Archive of Past Updates

Tuesday, May 26, 1998

Well, I've gone and started and worked at the Amoco gas station, and today I announced that I was leaving in about two weeks. The Road Trip plans have fallen through because Anthony, my roadmate, hurt his leg, and medical bills aren't cheap! But nevertheless, the great summer party will go on, as these are the last few months before it's off to college. I've been accepted, and accepted teh acceptance at Denison University in Granville, OH. It's a small university which worries me a little bit, but then again 2000 is big compared to some of my high schools. So hopefully it will work out, and hopefully I will get into Berkeley, make a decision on whether it's the right place for me, and move out to live in California (my dream). My dad just returned from San Francisco the other day, bringing with him stories of Haight-Ashbury and a thing of beads for my doorway, as well as some other random stuff. :) Not too much to report that I can think of now. Hmmm... I've gotten a new computer if that wasn't mentioned in the last update. A nice 233mhz 32MB RAM, 4 gig hard drive (with the old 400 mb one in it), a 56k modem, etc. :) Compared to my old one (66 mhz, 400mb Hard drive, 14.4 modem), it's screaming.. :) Well I should really be asleep now because I gotta work third shift at the gas station again tonight, and I haven't been asleep since I got off work this morning! :P I"ll be updating more often though, because someone I've met has been so generous to donate some web space to me. I hadn't updated in awhile, because I had maxed out all my AOL web space.. :P I have to squeeze my life into 2 MBs? I don't think so! But thanks again to 'starzz'! Oh yeah, and join #sxc on EFnet (it's IRC, if ya don't know about it, find out about it!) Catch all three of you that actually read this later! :)

