Of Mice and Randomness

So tonight at work we had the busiest night we've had in probably a few months. It was GREAT. Everything ran smoothly; there weren't any major problems throughout the night. So for this I'd like to personally thank and congratulate all my co-workers for their outstanding performance tonight. I have no complaints about anyone, save for the fact that everyone (myself included, admittedly) seemed to be in somewhat of a bad mood. Ah well, on such a stressful night it's to be expected I suppose. Tips were 9 bucks each, which cheered everyone up :P


You may be wondering why I'm blogging so late at night. Well, if you're my average friend/reader perusing my blog, then yes, it is 3:35 as I am typing this. If you're one of my parents who get upset over my being up so late, then the clock is wrong and it's really only about midnight :P


As a side note, my friend Devan has recently introduced me to the bands Silverstein, A Day To Remember, and Escape The Fate. These bands... are fantastic. Look em up, you won't be disappointed.


So I went and saw Tron the other night with Devan, and I gotta say it was a pretty good movie aside from the fact that we were both thoroughly confused through the entire thing and spent a good portion of the movie laughing over every dumb little thing we could find to make fun of :P I'm going to have to see it again to solidify my opinion of it, but it did show off very impressive CGI visuals and action sequences. I've never seen the original Tron movie, made BEFORE the original Star Wars movies in the 70's, but I intend to now.


I really don't have anything else for tonight, other than my annoying (yet thoroughly loved) cat is sleeping on my lap purring while I type this and won't move so I can get up. He's such a spoiled, lazy, fat thing. I love him very much. But now, alas, my time and thought process have both come to an end now, so I'll conclude today's post.


With that, I leave to go get a Coke slurpee, despite the late hour. Don't judge me.
J R Williams

If you think you know something about Star Wars, read this

If you consider yourself a Star Wars fan, nerd, enthusiast, or any other word, you're about to meet your match and be totally stumped. For I know TONS of things about Star Wars that NONE of you probably know. HA! I win the nerd contest.


So I've started reading again, with a passion. I used to read ALL the time as a kid. I probably read every single Hardy Boys book 4 times (that's gotta be somewhere around 120 books read) and I actually enjoy reading Shakespeare. Yes, I am a nerd. I am also an avid reader of Star Wars books. Now before you laugh it off listen up, there are HUNDREDS of Star Wars books. People don't seem to realize this. I have an entire series based on Obi-Wan Kenobi before/during his apprenticeship under Qui-Gon Jinn, and another entire series of Anakin Skywalker training as a wee lad under Obi-Wan. Also, did you know that after the last movie Luke Skywalker rebuilt the old massive Jedi Temple on the forest planet Yavin 4? He trains a whole new generation of Jedi, and in one book he ends up going Dark Side himself for awhile. There is a series based solely on the adventures of Boba Fett from the moment Jango dies in Episode 2 to 20 years after the last Star Wars movie (that's right, he's alive). There's also books telling how Han Solo and Princess Leah get married and have twins named Jason and Jaina. These twins grow as Jedi (another whole series) and end up being instrumental in a massive war against an entirely new species of alien that invades the galaxy. A species that doesn't register in the Force, so nobody can sense them coming in the Force. It. Is. Epic, how many books and adventures in the Star Wars galaxy there are. Did you know when Han Solo says "it's the ship that made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs" in Episode 4, he makes himself look like an idiot? There is no such thing as the Kessel run, it's some silly prank some smugglers pulled on him once long long ago.


Fun fact, Han Solo was an Imperial pilot before becoming a smuggler. He saves Chewbacca from an Imperial prison and that's how they end up together.


So do yourself a favor, go read some Star Wars books or something. There are also like 20 Indiana Jones books and a handful of Halo books as well!


Aside from Star Wars, the book by Timothy Zahn "Manta's Gift" is honestly the best sci fi book I've ever read. Hands down. It's basically the story of Avatar but without stupid wannabe-Indian blue people. It's the original story, told in a completely different way. Basically a species of manta ray-type aliens is discovered on Jupiter. They "swim" through the atmospheric winds and are basically animals, but intelligent ones. A man's consciousness is put into an alien baby in the womb, and he's born into one of the most interesting alien cultures I've ever read about. GO GET IT.


Anyways, now that I've proven I know much much more about Star Wars than most people... anywhere... I'm going to bed.


