I've been thinking about the summer a lot lately. Obviously not in a "I'M FUCKIN SICK OF WINTER ALREADY" way, you know winter is my happy time, but in a "what am I going to do this summer" way. It's weird, for 5 years my summer plans have been easily laid out. I mean last year was a little different (at least the beginning of it), but this year everything will be different. The only for sure thing is that I will be interning somewhere. That somewhere though is a huge question, its a matter of whether my gateway to transportation will be a MetroCard or a passport. Even with the passport I'd end up either on the West Coast or across the pond. Well at least part of the decision will be made this weekend. Speaking of this weekend, I'm excited for some much needed boozing during this luau thing on Friday and hopefully during the Super Bowl.

-Mikhail

Things are good in the world, not just mine, but really everyone else it's probably safe to say. Great weekend, got twisted mah niggas, made out with some random bitch, and had french toast at 2:30 in the morning. Also convinced our waiter to drive us home since the taxi companies in the are were being dicks. Penn State beat Michigan in basketball and not only was it a good game to watch, our production was flawless. The camerawork was good, the replays were fantastic *boasts* and just straight up error-free...except for Kiss Cam, but thats never easy to do. Only three days of class this week, yay!!

-Mikhail

Today I made an observation that I'm surprised I didn't catch earlier. I was watching The Price is Right (now a Monday and Wednesday treat for this semester) and they show one of the many life insurance ads (in between the diabetes testing supplies and diaper ads) and the dude mentions how he was watching a commercial for (insert life insurance provider) and how he was going to call and apply for it. Why is it that aside from the spots Alex Trebek does, that insurance ads usually refer to another ad that may have never been actually shown on television? This may be the only product/service that uses this tactic, if it isn't I'd like to see and example.

In other news, first day of class and you know it is what it is. Reading syllabi and finding the best route to class. For some reason campus seems really empty and considering how many people I met last year that went to study abroad this semester. So, I'm going to use that as reasoning for now. Two classes today, first being my Intro to Telecommunications Management at 4:15 with my major advisor teaching, which should be coo. Then a stunning revelation in my Political Economy of Communications class, I have never had hot teacher. Damn. Mondays and Wednesdays are going to pass.

-Mikhail

Well, winter break is drawing to a close and I'm of course excited to be headed back to dear old State. My fucked up sleep schedule has peaked in the last week, which has led to me watching a lot of the Food Network in the afternoon. I got to see Bobby Flay fuck up his grilled red snapper. Just yesterday I had been wondering if they ever messed up the dish on these "in the kitchen" shows and low and behold I get to see it happen.

Well this time next week I'll be back to the Price is Right and 3 hours of the CNN Newsroom. This time around I'll also have a remote again!

-Mikhail

So I just spent the last hour reading through all of my old posts. I'm really impressed with how much things have changed and stayed the same with both my writing style and my development as a person. Great strides on both sides, if one had an hour to spend reading a bunch of nothing I'd imagine they would notice it too. This started as a blog for my freshman English class in Fall 2006 and now it's a collection of the times I've been willing and able to reflect on things going on. It is good that I've gone from "w00t!!s" to "yay!!s", even better that I capitalize the beginnings of my sentences, that I always have some slip of mind where a word is missing and possibly altering what I'm trying to say. Hopefully this lasts another two years, maybe even longer, definitely so now that my readership may be at its all-time high. Good for me, I say, good for you too.

On that note, I caught my January 3rd, 2008 post, which had a pretty solid layout of things to look forward to in 2008. I did every single thing on there except for two (the notebook of thoughts from myself and others and going to new area outside the Northeast).
Here are things for 2009:
- stick to the workout plan I started at the end of the semester, add more to it as well
- do the alternative Spring Break thing with Habitat for Humanity (I alluded to this earlier)
- get another internship (seriously this time with Letterman)
- go to several Yankees games) making up for last year
- figure out a way to go outside the country between now and the summer 2010
- get my driver's license
- arrange hangout time with people I actually want to see, especially if I don't hangout with them very often.

This definitely isn't as great as last year's list, but it'll be something to stick to...even if I pretty much forget that I'm doing them.

-Mikhail

edit: Nevermind the new area portion, I did go to Long Island twice in two months. A bit of a stretch, but I've never been there before that.

Well another year passing and a damn good one at that. A lot of really cool things happened, a lot of not so cool things happened and honestly I feel like I learned quite a lot about myself. Aside from the crazy endurance test that THON was, I didn't really retain anything from the first four and a half months. Actually there was this: if someone tells you they like you and at the same time you're chasing some chick that doesn't seem to really think much at all, don't be stupid. I went out on two dates with each of them and I seriously didn't figure this out earlier. It was the end of the semester anyway and I was not gonna see either of them again, but really *facepalm*.

