I won't be entering vet school in the fall of 2008. I haven't decided what I will be doing yet. I feel burnt out. I'm not sure what I need to do next, but I know that vet school would be a waste of time and money right now. I feel like a year of doing something different would refresh me, and I could use it to strengthen my application.

I also feel kind of lost and hopeless. How the hell did I end up where I am in life? Why? I remember thinking when I was in high school, "If I can just make it to Virginia Tech, I'll study hard, go to vet school, everything will be awesome." Where the hell did I get that idea? Virginia Tech? Don't get me wrong, it is pretty amazing here, but where did it come from? Why vet school? I could've gone for computer science and had a useful degree in four years. What do you even do with an animal science degree? Plenty of things, I'm sure. I'll be looking for animal lab or management jobs. Maybe I'll do something with breeding. I could get along with a little field experience. Hell, I could just live in Blacksburg for a year or two. Even if my only animal work was volunteer, it doesn't take much to live comfortably in Blacksburg.

My other major plan, if not vet school, was grad school. It's different from what I'm doing, but probably not different enough. For now, I'm preparing for but not anticipating going that route. Time will tell.

Unfortunately, my content just isn't very Web 2.0, nor is the site in general. That's why I was forced to create my very own starbursts that didn't have any new-fangled technological references.

They were created using PS CS2, and a couple of Web 2.0 button Photoshop tutorials.

As an aside, I do believe this is the most categories any one post has ever belonged to.

On an unrelated note, rule 34. I have no idea what most of the first thirty-three rules are. The first two are "Don't visualize" and "No, really, don't visualize!." Rule 34 is NSFW, so you'll have to click below to read about it.

Rule 34 states that "If it exists, there is porn of it." Also known as the "Ow! My childhood!" rule. A Google search for "there is porn of it" points overwhelmingly towards that fact being rule #34. A similar search for rule 34 is not as decisive, but this usage still occurs on the first page of a result. I don't know if this is tells us about Google, namespaces, or just that I'm really bored.

I used a Palm for a while. It was portable, and it made keeping track of ideas a lot easier. Unfortunately, I never quite mastered the input, and eventually it died. After that I started carrying little thread-bound composition notebooks in my pocket. It was amazing! Call me a Luddite, but there is just something so natural about putting pen to paper. Things go exactly where I want them to, I don't have to do any strange jiggery-pokery to get somewhere to write, and I can draw diagrams and pictures right smack-dab in the middle of writing.

I have purchased a moleskine, but I haven't brought myself to write in it yet. It's just too pretty. I may have to soon, though. The notebook I'm working on now is showing its age, and I'm running out of pages to boot.

I'd just like to point out that these are thumbnails. Apparently there has been some confusion. If you click on the pictures, they are links to larger versions of the images. If you don't click on them they are still links, but they don't really do any good for you.

The Kitchen Sink

This is the sink in my kitchen. The dishes aren't mine, I swear. My roommate and I take care of each other's dishes, but only when we're not being lazy. Needless to say, I was being lazy

Something that needs fixing

These are computers in my closet. The one on the right runs Smoothwall, the middle one is a webserver, and the one on the left isn't running. I need to fix it.

Garbage

The description of this part of the assignment was "Something you’re going to throw away right after you take the picture of it," but if I put that in the title of the image, I'd have nothing to write here. It's an empty Mountain Dew can.

The change of seasons

I know this might seem like a huge cop-out, but I actually wasn't trying to capture the color change of the leaves. I was trying to find a decent way to photographically portray the wind. When the wind gusts it blows leaves off, but it's sort of hard to predict. For me, the wind has always been a big part of fall. Fall is a season of change, and wind is the weather of change. Nobody talks about "the flurries of change" or "the patchy fog clearing in the late morning of change."

The beauty of home

I'll get it up eventually.

Once more I dig into the Photo Folder of Doom™ to bring you pictures of a waterfall! This is a short hike from my home. I love all the little waterways that run around my area. I sort of miss it. It's been a while since I've had a chance to get out and enjoy the nature back home.

