Priorities

It has come up in my mind now that some things in my life are kind of in pieces  right now. Some in a bad sort of way, but mostly in a way that is unorganized  and difficult to piece together. I am a person who plans every little thing  out. You should see my calendar. But, really I have been and currently am involved  in many different things that require me to be pulled in many different directions.  Now, not that this is a bad thing, but I just don’t know what is going to have  to give first. I know some things that I can’t let go of and some that I could  probably part from. So, I guess this is where a list comes in.

School: Ok, what do you think? Yeah, I’m probably not going  to have the quarter that I had last quarter, but I still have to give it my  best and dedicate as much time as needed to get my work done and to stay on  top of things. I have already spent a couple days reading for 10 hours and  it was not something that I would choose to repeat anytime soon.

Friends: In the end they are all that you have. Friendship is one thing that  I think I might take for granted too many times. I am just lucky that I have  the friends that I do here in WA and back at home in MN. They know me for who  I am and that is what makes them a step above the rest.

Work: I just started my job today and I am anticipating that this will take  up a good amount of my time, but this should help me structure my time better.

Online commitments: Ok, as strange as it sounds I currently  have commitments to people online, some to people I know and some to people  I don’t know nor will ever meet in person. Yeah, this will probably be the  first thing to be cut back on. There are some people (UW| comes to mind) that  I can’t just let go because many of them have become people that I have known,  respect, and trust. So, that makes it more difficult. But, for those that I  really don’t know, it is easier to move away on to other things that are of  a larger priority.

I guess that is just a small blurb on what I see as my current problem that  I have with what is going on. I need to make this work and I think that the  stress will fall off. But, until then I have to make due with what I have.

Where has all my time gone?

Ok, not that this is a really interesting topic, but hear me out. Initially when this quarter started I was taking 18 credits (which is 3 over a full time student). I figured that this would not be so bad because of the course content that I was registered for. But, after only one day in my IS class, I realized that not only was this class not what I had thought, but it totally sucked. So, in the wisest decision that I have made all quarter, I dropped that classtaking my schedule back down 13 credits.

Now, 13 credits seem like not a lot of credits to be taking. Well, yea, you are right. It is not that much. But, for some reason my INFO 311 prof likes to assign a ridiculous amount of reading for every class, and I think I speak for many when I say that some of it is quite boring and not simulating to read at all. So, spending all of my day off from class this week reading for 10 hours straight was not exactly my type of fun. But, wait Ryan, you went boarding on Saturday, then a party that night and another party for a friend the next night, so what’s your bitch about? Well, ok, fine… I did have fun this weekend… Ask some people that were there on Saturday…

But, it just seems that school is consuming me with things that are not as interesting to me as they were last quarter. I mean, I really enjoy the Informatics major, but some of the material is not really in what I want to get out of the program. Nevertheless, I have to take these classes because they are apart of my graduating. Also, on top of all the reading I have the unfortunate displeasure of taking yet another CSE class. I hate CSE with a passion and I think that this professor would rather bore us to death than do anything else. But, againI have no choice, and I will pay for it.

I guess I am just frustrated with how my time is disappearing this quarter. I am having less time for myself and more time that is being dedicated in the TE Lab, reading, catching up, doing CSE, or doing other stupid stuff. Also, with me starting a job tomorrow (Wed) I know my time will be more valuable then ever for myself and for those that I want to spend time with. So, with that said, I think some change is in order in where my commitments are and where they should be. I am pretty close now, but I just feel that if I can’tgo all out, I should just stay home and pass on the torch to someone else.

Crystal Mountain

We began our trek to Crystal early in the morning and this is one of a few shots that I took along the way of “The Mountain”

Kony and I killing time on one of the many chairlift rides that we had today

A backwards shot from the chairlift back down the hill. Nothing too exciting here, but I figured that I would take it since it was such a nice day.

More “senic” photos from the chairlift

This was taken from the peek of the mountain that we were on. There is a killer panaroma below, but this is alos a very good shot.

Again, another shot from the top of Crystal. We were above the clouds today, as can be seen in this picture.

Some bird that happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Kony taking the top of the world by storm!

A picture of me at the peek of Crystal with Rainier(?) in the background.

So, uh we were doing so bad at snowboarding that we figured that we’d both jump off the top of the mountain.

The aftermath…Check out the windburn, it’s hot!

Kony had to drive to he best pay attention to the road.

Last but not least the panoramic from the top! (Click for larger browser friendly size)

Dissapointment

Well the title sounds worse that what I really have on my mind. This thought comes from a bunch of things that eventually cumulated with a talk involving my roommate Kony. So, if you have the few minutes it takes to read this, keep going.