The mid-May to August was a lot of very interesting things going on in my life. As well as seeing alot of shows (DeVotchKa, Rogue Wave, Death Cab for Cutie, Yeasayer and The National) and chillin with the jerks, it was a lot of work for me. I got my first retail job at the candy store that shall not be named. Although I already knew that retail was not a field I would ever consider working in, I had a PS3 to buy on June 12th and there was no way around that (of course the only time I'd ever go to a midnight release would be for MGS4). In retrospect the job was really not all that bad, the pay was good, the people were cool, the job fairly easy usually (sometimes I literally walked around the store all day). But really, how could 34-year-old Dylan Lauren picture her business venture as a literal interpretation of a candyland? There had to have been some kind of 6-year-old consult or elves or something for that place to look and sound the way it does. The moment that I truly said it was enough was a Saturday night during which a group of maybe 20 teenage girls were on a spree courtesy of a frugal uncle. This guy seriously paid for more than $800 in overpriced candies, with this birthday insisting on getting more. when I was done on my end a single guy comes up with a single item and I say pretty smugly "Wow, there's only one of you! Thank you, Sir!"

So after those four weeks of fun, I went back to the Door for my 5th and final summer. I made that announcement early and really it seemed that everyone else that had been returning for at least the last 3 years had the same plans in mind. This summer more than ever I felt like I had a project that I really could make my own even though it wasn't even my idea. Though I wasn't new to facilitating a workshop I was definitely new to dedicating all my work to it. My lesson plans were done weekly instead of the night before, I had a project that affected the program year round instead of just the summer AND I had my own desk! I sacrificed hangout time with one of the most important people in my life, but its clear that might have been the right way to do it. Still my old job was to keep him from having a stroke, definitely looked sometimes like he was damn near close to it.

Finally the fall semester. Finally at University Park, where there are never dull moments and always a party going on yet I found myself on many nights (at least until November) not doing anything. There's a lot of reasons for that, but I did get a good run going towards the end of the semester, definitely good thing going into the spring. I started doing things focused on my career, doing the internship with Intercollegiate Athletics capturing the best of Penn State sports and doing the club thing with PSNTV are both very fun and just keeping my skills honed. Again I realize another thing: if you're trying to get with some chick and at the same time finding out one chick that is pretty interested in you is just straight weird, don't be stupid. That case is unfortunate though, I'm stuck running into one, while I won't see the other til next fall. Oh well, I'm sure 2009 will be enjoyable enough that when the summer passes things will only get better.

-Mikhail

I had a pretty awesome birthday. My grandfather came from Massachusetts for the Christmas Eve party a day early, which was great since I hadn't seen him in more than a year. It was a pretty cool thing to think that he's 85 and for has looked basically the same my entire life. Encouraging I'd say. My brother got me Living on the Black which I had been dying to read since the being of the summer and my parents got me a new watch. Then of course had dinner with the jerks and played Apples after some cake. Next year is gonna just be about the same I'm sure, except no one will probably remember it without pictures. Another great Christmas Eve with the family, which of course never fails to end without being twisted mah niggas. I'm never really anxious for time to pass by, but 2009 flew right by until the fall, it'd be pretty alright.

-Mikhail

I think the peak of High Definition Television viewing has been achieved. Bear Grylls cooking and eating a turtle. Thank you Discovery Channel.

-Mikhail

Correction: Bear Grylls jumping in and getting out of a sinkhole, the peak of HDTV.

Is it weird that not even a day home for winter break I'm already thinking spring break? Not for any particularly bad reason, actually it's a really good and humble reason. More to come.

-Mikhail

I've had a very interesting realization over the last week. Ready? Okay here it is: People think I'm good for someone. How did this come to be? Well, I went out with my friend Ricky last week to this party at his friend's place and we're just talking about things (I hadn't seen him a few weeks before that) and since then he started seeing some chick (whom before I eventually meet later that night, swears I met her at the party I last saw Ricky at). The majority of the talk I had with her on the way back to our building was about how she thinks I would be perfect for someone. I seriously talked to her for about an hour going back and forth about this because I just thought it was really funny. Most of this actually came from talks she'd been having Ricky I think. Anyway, then again last night my boy Kevin is trying to get me into looking out for "Ethiopian chicks" since he started dating one a few weeks ago. This really has made me think the last few hours, since the one chick I've been bothering all semester is heading abroad and won't see her til next fall, that its time I become that guy. You know the one you try to set your friends up with. How that'll work out is yet to be determined, but I think I've got a good trial period ahead.

-Mikhail

Wonderful weekend most definitely. Well worth staying around for Saturday to see Penn State dominate Michigan State for the BigTen title. Came home yesterday afternoon and watched the Raiders offense wake up to rape the Donkeys. Today I went to Katz's and had some most awesome pastrami because thats the only way they do it. Hopefully get to see the jerks and other assorted significant people in my city life.