P.S. the Emperor isn't really dead.
J R Williams

Supernatural ~~ the dream

So the tv show Supernatural follows two brothers as they adventure across America in their absolutely gorgeous '67 Impala fighting evil, basically. Ghosts, ghouls, demons, werewolves, vampires, all other manner of dozens and dozens of scary monsters from mythology from cultures all over the world. And the show features a VERY good taste in classic rock music, generally beginning or ending the episode with a scene of the car driving to "Carry On My Wayward Son" or "Peace of Mind" or some such. Seriously, what I wouldn't give to have their lives for a few days...minus the whole "everything you see wants to kill/eat you" part. Driving across the country free as a bird in a beautiful car with your best bud listening to Boston. Someday..... sigh.

Games, Cars, Apartments, and Sophisticated Insults

Alright, let's see if I can arrange my thoughts well enough that I appear to have some semblence of structure today. First off, don't go outside or the air will kill you. That is all. Secondly, random reminder if Suey happens to be reading this--remember, I want some pie and that bracelet for Christmas!


Moving on...


I went on Steam today and played Medal of Honor for a solid hour, then discovered during my perusing of the Steam store that Fallout 3 was only 20 bucks. Naturally such a deal couldn't be allowed to pass by, so I bought it. I know I know, call me a late bloomer. But yes, I just BARELY bought Fallout 3, now that the novelty has completely worn off and avid gamers have moved on to Fallout New Vegas. Oh well. The download time said 6 hours, so I thought to myself "crap that's a long time, especially considering it's already 10pm and I'm kinda tired. I'll just play some Bad Company 2 while I wait, that'll make it go by faster." So I open up BC2 intending to play the single player mode to avoid the inexorable horrific lag I would be sure to experience online due to the downloading of an entire game. That bandwidth is GONE. So, I elected to play single player for awhile. I had barely opened the game when a window popped up saying that I have to install an update before I can play the game. I moaned and groaned and huffed and I puffed, but the window could not be blown down, so I clicked "install."


Naturally, I had to temporarily suspend Fallout's download in favor of getting this other one out of the way so I could continue downloading Fallout and enjoy my BC2 in peace. Woe is me! For it's now a half hour later, and this (bleep) update isn't even a 10th finished. What am I updating, BC2's around the whole world??


So, naturally once again, I did the only rational thing I could do. I called my bestie Suey to say goodnight, got a Pepsi, played some Disciple music, and decided to update my blog. It's occurred to me that I only update my blog when I'm bored or have nothing better to do...and I update my blog a lot. Note to self, get a life.


Sales pitch of the evening, go listen to John Farnham's "You're the Voice." That song is simply unparalleled in its scale of epic proportioning.


Random insult of the evening, "You're a sophisticated retterition inebriated by your own verbosity!" Say this rapidly, and the receiver of the insult will be so flabbergasted at your fluid word usage that he won't have anything to come back with. It gets even more funny when you understand what it actually means :P good luck with that, I had to ask for help to figure it out myself. Poor me.


I NEED A CAR. And I need to go to school. Car, and school. Car, and school, and moving out to be exact. Step 1 on my list of current priorities is get a plausible form of transportation. Step 2 on the very same list is to register for/and complete a semester of school. Step 3 on, quite coincidentally, that exact list (bad attempt at humor), is move out with some friends in the summer. These friends include but are not yet set in stone Travis, Derek, Dimas, and Roseman. In a 2 or 3 room apartment, splitting the bill wouldn't be half bad so long as everyone has their own transportation and possesses the ability to pay their share. I sincerely hope that none of them are allergic to cats... because I'm taking my Koshka with me. He wouldn't last a day without me :) the poor lazy thing. But, admittedly, I sometimes wonder how many days I would last without him as well... I'm quite fond of him. Also on my list of priorities, somewhere in the mix, is finding a second job (note, not a new job but an ADDITIONAL job) to help foot the bills. Perhaps a graveyard shift somewhere at a Walmart or something, or a morning shift at...something... I don't know. I'll figure it out.


I'd like to briefly address a small thing that gives me pause; some people have mentioned that lately I seem more solemn, quiet, serious, reserved, mistrusting, etc. I'm not quite sure if this is true or not, but I do find myself texting a lot less if that counts, and I don't exactly tell everyone what's deep in my mind anymore...due to my own reasons including but not limited to bad past experiences. Anyways, if you've noticed anything like this worry not, the world isn't coming to an end. I'm completely normal :P


I think that's about all I've got, soooo until next time... Go go gadget download.
J R Williams

Black Friday

Right off the bat, as far as general entertainment value, you'd have a hard time topping my Black Friday shenanigans. I went out on the town with some buddies of mine, Travis and Jake, and experienced many things that were, to say the very least, interesting. Walmart + Black Friday = absolute madness. I've never seen quite so many unhappy and aggressive people all in one place at one time. Ever. I saw people stealing other people's carts, one old lady couldn't decide how many of her grandkids needed Call of Duty: Black Ops for Christmas so she took all 8 copies that were on the shelf, leaving the people waiting behind her in shock and awe. And fury. It took me 47 minutes (I kept track) to make it from the back of the check-out line to the front to pay for me three items. Two movies, and a car charger for my iPhone. 47 minutes. Better be some seriously good movies. Which they are, 2012 and Gran Torino.


