Jenna's House of Idiosyncrasies Version 10.0 [Focus.]

Georgia Football is simply a spectacle you must behold. When I woke up this afternoon my quad was covered in visitors throwing footballs and cooking burgers and drinking beer. Tailgating.

I knew how serious it was last year, but living way up on yonder hill at Brumby made it difficult to experience the craziness first hand. I had to listen to fight songs and party songs coming through my window all afternoon. Walking to dinner involved navigating through the parties set up in the Rutherford parking lot, and on the way there I saw a news weather man—who I've now identified as Chris Holcomb—just walking past me with his son. And everyone (even the weather man) was wearing Georgia colors.

The whole thing is just very surreal.

Right now I have the game on, ESPN, and I can see the game happening while I hear it happening down the street from my building.

Let me tell you, what you hear on TV does not do justice to the roar that ensues on every score.

Even though I know nothing about football, I can see the score (21/7), and it actually makes me kind of happy that we are winning.

Imagine that.

In my e-mail, I've just recieved what (to me) is a very transparent trick.

This is strange...can you figure it out?

Are you the 2% or 98% of the population?

Follow the instructions! NO PEEKING AHEAD!

* Do the following exercise, guaranteed to raise an eyebrow.

* There's no trick or surprise.

Haha. Lie #1.

* Just follow these instructions, and answer the questions one at a time and as quickly as you can!

* Again, as quickly as you can but don't advance until you've done each of them ... really.

* Now, scroll down (but not too fast, you might miss something).

I get it. This a followed by a lot of memory hogging blank space.

Think of a number from 1 to 10

7.

Multiply that number by 9

And then we are going to add the digits together and get nine, right? Don't forget what they taught youwhen you were first learning your multiplication tables...Any number 1-10, when multiplied by nine, will have two digits that add up to nine.

7 x 9 = 63.

6 + 3 = 9.

Magic!

If the number is a 2-digit number, add the digits together.

Done.

Now subtract 5

You should all have 4 now.

Determine which letter in the alphabet corresponds to the number you ended up with (example: 1=a, 2=b, 3=c,etc.)

Think of a country that starts with that letter

Remember the last letter of the name of that country

Think of the name of an animal that starts with that letter

Remember the last letter in the name of that animal

Think of the name of a fruit that starts with that letter

Are you thinking of a Kangaroo in Denmark eating an Orange?

No. I have a Cat in the Dominican Republic eating a Tangerine.

I told you this was FREAKY!! If not, you're among the 2% of the population whose minds are different enough to think of something else. 98% of people will answer with kangaroos in Denmark when given this exercise.

Freaky, huh? Keep this message going. This one is actually worth sending on to others. Forward it to people you know so they can find out if they are usual or unusual.

Great. Cause I didn't know I was unusual.

Nope.

More things I dislike: Read More »

When reading this, I realized suddenly that my hundredth post had come and gone without me even noticing. If I was still hand numbering everything it would have been a much bigger deal, but MT does it all for me now. If you are wondering, the 100th post is located here. But it's very anti-climactic, so I really wouldn't bother if I were you.

I have this quote in my e-mail sig file: "Rockstars—is there anything they *don't* know?" -Homer Simpson and it amuses me to no end that everytime I send something spell check starts up and tries to change "Rockstars" to "Jockstraps". Technology. What a hoot.

I need to pick up some web work soon. Expenses are starting to build up. Being worried about whether or not you can buy shampoo is not a problem a person wants to have. And other basic stuff: paper towels. Easy Mac.

And I really want some new clothes.

No matter. I will be so swamped with work soon I will have to start turning people away, right?

One of the things I hate about college: asking your major as a getting-to-know-you question. I don't really get what this accomplishes, seeing as how you are not a doctor or lawyer or stock broker (or in my case, starving artist) yet. Knowing someone is pre-med or business or english or whatever does not, in my experience, actually tell me a lot about thier personality. So you are good at science. Great. I'm good at making things in clay. This will help us how?

I'm probably just bitter because when you say "undeclared" lots of people act like you must be slacking off and you have no goals or something. Lots of people are really cool about it too, but explaining makes one weary anyway.

Whew. Lighten up Jenna. It has been a very long week. I forgot to mention that Will and the guys asked after me (by name!) when Tessa went to DC to see them play. That will keep me happy for weeks. I'm such a dork.

But you love it.

My ability to stand for 7 hours straight, sometimes dancing even, while completely dyhydrated and on nearly no sleep truly astounds me. I, Jenna Tollerson, who can barely take walking more than a block in the hot August sun, can stand outside a venue for two hours, dance, convort, then can head inside for another 5 hours of more dancing and convorting. Because when my love of Jump is involved, I always have to be hardcore.