It has occurred to me that I give people the benefit of the doubt more times than some people deserve. Is this because I believe that sometime they will come around and begin to see things my way? Or is it something else? Who knows?! But, all I know is that I am kind of frustrated in trying sometimes. I know that this sound really lame and maybe selfish, but really, when is enough, enough? This is only being spurred because of things that have happened recently (or at least things that I can remember). Now, I’d like to think that people know that I would probably do anything for them to help them out when they needed it or asked for it. What I am getting is the fact that I don’t expect much in return, a phone call, thanks, an explanation, just something. I prefer something over nothing any day.

Now, people who are reading are might be thinking, what the hell is wrong with Ryan? Well, honestly, nothing. I am just kind of frustrated at the moment on many different levels. Some people just don’t get the fact that when you get a message (on your phone, IM, email, etc…) that you should return it or at least acknowledge that you received it if it seems that you should do so. I find it frustrating that people don’t call back when a message is left asking so. Now, if this is because you don’t WANT to call back, ok fine, just tell me to stop calling and I will. But, if you just didn’t call back, that’s just hard for me to believe. Maybe I’ll start leaving messages that end with the following line “Call back IF YOU WISH. *click*” This might solve the problem, but I doubt it.

I’m just am tired of trying when the result ends up being the same: Nothing. Now, there are a few select people who know better than to know that they fall into this category. I am not about to go off on any particular person but (don’t make the assumption that I am directing this at a particular person … there are only 3 people that I can think of that would know if this is true or not). This is just one of a few things that are frustrating to me right now. It’s something that drives me crazy and it is something that is out of my control. This, in the end, might be the problem. I don’t have control. But, then again, it might not be. Maybe it is just something that I consider a respect issue. There is nothing I can really do, but tell it how I see it and let people know that I think that it sucks.

OMG PICTURES!!!

These picures are in no particular order…

– Checking out the fortune

– Alex on a cellphone that isn’t his… since his is still busted

– Diana’s Nose… Don’t ask.

– This was supposed to be our Gay pic, but I messed it up by really looking Gay.

– Jeff and Jula out of focus

– Diana in her domain… eating.

– When vests attack!!!

– My reaction to getting my “boob” groped.

– I can’t even look at her after she groped me.

– Julia being… well, Julia.

– We wanted a picture of this guy in the background with the sign that was walking around in the HUB. Insead, you have the side of my head :/

– Uh…. Who knows.

– She’ll be sorry she did this when she gets sick.

– Again my nose and a finger that is not mine in it.

– That’s my lazy eye looking back at you!

Just thinking . . .

You know, sitting here all day alone in my room doing random things left me a lot of time to think about things. Now, these things might be good, or they might be bad. I’ll just cover a few…

The Fam
Ok, now, as many of you know I school in Seattle and the family is back in Eden Prairie. So, that leaves a good 1700 miles or so between me and them. Now, when I am home all I do is bitch about being there because my old high school friends and I are out of touch and it is difficult to know what is going on when I work all day and am spending time with the family. But, being back in school for only a week now I am realizing that the next time I will see them will be in September. Yes, 9 months. Now, for some of you this may not be a big deal but for me is will be hard. I may not show it, but for those of you who really know me. I can be tough to read sometimes and what I am actually feeling/thinking may not be exactly what I come off as. Anyways, tonight I realized that from talking to them on the phone and online that I will miss not seeing them. Sometimes a voice is not enough.

Just Me
Well, I made a New Year’s resolution. Yes, I plan to keep it. Now, you probably want to know what it is. Well, it’s pretty simple: No excuses. I figure that I weak out on so many things because I just don’t want to do them. Well, I need to stop that and just do whatever. This is hard for me because I am so concrete and sequential. But, I think that I can stick to this and make the most of it. Now, you can’t come up to me and give me some bullshit like “Hey Ryan, give me $20.” That will not only land you a nasty response, but this is not the purpose of why I am doing this. I have my reasons for this and you don’t need to know them. If you ask, and I’m up for it, I’d probably tell you about anything. Yeah, anything.

Friendship
Coming out to Seattle for school left me severed with all of the friends that I had in high school. Now, I guess I never considered that I would be totally severing ties with them. But, I think that it would be fair to say that I am mutual friends with many of the friends that I was good friends with in high school. Some of which, are probably reading this (I know that you are, don’t ask how I know, but I do). But, I am fortunate to know many different people on different levels out here in Seattle. Now, as much as people try to change from when they are in HS and get the chance to “start over” in college, I don’t think I really did this much. I have a good size group of people who I consider friends (if they consider me back as one is their own deal), but there are a few (they know who they are) who I guess I’d consider more than just a friend. It’s nice to have them around for anything, but you all really don’t care to hear about that. So, that’s enough about that. . .

If you read this far, congrats you should get a prize. I apologize if this doesn’t make sense, but sometimes it just helps to write things out when you are thinking of shit like this. Now, I’m not going crazy or any shit, so don’t fret. But, if you feel like asking me about this or whatever, you know the number.

*edit* New image on the left. Notice the person in the back, that’s my roommate from last year. He never gets in pictures, but I tricked him and got this one.