for the concert. Come to think of it, everyone
in that McDonalds looked like they were headed to it, including the
guy in a cumberbun and running shoes ordering coffee in front of me.
I suppose he was in the orchestra.
I got the impression that they didn't waste much rehearsal time on any
of the pieces, judging by some of the glaring mistakes made by such a
group of serious, serious musicians. It was, however, a hell of a
thing to see in person, and I'm kind of proud of my $20 program, and
the glossy pages of Yoshitaka Amano artwork contained within.
They really insulted, well, all of us, by having an announcer for the
White Sox as the master of ceremonies. He claimed, in his opening
monologue, to be a gamer, much to the elation, and eruption of the
audience. He didn't appear to know much about the series at all,
though I'm pretty comfortable assuming that he owns an Xbox. I'll
also go ahead and assume that he was selected simply because of his
Japanese heritage, though he admittedly cannot speak the language.
There must have been about seven standing ovations, in a set of
thirteen songs. It was ridiculous. We were up and down more than a
catholic mass. I think Uematsu himself got two more, upon taking the
stage to talk. After every sentence he spoke, everyone in the concert
hall screamed at the top of their lungs. I was a little...embarrassed
by that. He even once (unsuccessfully!) tried to quiet the crowd,
stammering: "Just a minute, please" in surprisingly clear English.
I will say that it was a neat feeling to be in the same building as
someone whom I've admired for this long. I did get a little
sentimental over a few of the pieces. All in all, it was a great
experience, though now that I've been once, I can safely say that I
really don't need to ever go again, considering it's been mostly the
same songs with exactly the same arrangements since they started
having these concerts in 2002.
Now, if Hitoshi Sakimoto does a concert tour, you can bet I'll be there.
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| full-tilt panic machine |
[31 Jan 2005|09:08am] |
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mood |
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 accomplished |
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music |
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Quruli -- Go Back to China |
] |
Julie and I had a fairly enjoyable weekend.
Her parents took Megan from Saturday afternoon until Sunday night. It was a well-needed vacation. Not that I don't love my kid more than my own life, but sometimes you just need a break. When (or since, for some of you) you have kids, you'll understand.
We stayed up until four in the morning on Saturday night. Julie spent most of the afternoon upstairs in our bedroom, completely enthralled with the wonderment that is Dragon Warrior VII. I was fortunate enough to procure the big Sony TV and Onkyo sound system for most of the weekend.
I spent the evening playing through Sin and Punishment. I finally beat it for the first time. I think I'm going to beat it again on a harder setting soon. I've noticed that there are a few unlockables that I don't have access to yet, and have deduced that this is the way to do so.
Later on, we made brownies and had them with Creme de Menthe ice cream (with chunks of Andes mints!), and coffee while watching a mildly disturbing expose' on the life of Michael Jackson on VH1. It was like watching a train wreck. Neither of us really wanted to see it, but were bested by our own morbid curiosity.
On Sunday, we woke up late, ate some lunch, and decided to forego our chores for more relaxation. Julie took a nap, and I continued with my Treasure fix by playing Gradius V. I beat my own best score, and stopped for a bit to take a shower. Julie woke up and started cleaning the bathroom. I went back to Gradius, and completely demolished my previous record, making it to the final stage, and doubling my old score. I will yet claim victory! ...hopefully sometime this week. Expect an update when I do!
Sunday night, we went to pick up Megan from Julie's parents. It'd only been one day, but I SWEAR she looks older. In that short time, I never thought that I'd go from such relief to be rid of her for a while to such excitement to get her back and take her home...! Parenting is still surprising me. I suppose it'll be like this for a while. Probably until she's in college.
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| Livejournal: home to fairweather friends everywhere. |
[12 Jan 2005|11:53am] |
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mood |
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 drained |
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music |
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Tom Waits -- Blue Valentines |
] |
Well, since I last updated, I've been removed from 3 people's friend lists. I'm not sure if this says more about me or about them. Either way, I haven't been keeping you good people informed about the goings on in my life, and I suppose that's some sort of cardinal sin.
...at least to those three people.
Well, as you know, Megan was born on November 14th, 2004. Life has been a blur ever since. I can't believe that she's going to be two months old in two days. She's growing so fast! She's started recognising people and objects. She gave Julie the biggest smile ever the other night, and I'm not going to lie: I'm jealous. I seem to have more of a calming effect on her, though, so that's alright by me.
We survived Christmas break again this year, though there were a record four family gatherings on four different days, so coming back to work was almost a welcome vacation.
...almost. Once I arrived back, I remembered why I was so glad to leave. I missed spending time with Julie and Megan so much that I took a four-day weekend my first week back. We were supposed to have a visit from the illustrious 'Swimmy' of certain fame around the insert credit community, but it just wasn't meant to be. These things happen.
Instead, we loafed around for four days in our pajamas changing diapers and playing videogames. Julie finally beat Baten Kaitos, and I have arrived at the final battle in Advance Wars. It was so intimidating upon first glance that I turned it off two days ago and haven't picked it back up, though I've rekindled my burning hunger for Vagrant Story. What an incredible game.
And now, I'm on the advent of being a stay-at-home dad for a while. I have seven more weeks until my four-year contract here at work expires. If Julie can find a decent full time job, I'll be able to stay home with Megan, and hopefully start college in the fall. I wish I would've done it back in 2000, when I graduated from high school, but better late than never, I suppose...!
Next month is going to be interesting, at least. We're starting it out flat broke, and losing our only source of income before it ends. There are a few bright spots, like the Final Fantasy concert in Chicago that Julie, myself, and our good friends Ross and Caleb will be attending. There's also the alleged return of the legendary Mr. Tim Rogers, for a while, at least. I hope he can make it back. Things are always more interesting when he's around.
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| Things I know: (Now with pictures!) |
[23 Nov 2004|02:09pm] |
| [ |
mood |
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Dead |
] |
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music |
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Hitoshi Sakimoto - Radiant Silvergun - Penta |
] |
Number one:
My baby is cuter than your baby. Just check it out here: (because I'm too lazy to do html right now...)
http://web.utk.edu/~tmcgowa1/doug/
Number two:
Hitoshi Sakimoto has moved up on my list of greatest videogame composers from number three to number one, as of today.
Number three:
Craig McCracken's new show on Cartoon Network "Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends" is absolutely GENIUS. It's my new favorite show on TV.
Back to work!
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| Sideshow Bob for President |
[04 Nov 2004|09:10am] |
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mood |
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 hopeful |
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music |
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Jimmy Eat World -- Futures |
] |
Man.
I'm 24 years old today. I wonder where all my youthful ideals went? I've pretty much grown into the person that I wanted to be those years ago, yet my life is nowhere near what I'd expected it to be by this point.
I suppose that you could chalk that up to my near-sighted goals and poor financial planning.
Some things, however, have turned out much greater than expected. Who would've known that I'd meet Julie, and that I'd be able to love her to this extent? ...and my first child is almost here! I'm growing more and more impatient. I can't wait to meet her.
I owe a lot of things to a lot of people for helping make me what I am today. I'm grateful, and I'll try not to squander the gift that you all have bestowed upon me.
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| boo-hoo |
[03 Nov 2004|11:36am] |
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I didn't vote, so I won't complain.
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| Help meeeeeeee! |
[30 Aug 2004|12:35pm] |
Quick!
How do I invite someone into Gmail?
***EDIT***
Alright, ICers! Hit me with your Gmail addresses!
I'm doug.a.jones@gmail.com (long, I know, but deepblue and deep.blue were already taken).
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