Oh it was one of those days today. Nothing spectacular to report, which is odd because I'm writing about it. Lately the highlight of my day has been pointing out things I've learned in my Meteorology class. I've never thought the weather was as interesting as it is from a meteorologist's stand point, but hey nothing really is until you see it from another perspective...well there is one thing, accounting I bet.

Another interesting Tuesday ahead (they always are), which can only mean that there's three days left in my week and therefore the weekend is just around the corner. I'm hoping the Rally in the Valley crew can get together again, for instant good times. Either that or I find an excuse to bother a downstairs neighbor of mine.

A better post in 3 days I assure you.

-Mikhail

If you catch this blog somewhat regularly (although not recently), you know of my stance in the Late Night talk show world. Letterman/Ferguson is where its at and really tonight may have been a good enough pedestal for my argument. So here's the story, economy in the shitter and potential government bailout is looming, our boys in Washington gotta go decide whether to go with it or not. Sometime this morning (let's say its still Wednesday), Obama calls up McCain like "yo, I don't know if you heard this or not, but we should probably go to work and put aside this campaigning stuff until we figure out a temporary fix to this mess, because you and I both know, whoever wins gotta really fix this." McCain didn't get the initial call, but they did speak at some point today and figured "yeah let's, in fact let's just put it off all together until we actually figure something out."

Here's where it gets good (for the first time readers I am NOT about to bash on pushing the debates), McCain was going to appear on the Late Show tonight, as Obama did a couple weeks ago, and says "hey, you know what's on the up and up, I gotta go down to Washington and take care of business, I've suspended my campaign even!" Letterman doesn't like it a bit and thinks something is up (this is coming from a man that clearly respects him and knows he wouldn't skip out for just anything). Presumably, McCain was going to have 2-3 segments on the show tonight, so instead they call up old friend Keith Olbermann to chat about why this is maybe. Live Feed from just on the studios of 57th and 5th Ave, and our buddy John McCain is talking to Katie Couric on the CBS Evening News. Now I did actually watch what he said during the interview with Couric and from what I gathered I found it just so odd that he literally said everything that he likely would've said on Letterman, but as Dave said "maybe he missed his flight."

Then on Ferguson, who really has been fired up lately about everything in the news (which is not from his Scottish blood in this case). A man that is ready to participate in his first general election is most definitely qualified to speak on the behalf of the public due to his fresh American eyes that are now looking from the inside. Ferguson did not mock based on his ditching of Letterman, but that he's not living up to the Democratic process. There are no suspending of the Democratic process he says. He was done with McCain, and went on to talk about the economy. He didn't say anything that every person that isn't on Wall Street already knows or thinks, but he was bold enough to just go out and say it. Not many people in the media are ever willing to challenge people with money or power and this is why the Worldwide Pants boys never get the credit on the ratings edge. Our country needs to challenge itself right now. The people that are the least American don't live on the other side of the globe, they live on the inside surrounded by a gate.

-Mikhail

edit: forgot to include some necessary citations
"Where's John McCain?" http://lateshow.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/dave_tv/highlights/index/php/bigshowhighlight.phtml
McCain on CBS Evening News http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4476356n
Obama Suggests Joint Statement http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/24/senate-dems-call-mccains_n_129009.html
Craig Ferguson's Monologue 9/24/08 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DuQGqIZCWE

HE-MO-GLO-BIN *clap**clap**clap**clap**clap* HE-MO-GLO-BIN *clap**clap**clap**clap**clap* HE-MO-GLO-BIN *clap**clap**clap**clap**clap* HE-MO-GLO-BIN *clap**clap**clap**clap**clap*

Anyway, Rally in the Valley Friday night, its gonna be awesome. White House against Illinois. Probably getting twisted mah niggas a few times this weekend.

Life is good, obviously.

-Mikhail

For one instance I would like to describe my very interesting day. Here it goes, I'm going to start with my sociology class (sure I had two classes before that, but things were slow until then). I'd like to remind you first that it is a RACE AND ETHNIC RELATIONS course, so with that said we were talking about biological and sociological differences between races. Towards the end of class we got up to statistics about blacks and hispanics having higher drop-out rates in high school than other groups, to which some chick interjects (the microphone I might add) "yeah, in my high school I think the reason that was is that the blacks and hispanics were out getting pregnant meaning that two people would have to drop-out at a time." Everyone in the class was just dumbfounded, especially given that it was the end of class, people were more than anxious to leave now even while mouthing "WHAT THE FUCK!" I'm pretty sure it even shook Sam Richards (the prof) a bit...maybe turning off her mic. According to a few people in my discussion group that met afterwards, some black girl jetted out just after she said that. What a wonderful thing to know that this ignorant girl can pick up her Coach bag and go about the rest of her day saying that in a RACE AND ETHNIC RELATIONS class. Funny enough, Sam today was making emphasis about how white people shouldn't feel bad about being white.