-Mikhail

I'm still coughing rather violently, needless to say it sucks ass. Anyway, so things are pretty cool right now. FInally got the nerve to start talking with this chick from downstairs in person instead of just leaving drunken notes on her board. I invited her to the hell party, but unfortunately she ended up elsewhere, but I got her number which is never a bad thing. So the hell party wasn't not very hellish at all. They had a band and a jungle juice that tasted like Robitussin and Milwaukee's Beast as my friend calls it. The only thing really hellish about it was its location all the way in carajoland. Saturday had its day set on being absolutely miserable. Rain all morning and through game time. It was hard rain, light rain, sideways rain, and another rain Forrest Gump could think of. Naturally after the game, it was pretty nice out, but later that night, very windy. I went to this chicks 21st and that was alright at best. Then went to my other friend's party which was better, definitely more happening, but until my escort left to go pick up her drunk roommates I wasn't there for much longer. Then I got pizza and on my way out and back to my place someone calls out "MIK!" and look across the street and its a couple of my bros! We caught up on things since initiation, mostly on how they got ritual down, but then we went to this party which was like the other two parties that night, alright. Home in a week!

-Mikhail

I've had this nagging cough for the past three nights and it sucks ass. I've made some good progress this week in just about everything. I'll try and go into detail whenever I'm not coughing my lungs up.

-Mikhail

Anytime things just feel like they're going to get bad they don't or something else compensates for that. Why I'm saying that is beyond me, especially since for the most part things have been going quite well. Last night I got quite fucked up, to the point of throwing up once I decided to call it a night. I really hate when that happens, but I did kind of ask for it by drinking that jungle juice. This morning I got my 2nd ever hangover, first since that second night of freshman year, and it was quite the killer. This definitely was not anything I needed this morning considering I was doing two games today at 12. I ate a bagel and drank some gatorade, but stomach was having a tough time agreeing, fortunately it did enough to not find my head in the toilet again. I get to the BJC a little late but so was everyone else. After we ran down the plans for the day, we got some food which is different from doing the soccer games in which the only compensation we got for that was the hot chocolate on that cold fuckin night (definitely won't complain about that). I felt pretty good by tip-off, which was good because it would have sucked to be throwing up on the court. This was a pretty cool experience overall, in that I hadn't gone to an actual basketball game in an arena and that my first experience was on the floor for a good portion of it, something surely most people don't ever do. Also what is good about doing basketball is since the Big Ten covers alot of basketball games we get to just do more b-roll stuff and things that will be shown on the JumboTron or in a highlight, which also means we don't get limited by the use of a tripod. Needless to say, guess who's pretty excited about watching home games for free (even better if they were really good this season...not likely though). After that I hung out with one of my floormates, even though we were really just supposed to be studying for our test Tuesday, but fuck that! It's been a while since I was able to just bullshit with someone and of course I'm someone that needs to do that.

-Mikhail

Pretty happenin day today I'd say. Bullshitted with Ally in meteorology especially since that jerk hadn't been in class lately so that was cool. Then met up with my group and got our outline together. Laterwards I skipped Nutrition and went and saw that sly dog President Bill Clinton and spoke great things about the O man. Then on my way to the soccer game I ran into Joe Paterno. He was driving his BMW looking to get onto Bigler and I was crossing and he looks at me and lets me cross and I can only nod smile back at him. Then I get back to my room to a nice little note on my board of someone stopping by and of course me not being there. This weekend is gonna be great, but unfortunately no Halloween fun for me.

-Mikhail

It has been a week since I learned maybe the most shocking thing, well really in my life. No it wasn't so much that I gained another 10 pounds, but that I'm like not fit at all. I was well below average in my arm and abdomen strength, well below in my VO2 MAX test (that's how you measure the body's ability to circulate oxygenated blood), surprisingly below average in leg strength and oddly enough I'm pretty flexible. So really I'm just gonna start moving around. I need to end my sedentary lifestyle and hopefully my going to the track today is a pleasant step in the right direction.

-Mikhail

yeah.

-Mikhail

I've been reconnected with the world for an hour and already feel significant improvement in lifestyle. When you live without all the communications devices in your life you really see how much of your daily activity revolves around it. The two times I had to break my technology depravation were when I saw Wall-E because they were showing it for free this weekend and of course I hadn't seen it and when I had to register for spring classes this morning, which if I should've really registered for on Thursday but didn't know that. Anyway, what made it really hard this weekend was that I knew alot of people went home so it wasn't likely that I'd be seeing too many people anyway. Today was not bad at all, probably because of the likelihood of running into random people on the way to and from classes and therefore potential opportunities to set up times to meet up later. Well now that thats behind me time to write whatever it is I gotta write for the class.

-Mikhail

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