The title is a quote from Jay, from the top of the show, regarding Matt's complete forgetfulness on the words to “The Singer”. We just got to hear a lot of extra fills from Jay's voice and Ward's cello. I didn't mind at all. Messing up words only makes them more endearing. When your favorite rock star forgets the words, it just makes you want to give him a hug.

Georgia Theatre was hot. About halfway through the show, I was questioning my will to stay upright. I was feeling quesy from the heat, and all I wanted was water.

Of course then they broke out “Dancing Virgina” and I somehow determined that I could stick it out. I obviously have little concern for my personal welfare.

We did moon arms. Claps in “Say Goodnight”. Snaps and ring fingers and “NOOOO!” during “U Can Look”. It feels good to have our little family back together again. A summer without Jump is a long summer indeed, not just because you miss shows, but you miss a whole lot of comradery. I mean, there is a whole group right there that is just as batty as you. It rocks.

After we rushed up to the bar to claim our free water, and I gulped down two glasses in less than 3 minutes or so. We stood around, watching them talk to people, which seriously, with Jump, is almost as good or better than getting to speak to them yourself. You just get to listen to them say things and there is no pressure on you to hold up one end of that.

Of course, that's not completely satisfactory for me.

“Ward.” I said. “I have a story.”

“Okay, tell me about it.”

“Will is going to call me from L.A. on Wednesday.”

“Will Hoge?”

(I get way too used to just refering to all these guys by first name now.)

“Yeah! Last time he called, I had ‘Not Today’ on my voicemail, and he was all, ‘Next time, I want to hear some Will Hoge on here. What is this Jump, Little Children?’ [The two bands are actually really good friends. So you can see how this is fun. For everybody.] So I had ‘Let Me Be Lonely’ on there all summer and I didn't get any calls from him, so I'm thinking they you or more than one of you guys could put some kind of evil message on there for him to hear. I'm trying to throw him into a jealous rage.”

Of course Ward thought this was a great idea.

So now the greeting on my voicemail says,

“Hi this is Ward from Jump, Little Children, and I am cooler than Will Hoge.”

Current Music: Jimi Hendrix - If 6 was 9

Today I walked around campus completely beat, questioning my will to go to class, cursing the hot sun and just wanting to lie down.

So of course now I'm just wide awake, ready to do lotsa creative things. My head is really just swimming with something, a buzz, a high of sorts, and of course, I have to get offline in a couple of minutes and try to to get some work done for history.

Hopefully the reading will be more entertaining and enlightening than the lecture. How I didn't fall asleep on Tuesday I do not know. Some act of the gods I'm sure.

I'm really looking to succeed this semester.

Someone who has been reading my journal told me I am a good writer today. Something to the effect of my mastery of the English language. It's given my all sorts of renewed confidence about the entertainment value of what I write. I could be a writer I think. Story lines are where I get stuck, is the only thing. I set up a conflict, then I knock it down about four chapters later, and without it, I don't know how to keep my story moving.

However, I feel I am on the brink of something great. I'm just trying to think about Science and Math and History and not my next great piece of (unfinished) fiction.

(I really should pick up some of those things I already did and rewrite them a little. It's just they all seem so.. hokey now.)

Of course, that leads us to the question: am I really meant for fiction at all?

Some things to think on.

Leave comments! They make my day, you have no idea.

Whoa.

I need to get off the Internet and go to bed.

Go to bed.

GOTOBED!

...

Goodnight.

Current Music: Veblen - Moonlit Rose

So I actually woke up the first time my alarm went off today.

Just got up, walked across the room and shut it off. Thought about laying back down but felt strangely...rested.

The start of a good day.

That was 9:00. My first class wasn't until 11:15. I took a shower and checked my e-mail and read some Ben Brown and got dressed and walked casually down the street to my Marine Enviroment class.

And who's in my class but Jesse, my old high school pal. We both stand there looking at the “Physics 1010” on the board, wondering together if we are in the right place, until someone who must be our instructor comes in and switches it.

We breathe a collective sigh of relief and sit down. The 3 instructors then proceed to use the entire class period going over the syllabus. Fun fun.

However, I have a study partner! Yay!

I went to the bookstore afterwards and they didn't have anything but the Marine Enviroment book used so I bought that and my lab fee card and got out and saw Melissa on the plaza! Yey! And then I went downtown and bought my Jump ticket for Thursday, and then went and ate lunch without event.

It gets better, I promise. Read More »

You could say the mystique has worn off.

I'm tired of this damn club.

I want to be a middle-class suburban kid whose parents have steady jobs. I want to know my house, the home I've had for ten years, will always be there.

