That 'One Year Off'

Piano performance graduate of UT Tyler in May, 2010. This is...what's next. A log of what's next. For now. Not forever, of course. But who knows? But for now? Including, but not limited to: piano, teaching, music, video games, running, graduate schools, Japan, photography.

[thatoneyearoff]

HEY EVERYONE

If you're interested in following my shenanigans, follow me over here.

It's mah parent blog, and I'm moving back to it after a year.

It's been a good year, but I feel like this blog has run it's course.  It's even titled "That 'One Year Off'" in supposed recognition of the year off many [citation needed] people take between obtaining their degrees and everything else.

I knew from the beginning that it'd probably end up being more than a year...but who knows: this may already be everything else.

Anyway, I'm continuing the adventures (and, yes, shenanigans) over here.

Hit me up!  Also, spread the word, maybe?

[thatoneyearoff]

Ah, Youtube.

Your classical guitar lessons are awesome.

Thank you.  :D

[thatoneyearoff]

To do Liszts

(...ehl oh ehl)

eat oatmeal breakfast (at 1:00 pm)

set up a checking account at Wells Fargo

transfer monies via bill pays (some)

set up Target check card through new account

buy khaki pants and shorts

buy red shirts

save 15% due to employee discount and check card discount

help Elise pack some more

swimming

sleep early

wake up at 2:45

work at 3:30a

Ah, well...here we go.

[thatoneyearoff]

Scales.

Ok.  So I've wanted to start over on the home blog for a while, so let me just link you over there and give you a heads up that this will happen by the end of this month.  Probably on the first of August.  That'd make it a year for this blog.

ONE.  YEAR.

In any case, you probably already see that blog comment on yours.  It's marckusmadulidus.  My name is CLEVERLY hidden in the blog title, and that will also change sometime.  Possible names:

markusaurelius (or marckusaurelius, heh)

marckthree (like...version three, lols)

markusmaximus (or, again, marckusmaximus)

I went and ran 1.6 mi earlier this week, on Monday.  It was new.  So many hills.

I just weighed in a few minutes ago.

It's actually kinda hard to read their (Erin and Chris's) scale.

...

It read 161.

Which is down about five (FIVE) pounds from about two weeks ago or so.  (Does this mean I participated in Weigh-in Wednesday finally?)

In the morning, I normally have oatmeal.  For lunch, I usually pan grill/sear some chicken and put it on top of some salad with some cheese (mmmmm) and salad greens (romaine, spinach, red cabbage).  My dinner kinda whatever, knowing that I've had maybe about 600 calories throughout the entire rest of the day and won't break 2,000 or so (which is what I would have been shooting for when working out and running), so...

...

Whatever it is, it's working.

What's not working: having the wireless router 25-something feet away with some walls inbetween.  %$#@.  I get a signal, but ping is normally high-ish and I'm pretty sure download speeds are affected.

In any case.

My calves were still feeling really tight this morning, so the run will be either later this afternoon or tomorrow.

I train 3:30-10:00a on Friday and Saturday, and then work two 11p-5:30a shifts next week.

Overnight stocking team, alright.

(Hey, it's a job.  And I kinda like working with the boxes; I got sorta nostalgic during the tour about my times in the Toys "R" Us stockroom back in Tyler.)

So I've got to figure out a way to eat healthy in the middle of the night, get used to a night schedule, keep running (and start it back up again; 10k/halfs in the fall THEY'RE GOING TO TEMPT ME) and learn to get better at this living away from home thing.

I kinda already like it.  (Until the bills come in.)

Ugh, bills.

BUT HERE WE GO

In the mean time:

Pokémons trainings and breedings

Guild Wars

Rift (<-- I'm on Byriel!)

StarCraft 2

Rereading one of my books (Name of the Wind, Twelve Kingdoms most likely)

MOAR GAMES

:D

[thatoneyearoff]

So. Here we are.

Back in Austin, for an indefinite amount of time.

*waves*

Hi everyone in Austin and nearby!

We should hang.

(And if you know a place hiring, let me know and we can be beeeeeeeeesssssst buds, eh?  :P)

SETTING UP COMPUTER NEED TO ORDER INTERNETS

G'night.

[showermewithshame-blog-blog-dea]

Reblog this if you think I'm worth following.

[thatoneyearoff]

<3

[thatoneyearoff]

Found an old planner while cleaning up.

I tried to psych myself up by writing things to my future self in the coming months.

March: "170 lbs?  Yeah?" - Yup!

May: "Appassionata?  Done yet?" - Nope.  :P

June: "160 yet?  C'MON!" - 165 lbs.  I've held this weight since April, though.

July: I erased a "170 yet?" question, haha.  :P

August: "YOU BETTER BE IN AUSTIN." - Mission accomplished.  Sorta.  My stuff is there, I'm not.  Except my computer.  My computer's still here.  Nyah.  :P

~2.3ish out of 4.  Not tooooooo bad...but I need to get back to seeing what else I've left here that I do need to bring, so catch you later, yeah?