On a much lighter note! After discussion group I went to the first Blue & White meeting, which was cool. Followed by the Rally in the Valley committee meeting which was fantastic. Met some awesome people while pondering one of the all time great debates "cheese or oral sex?"

-Mikhail

Hey world, once again just chillin. This week has been alot of business between class and various meetings which is good for me and finally finding people on facebook. For whatever reason the latter has been more difficult than previous years. Some people are just straight up difficult to find, but I'm back to my old tricks. Last week I got twisted with my floormates Markos and James some place off-campus. I also started my internship, where I operate the camera that does the stream for the men's and women's soccer games on gopsusports.com. That's really all I got.

-Mikhail

Things of course are going great as I imagined. I've seen pretty much everyone I've wanted to see from Harrisburg that has come up here, as well as the ones that came up for the game on Saturday. Classes have been alright so far, professors are all cool, the workload hasn't been overwhelming yet, but that might change by next week. I've checked out pretty much every club that I had any relative interest in so I'm pretty much winding it down to just PSNTV, Blue & White Society and the improv group. I'm still in the process of getting my internship, so hopefully within the next week I'm doing some work with that.

-Mikhail

So now that summer is over I figure I'd go back to the regular just random posts when I feel like. First few days at University Park have been pretty cool. Haven't gone partying yet, but I'm sure that'll change this weekend. Meeting some cool peoples, classes aren't too shabby so far. Professors are chill so I think I'll tough it out. I've been checking out alot of clubs, trying to figure which ones I'll stick with, as well as getting in line with an internship during the fall filming and editing Penn State athletics games and putting them online. Good times ahead!

-Mikhail

Well last week home. Its been a great summer once again. Lots of good times with the jerks, good times at the Door. Its hard to believe that my time there is pretty much done, but who knows might end up working there again if the situation allows it. Well, a lot of packing in my immediate future. I'm looking forward to meeting some cool new people and seeing the few cool people I know already.

-Mikhail

Man its been a little while. A lot has changed since last post. Manny Ramirez is on the Dodgers now, Brett Favre is a Jet and I have a BlackBerry, which I'm posting this from actually. Two weeks from today I'll be getting ready for class (hopefully asleep at this time). Got another 12 days here to enjoy. Last week at the Door should be good and then one week to just get everything together. This year is gonna be awesome!

-Mikhail

Good week since last. Doing the work thing, always fun and crazy. Tried and Indian food and hookah which were both great. Drank with my family Saturday after working the All-Star FanFest. Sunday bought clothes and met Don Mattingly who was signing autographs at Foot Locker. Then hung out with David and Franco, More work this week, hopefully flies by.

-Mikhail

Man its been a good two weeks since last post. Working at The Door has never been as great as this year. Definitely alot more grateful for it since working at a certain designer's daughter's store. I went to Economy Candy, and to Katz's for some pastrami. Needless to say great fuckin afternoon. Friday saw the fireworks, which was bad ass surprisingly. Saturday at Vice's brothers' graduation bbq, which was great as well. I'm hoping I get paid this week, considering I really need to get some paper flow.

-Mikhail

I've had a nice week off since leaving Dylan's. I'm well rested, my legs and feet don't hurt as much, and mental stability has returned. I finished MGS4 last week, not much after my last post. Snake can finally rest like I have the last week. On Wednesday I went to the Penn State Communications mentoring thing at the Hearst Tower. It's a beautiful building there and got to see one of my favorite people there which was nice. Went to the museum and drank with the jerks on Saturday, good times of course. Tomorrow I go back to where I'm supposed to be the Door. I got a very busy summer ahead, so it should be interesting.

-Mikhail

Tomorrow's my last day at Dylan's, which is great. Got my PS3 on Thursday with David. MGS4 is just spectacular. I'm almost done with it I think and the story is coming together nicely as usual. On Wednesday I get to go to the Hearst Tower for a speed mentoring deal for communications majors at Penn State. That should be interesting. Football tickets on sale tomorrow morning so looking forward to that.