Now I sit in the living room, or stand on the front porch, or look around my room, and the security of this place is gone. I think about the fact that this may have been my last summer here, and I spent most of it sleeping, eating, and working at a place I've come to loathe, and all in vain.

Do you know what it's like to have the burden of your family's well-being on your 19-year-old shoulders? To not sleep enough or eat properly for days on end because you've got to see this project through, only to have it fall flat in the end, leaving you powerless?

I feel really alone right now.

So Mom is watching me unpack stuff today (she was actually very helpful setting stuff up but I'm one of those that likes to set everything up myself) and I pull out my trusty Barcardi bottle, sans actual Barcardi, of course.

Mom's all, What's that?

It's my bottle.

Where'd you get it? A party?

Yeah sure.

Here at UGA or at home?

Actually neither.

Can you get in trouble for that?

Because I may have drank the contents at one time? Of course not. *grin*

I mean, you really can't tell your mother that you keep a certain alcohol bottle around, one that you basically took care of by yourself, as a reminder to not almost give yourself alcohol poisoning again.

She would worry.

God, I swear I'm not a alcoholic. Everyone is totally getting the wrong impression of me now...

...

...

...

Oh well. It's not as if most of you didn't know I am evil already.

Current Music: Veblen, Moonlit Rose

The weight off my shoulders is tremendous. The crazy PHP project is finally up. Behold:

Barrow Network Citizen

It is not the prettiest site I've ever done, or the most fun, but damn if it isn't useful, because I programmed and programmed like I've never programmed before (because, well, I haven't) all summer to bring this tasty goodness to Barrow County, and if you don't get over there and increase the hit count right now, you will make me cry.

So do it.

And not a moment too soon, because it's moving day tomorrow for Jenna. Back to good ole' UGA. My new building is Mary Lyndon, so come say hi sometime if you are in the neighborhood.

I don't really feel ready to go back this year. It has been such an intense summer. All last summer I was waiting waiting waiting for my first year at UGA, and this year, I just feel like there's a lot of things I haven't gotten done like I wanted to.

3 months sounds like a long time when you are standing at the beginning of it. And the truth is, the speed and amount of changes that take place in that amount of time is extraordinary, especially at the rate the time vanishes.

I never would have imagined the end of summer like this.

::sigh::

(so much for lofty ideals, eh?)

Programming all summer has melted my brain.

I sit down to write, and not only can I not sit still for four seconds without parse errors going off in my head, but I have no real content of late. Just smartass comments and useless links and quiz results and nothing really. I could write about adventures in PHP programming but no one who reads this would even get it, and it's not even that exciting, really.

Previously, in such a dry spell, I just wouldn't post anything. If I wasn't feeling really passionate about something, there would just be no new entries. Granted, there were quiz results and smartass comments before but only interspersed with my actual words.

And that's when I realized: installing MT has completely changed the way I post. Interesting article? Link it! Silly graphic? Put it here! MT makes it far too easy. Which was fun for awhile. But I've got to stop. Or at least slow down. There has been one or more entries here everyday since I first installed it. Crazy.

I'm a link whore. I'm the #1 web whore, some say. And the more stuff you have up, the more stuff people have to read, and the more comments you have a chance of getting, the more active your site is, the more attention you get. I fucking love attention.

But then we get into the issue of quality versus quanity. Ben Brown wrote something more than two years ago that I just read today (I'm slowly making my way through his archives) that really made me think. Think about how I'm not really writing like I used to to, how I sorta just coast along on my cult status, by virtue of the fact that my friends like me, and will read my site regardless of there being anything worth reading.

I want to write about myself and my life but I have nothing to write about right now, so I'm going to try (even though I realize I won't be entirely successful) to stop being so trigger-happy with MT and wait for something to come to me, rather than updating every 20 minutes to keep my content fresh.

Case in point: you are still reading this, even though you haven't really read anything yet.

Lesson: Ben Brown can be more than just funny. He can also make you think.

So I'm sitting here waiting for HarryF of SitePoint Forums to give me some more feedback on my lastest crazy PHP endeavor, and I pick up a Sharpie and start randomly doodling. I love Sharpies, because they will write on anything. So I'm drawing stars all over my PayPal IPN manual, and of course, the next logical course of action is to pick up my empty can of Dr. Pepper Red Fusion and start drawing all over it. I'm drawing stripes across the barcode when I see “VISIT DRPEPPER.COM” on the back, so I go there. Did you know there was actually a whole press release for Red Fusion?