Also, Pokémon breeding is tedious and the Battle Subway is a pain in my ass.  MOAR BP PLZKTHX

Nerdy Pokémon stuff after the jump.

You've been warned.  :3

And in case you're not here at the end, good day!  :D

Tyranitar @ Choice Band Adamant, Sand Stream 180 HP, 252 Atk, 76 Spd Rock Slide Earthquake Crunch Dragon Claw

Excadrill @ Expert Belt Jolly, Sand Rush 252 Atk, 252 Spd, 4 HP Swords Dance Earthquake Rockslide X-Scissor

Reuniclus @ Leftovers Modest, Magic Guard 252 SAtk, 252 HP, 4 Def Calm Mind Psyshock Shadowball Energy Ball

It works decently, but I can't get past around 24 ish in the Super Singles.  I've thought about giving Doubles a try, but I'd have to train two more Pokés, and...yeah.  

Anyway, thoughts:

Choice Band Ttar hurts.  Like hell.  Problem: gets outsped sometimes and OHKO'd by things.  Solution?  I dunno.  Maybe try DDance Ttar with a Focus Sash so he can set up and then own face?  *shrugs*

Jolly/Sandrush Excadrill is probably too much for the Subway.  I could have probably gone Adamant and still done really well.  Might try Focus Sash, but...not enough BP. 

Reuniclus is slow.  But he packs a whallop.

Things I'm running into

nothing to take half damage from Fire or Ground.  Srsly.  This hurts.  EARTHQUAKES EVERYWHAR

I have no fire moves.  Ghosts aren't a problem (Crunch, Shadow Ball), but...

You know what, I should take notes on what I'm failing against.  STALL TEAMS

Ferrothorn is a...thorn.

Water types scare me (Reuniclus could handle it, sometimes, but low speed and some of them are ghost and others are just FLINCH FLINCH WHY GOD WHY HAX)

[thatoneyearoff]

jayarebee replied to your post: Also, to all of you, in need of one...

Or the more classic...

[thatoneyearoff]

Also, to all of you, in need of one...

*INTERNET HUGS*

It seems to be that sort of weekend.

...

Carry on.

[thatoneyearoff]

Thank you "linksys"

Please don't steal my Tumblr password now.  :P

IN ANY CASE.

Zip codes.

78741.

That's the one I'm posting from.

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Though, I'll be going back home tomorrow to finish cleaning out my room and getting it ready for whatever my parents want to do with it.

And then I'll be back on July 5th.  Maybe 4th.  The roads will be crazy those days, in any case.

ALRIGHTY THEN.

[thatoneyearoff]

"Answer privately"

This is like, ridiculously cool.

You should all send me messages that I can respond to in that manner so I can make more use of the useful and amazing function.

That is all.

[thatoneyearoff]

Moving.

Boxes, computer boxes, more boxes, most clothes.

Less than 12 hours to go.

(I'm still on the hunt for a job, btw.  :D)

[thatoneyearoff]

So this deer was flying across the road...

It managed at least one flip, and around 480º degrees of rotation.

Yes, it was "hit."  Let me explain here.

Driving southbound, oncoming traffic is northbound at around 55 mph, coming out of a 70 mph zone.  I'm driving up a hill and I see deer running perpendicular to the road from the east, heading west across the street.

Enter large pickup truck.  Working class, heavy duty truck.  Like, "we mean business" truck.  Not the ones large enough for you to ask something like "why in the hell do you need a truck that large" but of the right size to say something like "they could probably use that truck in their everyday work."

The truck crests the hill right as a buck and doe try to cross the great river of tar.

The truck doesn't really have time to react (as it was just coming off the top of the hill) and I begin to wonder if I'll somehow be involved in this, because at this angle, the truck could very easily hit the deer into my car.

But right at the last moment...right before the buck gets hit by anything at all...

It jumps.

It jumps, and only looks like it got hit very hard.

It flips and spins, and lands on the opposite side of the road that it entered.

But the truck isn't actually damaged.

I'd stop here and look, but I need to go pick up my dad a few hundred feet down the road.

So I do.

And I return.

And I see the truck driving around, looking for the deer.  The white, heavy duty truck that hit the deer.  No damage.

I look around, and the buck and doe are gone.

Yup.

I just saw a deer fly gracefully through the air.

I'm hoping that it got away scot-free, but it probably hurt itself in the landing.  I'm hoping it didn't have any broken bones and just landed somewhat roughly on its side or something.

It's going to be one of those days, isn't it.

[thatoneyearoff]

Convention weekend complete!

And I didn't screw up my conducting, either.  :D

...also, I ran 1.9 mi on Sunday morning because I woke up too early.  My calves hurt.  ~21ish minutes.  Not bad, for not running for an entire month.