We filmed and photographed a good amount of the chaos that was Walmart that night, but the worst of it we missed. For instance, the cart stealing, the borderline rioting when the Wii's ran out, the knocking over of entire shelves of movies. It was something out a holiday movie where the crazy shoppers destroy the whole store. It was unendingly entertaining.


After Walmart, with the use of Trav's video camera, we proceeded to prank what few drive-thru places that were open. Videos of which will be posted on Youtube and Trav's Facebook. Maybe I'll post a link to them later on. I don't claim any credit for them, however, seeing as I just sat in the back seat and enjoyed the nonsensical humor. I wish I could explain how and why these pranks were funny, but you simply have to see it to understand it.


All in all, a very satisfying Black Friday. I set out that night with no real intent to buy anything; merely to hang with some friends and have a good time. And have a good time we did. Ah, life. It's not ALL bad.


J R Williams

Rock Creek Pizza

Little known fact about me (and by little known I mean known by everyone who knows me), my family owns Rock Creek Pizza. That's right, be jealous. I'd like to shed some light on a little situation we have going on that the preponderence of the masses don't seem to grasp. Rock Creek Pizza has only ONE location. In Riverton. There WAS a Sandy location, yes, for several years. It closed down September 10th, 2008. Over two years now, it's been closed. IT WILL NOT BE RE-OPENING. There is an entirely different restaurant going in where it used to be, but it is NOT Rock Creek Pizza. The sign in the window saying "Re-opening soon" is a pathetic and lowly attempt by the owner of the new restaurant to take back the Rock Creek customer base from Sandy for himself. It is NOT Rock Creek, and I don't condone it or its owner's actions in any way shape or form.


I'd like to send out a shout out to those people who can't seem to clue in on...well, life. I get calls at work and this is how they go:
Me: "Thanks for calling Rock Creek Pizza in Riverton, this is Jordan, how can I help you?"
Them: "Oh, this is Riverton? I thought this was the Sandy location."
Me: "No, sorry, that location's been shut down for almost two years now."
Them: "Really? I swear I was there just a few weeks ago, maybe a few months..."
Me: "Yeah, I'm sorry. What can I do for you?"


What I really would like to say is "Um, no. You weren't. Unless you were just standing outside the locked doors a few weeks ago for awhile. Now, what can I do to improve your idiotic life in some way? (meaning food)"


Something like that. But of course, the customer is always right. I live by that (publicly). And so, politeness is warranted in every situation save for certain extremes where there is no alternative to aggression (I have yet to experience one of these extremes). So there you have it, my official Rock Creek Pizza statement.


J R Williams

Thanksgiving, Del Taco, and video game music

So I've decided I have an unhealthy addiction to Del Taco. Every 2 or 3 nights I go there, for the past several weeks now. Ugh, that chicken quesadilla makes my world go round. In other news, I decided I'm too tall. I hear rumor that girls like taller guys, which is a plus, but I'm TOO tall...especially since most of the girls I like are usually pretty short already. Meh, life.


I've been listening to video game soundtracks all day. The new Medal of Honor, which is 20 songs for just 7 bucks on iTunes, is epic and phenomenal. It sounds like the Black Hawk Down soundtrack at times, which is great. Also, Hans Zimmer's Modern Warfare 2 soundtrack. I must say, my favorite soundtrack of all time. Incredible orchestra music with a vivid and cinematic feel, I love it. Look up the song Extraction Point and deal with the lame guitar at the starting, it gets awesome. The COD Black Ops music, however...disappointing. It loses the cinematic, epic feel in favor of grittier music with more guitar and intensity. Not bad, just different. And not what I wanted.


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! Mine was uneventful and great :) I ate turkey in amounts that can only be described as deeply upsetting, and played Metro 2033 and Black Ops for a good 4 hours. And I've been in sweats all day. A welcome change of pace to my life. I might be going to Best Buy with some friends for Black Friday... We'll see.