-Mikhail

Its my last full week at Dylan's and I start off closing Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off and the rest of the week work 1-10. Death Cab and Rogue Wave tomorrow night, very excited. Sneaking out on Thursday, whether its in the wee hours or just before noon.

-Mikhail

Last week needless to say was really up and down. I discovered my absolute hate for working at Dylan's because its just straight up creepy to spend the day in. The hours have been really exhausting especially since I closed both Friday and Saturday. During those two days though I got to talk more with a couple of my coworkers, both can understand my desire to leave (one of which actually is around the same time I am). That's what kind of sucks about it because for the most part everyone there is pretty chill. Anyway, today I went to the Door to get a gist of this year's plan. I'm definitely excited about that as always, so it makes me more anxious to get the next two weeks out of the way. Less than 11 days til MGS4, wooooooooooo! Oh yeah, observation for the week: what is this new fascination with Avante Garde?


-Mikhail

Interesting week since last post. Went to see DeVotchKa on Tuesday night, which was amazing. Immediately prior to that I got a call to come in and work at Dylan's Candy Bar. Started on Wednesday, worked crazily Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Its not a terrible job at all, but it really isn't my type of thing. I'm gonna stick with it until its time to work at the Door so I can get MGS4 woooooooo and pay off other miscellaneous debts. In the meantime I can tell tales of customers I've had.

So here's one: This chick is standing at bulk candies in front of the Sour Patch Kids.
Me: Need some help?
Lady: Do you guys sell individual flavors of Sour Patch Kids, I need the red ones?
Me: No, you know we do have the Sour Patch Cherries.
Lady: Yeah, I saw those, but my boyfriend only likes the red Sour Patch Kids. He'll buy a pack eat the red ones and throw them out.
Me: Okay, you have fun with that.

-Mikhail

Beginning of week 2 of Summer of SIH!! The OCHO. Nothing really going on as you could suspect. Thursday I applied at Dylan's Candy Bar, some crazy candy shop on 60th & 3rd, interview went well so I hope to hear back. Afterwards bought Craig Ferguson's book Between the Bridge and the River read the first couple chapters and looks to be something good to read for the summer. Saturday had my first driving lesson, which wasn't too bad at all. Driving is fricken hard though, alot of things to consider when making any move at all. Hopefully in 6 lessons I know enough to pass the test and be on my way to drive around. Just heard from Greg about plans for the summer, so if I'm unemployed still by the end of the week, I might be getting an early start on that.

-Mikhail

Well, its great to be back home. Of course the way I officially know I'm home is when it only takes me 10 minutes to put shoes on, find the downstairs key and money and buy a slice of pizza and come back. I'm more than happy to be done with this year. This was definitely the toughest year ever because I missed out on a lot of good times. Whenever I saw my friends from last year they were easily the highlight of that week. It sucks that now most of them decided not to go to University Park, but I know I'll be seeing them during football season and other times.

On another note, I think this is gonna be a great summer. I've seen the people that I can see for now and thats the best way to start the vacation. Hopefully tomorrow, I can go get my driving lessons on while looking for work. I need some serious money this summer so that I can get MGS4 and PS3, new phone, new TV maybe, and pay off my credit card before going to University Park.

Good Times Ahead,
-Mikhail

Holy shit, I don't think I've ever been as sick as I've been this week. Officially I have an upper respiratory infection, which implies that not only is my throat all sore, but my nose and surrounding upper respiratory areas are all fucked up. I'm now trying to irritate my sore by gargling a simple saline solution and drinking highly acidic orange juice. I'm hoping my reverse psychology works because it really sucks. Only 2 weeks left of class and a few finals and i'll be home in 3 weeks time.

-Mikhail

I'm so sick of this place, it has really taken a toll on me mentally and physically. Last week I had to work on two major papers and study for a quiz that I was actually sick. Sure it was my usual change of weather sick, but it was really just pounding me bad. I saw a buddy of mine today from last year that unfortunately due to lame circumstances couldn't come back to school this year. He saw me and said "Mikhail, I'm glad to see you! You're like one of the most chill people I've ever met." I wish that were still true, but too many things here really make that impossible. There are some people, there are some rules, this place in general just is here to ruin your day and with proper combination of each it definitely will. And you know how they say things get better with time, well in this case its not because you get used to it, its because there's a time limit fortunately. My new situation at University Park is less than 5 months and I'm lucky enough to know that its not a drag on you, but rather enhancing. Classes are gonna suck already for me, but at least a friendlier atmosphere is there to keep from dreading them. Oh well, 5 weeks to go before I become a workaholic again.

-Mikhail