My favorite part of the weather change

My favorite part about the weather cooling down is that I get to wear my sweaters. I really do like my sweaters, and I don't get nearly enough opportunity to wear them. I just prefer warm winter clothes in general. They make me feel all soft and snuggly and comfy.

So that's my fall in a nutshell. Walnut, if you want to get specific about it. I don't think they get ripe enough for human consumption though. The squirrels usually get them first.

Did you play?

Something that that inspires you to do what you do

I dunno if it's cheating that I took this picture in 2005, but is honestly one of my favorite pictures I've ever taken, and it really gets to the heart of the matter. I am a college student at Virginia Tech. While this is a fantastic experience all by itself, there are days that I question why I'm here. I could be working less and for the same grades in another degree, or at another school. The thing is, I love animals. I want them to be happy. I may not think highly of every individual at every moment, but in general I want to improve their situation.

Something you don't like to read about in blogs

I'll get it up here eventually.

I hate reading politics in blogs. This doesn't just mean governmental politics. I don't like reading about company or institutional politics, and I certainly don't like interpersonal politics. Eric Meyer recently wrote a very well thought out and articulated series on reforms he would like to see in the W3C. I think his discussion was very reasonable, and to my (admittedly limited) understanding the ideas he suggests would be helpful. Still, it's not the type of thing I choose to read most of the time.

Something that inspires you to write on your blog

I like to blog about everyday things that I find amusing. This blog is about my everyday life. I am pretty easily amused (I mean, come on, I blogged about my iron) so almost anything is fair game. This picture is a mailbox I saw in Brooklyn. I try to keep my camera on me and take photos so I can remember amusing things to blog. I saw a girl eating corn-on-the-cob on the bus yesterday, but I completely forgot to mention it because it would've been rude to take a picture of her. Yeah, pretty strange, but I was amused.

Did you play? I try to comment back within a day.

Something I Have Outgrown

My license is expired. It also says I'm under 21. I really have to work on getting a new one. I have to get a eye test to do that.

Something I Have Overcome

I used to consume amounts of Mt. Dew that even I would admit are unhealthy. I now consume considerably less, though some would consume that it is still a bit excessive

I need help with...

I'll get it up eventually

...the cutest pup in the world. He is oversubmissive towards me, and it makes me sad. I just want him to be my friendpup.

This week's subjects are:

1. Your Freedom
2. Your Hope
3. Your Wish

For your appproval I submit:

My Freedom

There are two rights guaranteed to you when you join an open source project: the right to fork, and the right to leave. I love that concept.

My Hope

I hope I never lose my wonder for the nature right in my own back yard.

My Wish

I wish I had a herd that wasn't made of plastic and plush.

Anything you write on the web has the potential of coming back to haunt you. Luckily for me, I have no reputation to protect.

via Dougal

What I'm trying in order to keep myself from going insane is writing little entries like this in notepad, to be copied and pasted in once I get back some rudimentary form of internet connection. That way I can still keep up writing, even though you've had a gap in reading by the time this post goes live. I think it's easier for me than trying to remember everything that I've done by the time I get dialup set up here

ugh. dialup.

Now all these little link posts with no new content can live over in the sidebar. It may turn into a pure linklog, with no actual commentary at all. We'll see how I feel. I like the idea of taking empty posts out of the regular flow though.

I've also installed a plugin that I wrote myself, modified from someone else's XML parsing function. That's the WhatPulse thing living in the sidebar. I'll make it available once I clean it up, and the WhatPulse admin said he'd put it on their downloads page too. That'd be neat.

I actually have some shocking pictures from spring break and some other stuff to talk about, but right now it's quarter to 2 in the morning and I should be asleep already. Mostly though, I'm still alive. Alive and kicking. But only if you're mean to me.

And here's a little oddity that is bothering me. If you don't start an entry in WP with a <p> it will insert one for you, regardless of whether you actually need one. What I want to see is a checkbox for "I write my own damn XHTML, don't do it for me." Maybe a plugin, or maybe in a future version. Overall though, it's a good package.