Tuesday, April 14th, 1998 (19 month Anniversary w/ Ashley) Well, I have returned from my brief Chicago trip. I went up there with my dad and my sister. At first it was cause my dad had business, but that got changed, but we still went up cause we had plane tickets and hotel reservations and all. And my dad and my sister wanted to look for a prom dress, as her prom is steadily approaching. Chicago was pretty fun, but I didn't really get to do everything I really wanted. We went up to the top of the John Hancock Building, which is almost as tall as the Sears building, but not as crowded and all. Apparently the John Hancock Building is the most recognized building in the world. *shrug* I had never heard of it. But it was kinda cool looking out over the big sky scrapers. Umm lessee what else did we do. Oh yeah, we went to the Adler Planetarium, which was really cool. It had a big dome movie screen that they showed a movie about Mars on. That was very cool. We ate at an old German Restaurant called Bergoffs. It's incredibly old, and it was also the first establishment to receive a liquor license in Chicago after Prohibition ended. Damn good beer, even though I could only sneak one sip. And the last night we were there, my dad and I went to the Second City ETC. comedy club. Apparently Second City is a famous comedy club where lots of comedians got there start. Chris Farley, Dan Aykrod, James Belushi, and tons of others. The show was hilarious, and if anyone is ever in Chicago, I highly recommend going, just call and get tix before hand. The only other thing of interest we did was drive by the Playboy Enterprises Headquarters building on the way to the airport. *shrug* Oh yeah, and the Chicago Tribune building was incredible. There's a whole story about pieces of famous works of architecture from around the world being a part of that building. Apparently news corespondents stole pieces of stuff and brought it back, I'm not exactly sure of the places, but I've heard the Vatican, the Coliseum, and basically anything you shouldn't take a piece of. :) Well, not much else to report from Chicago. *shrug* This past weekend was Easter, no biggie for me. My mom still insisted on hiding eggs and giving Easter baskets. The jelly beans made me sick after awhile, but luckily we used a lot of them in the first annual "Get Points For Hitting Street Signs With Jelly Beans From A Moving Vehicle." I think the name says everything and by the way, Steve beat Kent. This past weekend, April 11th to be exact, was the one year anniversary of my experience in the realms of LSD. In a few weeks it will also be the one year anniversary of me getting sent away. I'm still not completely concrete in how I feel about this, but it has been in my mind a lot lately. I don't regret taking LSD, but I do regret my reaction to it later, and my reaction to things going on at that point in my life. Maybe I shouldn't have skipped so much school, I should have been a bit more conscientious towards my friends and family, and dammit, I shouldn't have let the dog shit in my parents bedroom. :) But then again, everything has worked out well. I graduated High School early, got home in December, had a brief exposure to the corporate world (never again), and now I'm planning a road trip which I've wanted to do for years. I've also been accepted to all four of the colleges I applied to (Wake Forest, Denison, NC State, and the University of Denver). I've used the past few months to reflect on my life and the direction I want to take it in. I've decided that I refuse to fall into the organized, typical, corporate version of life in society. I will not have the wife and 2.5 kids. Or maybe I will, but it will not be because that's what I'm supposed to do. I do not have to put on the suit and tie in order to be successful. I do not need to drive a Lexus or a BMW or hell, even own a car. I'm not exactly sure what I _do_ want to do with my life yet, but then again, I will not know for sure if I have truly done everything I want until that last moment before Death. Right now, I am studying some psychology and may end up majoring in that in college. I have a great deal of first-hand experience with it, so that will help. Now I'm not talking about the normal marriage counselor. I'm thinking more along the lines of trying to tap into the depths of subconscious, and the mental quirks that make people who they are. Like I said in another Update, I've been reading a book called Storming Heaven by Jay Stevens, which is a great book chronicling the study of psychedelic drugs. I finally got my own copy (from Books on Ninth in Durham, NC) and can return the copy I checked out of Wake which is way overdue. Reading this book makes me think, and I love it. Part of me wants to start writing essays on my thoughts and whatnot, but there's always the wall of motivation one must climb, and so far I can't find the rope I need. Speaking of Storming Heaven, I'm gonna go read some, as I don't think I have much else to report here now. Live life because it only comes once, and there isn't enough time to observe the casual courtesies that serve no other purpose than to grease the wheels of society. Wednesday, March 25, 1998 Well, it's that time again, time to update the page. Well this past weekend I tripped down to Florida to go surfing in a wave pool in Typhoon Lagoon with friends, and with the lead singer of Sister Hazel. It was pretty fun, but a long story, so check it out in it's own section under Past Experiences, etc. Not too much has been happening lately other than a few things. I found out from my dad on the answering machine yesterday morning that I had been finally accepted into NC State. I'm still waiting to hear from Denison, University of Denver, and Wake Forest. Tonight me, Kent and Geoff spent the evening at the mall playing. :) We went to one toy store and spent forever digging through a huge metal cage-like basket filled with small stuffed animals, looking for cool ones. We did find one rather unique one that warranted purchase. It's a small purple bean bag animal that looks like a beaver, but also kinda like a gerbil. Over some delicious Chick-Fil-A, he was dubbed Herbal the Purple Gerbil. Everybody keeps telling me it's a hamster, but they're not going to limit my imagination are they now? We also decided he was naked and that demanded clothes so he wouldn't be arrested for indecent exposure. Within minutes a shirt had been crafted from one of those paper fry bags. We also spent a great deal of time in a nother toy store with lots of cool gizmo type toys. They had a captivating laser projecter that I wanted, but the price tag was a little too steep for the pockets of a man trying to do a road trip in two months. But they also had some other stuff that was able to keep our attention for a long time. The mall was fun tonight no matter how much Dan wants to slam it. :) Something else that has been a recent intrigue for me lately is a book I checked out of the Wake Forest library lately. It's entitled Storming Heaven and it's by a guy named Jay Stevens. It's all about the growth of psychedelic drugs in society starting at the beginning of modern society's discovery. There's a lot of familiar names in it. Aldous Huxley, Ken Kesey, and Timothy Leary to mention a few, but there's also a lot of people that had a great deal of influence in that realm of society at the time that you don't hear much about. I don't want to get into the book too much here, because I know it will turn into a long rambling paragraph that may lose your interest if you haven't read the book. But I wil say that Storming Heaven is more than a book about the drug culture, it's the study and the impacts and the various uses and discoveries of various drugs related to LSD, peyote, mascaline, etc. There are a lot of tidbits of info and various philosophies that can really make you think and reflect hours after you put down the book. I've ordered the book through Barnes and Nobles, and hopefully I'll have my own personal copy to add to my library in 6 weeks or less. I would definitely suggest checking this book out if you're interested in this sort of thing. Well, that should just about do it for this update, after all, this is an update, and not a book, :) Until next time.... Tuesday, March 17, 1998 (St. Patrick's Day) I'm finally getting around to doing an update. Hey, a little over a week ain't bad. Things are going good. I quit my job as planned on Friday and now I am without a steady flow of income. But I'm enjoying sleeping in late every day and staying up late every night without worry. I've found a great new interest that has been dormant for the past few months and years, hacking. No not that silly hacking of AOL with programs and whatnot. I'm talking about real hacking. Spending time to find out information that will help you inside a system. I'm not getting into it for destructive purposes, but more for the pursuit and use of knowledge. But I'll probably have some fun pranks every now and then.. :) I won't say what my handle is, because that's just plain stupid, and I'm not stupid. I'm watching a classic movie about hacking now, War Games, with Matthew Broderick. It looks pretty good so far, it's old, but sometimes old movies are better than the new super special effects ones (i.e. Hackers with the graphical interface hacking.. :P ) Alright, let's see, wha telse is happening in my life. Well I went to my first big rave this weekend, I wrote up a file on that down under Past Experiences. In short, it kicked ass. Let's see.. Me and Ashley had our 18 month anniversary this past Saturday. Umm.. not much else... Stay Tuned... :) March 08, 1998 Hi, I'm Ed. I'm 18 years old and I live in Winston-Salem, NC but hopefully not for too long. I find Winston a bit too conservative for me. But college approaches and I'll be out of here. I applied to NC State (still in NC but in Raleigh which is better), Denison in Ohio, and the University of Denver in of course, Colorado. I currently work with a local health care corporation doing their computer stuff. Officially I"m an Information Systems Technician, but that's only until this Friday. I put in my notice of resignation and I'll be leaving on Friday. I decided that corporate America just isn't for me. I'm only 18 and I have some living to do before I get too old. I have a rather idealistic attitude towards life, and I'm dedicated towards following my dreams. I'm looking for a new job which is a source of income more than anything. After bribing my friend to go into the mall, I got an application for a bookstore, and then when I got home to my apartment, which I share with my dad, I checked the classified ads. I found two jobs I'm interested in. One is a waiter at a place called The Diner down the road from my place. I thought it was kind of odd that there's a song by Ani DiFranco by the exact same name.. hmm, coincidence? The other job is a short walk across the street from there to the gas station/convenience store that's hiring, as their sign says, full time with benefits. I'm gonna check out each of them in the near future.

Back to the main page