My favorite part: “‘Consumers are telling us they want new, unique, refreshing and smooth-to-the-palate carbonated soft drink products in a quest to satisfy their thirst,’ stated Jack Kilduff, Dr Pepper president and chief operating officer.[. . .] ‘A unique, original, mysterious, intriguing, energetic, delicious and smooth new soft drink brand like Dr Pepper's Red Fusion will appeal to bottlers, retailers and consumers, and it will tell the world that we continue to believe that there are ample opportunities to grow volume in the carbonated soft drink category,’ stated Kilduff.”

Who talks like that? Geez.

Results of the Are You Datatable? Quiz

---

Damn, J-Lo! You are...
70%
dateable! Attractive and confident, witty and charming, a healthy ambrosia-based diet... you're wanted in the 48 contiguous states, you slayer. Call me. Seduce me. Make me a man (or woman.) Not only do you know how to turn a guy's (or girl's) engines on, but you also know how to oil, lube and rotate it. You put the “elation” back into “relationship,” and the “night” back into “one-night stand.”

---

Given the current state of affairs those results make no sense to me. I'm kinda proud of this though:

Results of the Are you a rock bore? Quiz:

---

Good. You scored 22 /35
Your rating is good.
summary
Your music knowledge is at a healthy level. You know enough to have a perspective on current releases while you're still able to enjoy a track just because you like it rather than having to analyse its influences and comment about the unusual key change in the middle eight.

---

Go me.

I think I must sleep now. Too tired to program.

My score on the Are You a Lesbian? Quiz

---

You scored 60
Lezza, whatever. If it moves, you'll consider it. You are either a greedy bisexual, or you are greedy-bisexual-curious. You want to have your cake and eat it. Of course. Why have cake and not eat it? That would be stupid. Make sure you save a piece for me (slut)

---

Talk about a quiz that was made for Courtney.

Best part of the quiz, though: the results remind me of JJ. Some of you know why.

Awww....

I almost forgot... watching this movie will make you gay.

Today, the ugly side of the Internet showed itself to me again. I received this e-mail: Read More »

I am so, so close to being done with my crazy PHP project. I just have to enable it with Paypal, and gods know how long that will take, but everything else is ready to go. Then I will do some screenshots and hand it off.

This has basically eaten up my entire summer.

I spend entire days just programming and missing people. I feel like this weird isolated genius, like from some science fiction movie. This is not entirely true of course. I see people a lot actually. I just don't get to see everyone I want to see. Some are far away. Some are busy. Some are angry with me.

Not only that, but I was talking with someone the other night about how if I like someone, I want to know everything about them. I want them to be my best friend. And this usually just causes a lot of frustration.

Ugh. Anyway, I'm thinking that I might go sleep in my own bed this morning. I haven't in a number of weeks you know. I work until I pass out at my desk and then I wake up a few minutes/hours later and stumble blindly into the pews and sleep. I haven't been to my house for more than a couple of hours in weeks. The last time I spent an extended amount of time there was when I watched the Time Machine with my family.

BTW: that movie is a bit disappointing, plot-wise. Kickass special effects though.

Alien Ant Farm, Movies

  At slow speed we all seem focused
  In motion we seem wrong
  In summer we can taste the rain

    I want you to be free
    Don't worry about me
    And just like the movies
    We play out our last scene

  Two can play this game
  We both want power
  In winter we can taste the pain

  In our short years, we come long way
  To treat it bad and throw away

    I want you to be free
    Don't worry about me
    And just like the movies
    We play out our last scene

Check out what I learned to do yesterday. Click Here.

Wow. Badass. Pure text, kids. No images involved.

I love CSS because when I use it I still feel smart. Using PHP makes me feel like a fucking moron. Troubleshooting is too much... trouble.

Ack!

Bought this and this today. Easing my pain. I ::heart:: the Kirbys.

I want this camera.

What I need in the meantime.

My next MP3 player.

Perfect cell phone accessory.

Everyone needs one of these.

I wonder if this really works.

And finally, I have seen the future.

Stop acting like you've never seen a geek before.

Note to self: buy earplugs for the Cotton Club. My ears are still ringing.

I have just returned from a Will Hoge show. I have the smell all over me, that wonderful club smell of cigarettes and alcohol and too many people in one room.

But to start from the beginning: Read More »

I smell like a bar.

Stale cigarette smoke all through my t-shirt, sweat thoughout my hair, and even faint scent of alcohol rubbed off when I hugged someone who had be the victim of spillage. Or purposeful pourage, if that makes any sense.

I love this smell. I love Veblen. And I'm starting to think that nobody knows how I feel. It's not because all the members are so easy on the eyes, or the people I see at shows, or getting to go do something in Athens. All that stuff is great, but I seriously love the music and the energy and... I don't even think I can explain it. The thing I do know is at Veblen shows I get the concert euphoria, the buzz, the high, followed by the crashing exhaustion.

If that's not love I don't know what is.