I think running will be my main form of exercise (for a while, anyway), in Austin, considering the exercise room in the apartment complex doesn't have any free weights of any kind.

More later, maybe.

I'M EV TRAINING MY LUCARIO WTF IS THIS TEDIOUSNESS

And...packing!

[thatoneyearoff]

Power set up. Packing boxes. Playing games.

P-p-p-powerbook!  If you know what I'm referring to, then you get pforty internet points.

Got the power set up at the apartment.  With an energy company that doesn't service it.  *sigh*  I'll get my deposit back within 3-5 business days, so...I guess that's OK.  But I ended up getting the power set up anyway, through a company that can actually do.  Or maybe it's *the* company.  I think it's the latter.

There's still some stuff I need to pack.  Clothes.  A few books.  Random objects that I don't know how to pack other than throwing them in the box but I can't do that because they might break.  I'll have to sort this out Sunday/Monday when I get back.

Ah, yes.  Dallas this weekend for a music teacher's convention in Arlington.  Friday night in Arlington, Saturday night in a fellow music teacher's house (an hour away from the center...), and yeah.  Morning practice on Saturday (ughghghgh, before 10?!  WHAT IS THIS), then performance on Sunday early afternoon.

Don't tell the kids this: I think I'm conducting with my wand I bought from Harry Potter Land.  :3

Also, MICHELLE IF YOU ARE READING THIS I AM GOING TO TEXT YOU AT SOME POINT TOMORROW TO FIND OUT WHAT'S UP AND WE CAN HAVE A MINI-TUMBLR MEETUP YAY.  (Nvm, we're communicating now.  I'll probably just text you anyway.)

(Or, if you're reading this, Friday night and Saturday night are open.  Though I need to be up early on Saturday morning.  L'sigh.  :P)

TIME OUT

HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE SOUNDTRACK

SCORE THING

IS ABSOFRICKINLUTELY AMAZING

THAT IS ALL.

I'm almost all the way through Ys Seven, which makes me sad.  It's a really good game, and I don't want it to end.  It's fun.  :(  I played Rift again today, after not really playing it since before Spring Break.  My subscription goes until...October, at least, too.  Assassin time, yeah!  I kinda wanted to install Diablo II again...running around on the old Amazon Basin D2 forums was a trip down nostalgia lane.

Anyway, I need to get to bed(ish) so I can wake up, pack what I need to, grab my things, drop by the bank, and head to Arlington.

G'night!  :)

[thatoneyearoff]

New mouse.

(Nerdiness to follow.)

Logitech G500.  I was using a Logitech G9x.  I came from a Logitech MX518.

You might say I like their mice.

Opened a box from them earlier that was "dented box."  The box looks scrunched together a bit over the complete area of 0.5 in. on the back left side of the box.  Everything else is pristine.

First impressions: big mouse.  It's a "palm" type of mouse, meaning your palm actually sits on top of the mouse.  Unlike the G9x which is a "claw," where your fingers do most of the gripping.

Notable features: on-the-fly DPI switching, THREE thumb buttons, toggle-able mouse wheel action.

On the fly DPI switching: much like the G9x.  Nothing new here.  The buttons on a different place, which will be weird at first until I get used to palming the mouse again.

Three thumb buttons: cool.  Voice, AND back/forward.  Neato.  They have a plastic-y feel to them (mostly sound) which make them seem cheap.  We'll find out.

Toggle-able mouse wheel action: between smooth (no indents) to indents.  On smooth, you can scroll FOREVER in Excel with a powerful spin.  Indents change it to per line and such.  (I just saw "loading more posts" on Tumblr SEVEN TIMES before friction caused the mouse wheel to stop turning.  ...  Awesomesauce.)

Versus G9x?

Size: much bigger, being a palm-mouse.  It'll take some getting used to.

Weights: meh, same deal.  Easier to mess with on the G500 since it doesn't have the shell that the G9x has.  Oh, which:

G9x has an interchangeable shell.  Cool.  G500?  One option.  It's fine.

Buttons: one more thumb button.  The middle mouse button is much easier to depress here, making closing tabs MUCH FASTER.  Almost too easy.

Mouse wheel: the toggle on top of the mouse (versus the bottom) on the G9x may actually allow me to easily use both modes when needed.  it's a hassle to flip the mouse over and hit the button.  Lame.  Better here on the G500. 

Things that stand out for this mini-review:

Size.  Palm mouse.

Middle mouse button is much easier to press.

Three thumb buttons.

I'll revisit this in about a month or two and see what I think then.  Or, I may not, if I forget.  If I do, and yo ujust want to find out, let me know by bugging me.  :D

[thatoneyearoff]

Andrew Bird - The Greenhorn/Exile of Erin/Glasgow Reel

(3/3 queued.)

That's it of that set.  Hope you enjoyed some fantastic stuff.  :D