Couch Potatoes

Friday! I love it! Except I'm sitting back here in Justin's place taking care of these stupid printers that are constantly jamming. Oh well, 2 hours till weekend! Not that I have an exciting weekend planned... Most of my peeps are going out of town. Penny's parents are coming in town however and while I've met them already, I haven't yet met them as "the boyfriend." So we'll see how that goes. Good I'm sure - parents love me. Ben's been around town, I had lunch (breakfast) with him today, he called during my nap, but it was a very nice surprise. We had some pancakes and caught up some. He'll be back Saturday, so maybe we can go with Gage to satisfy her overwhelming desire to bowl... Other than that, I'm getting up way too early on Saturday to go do some work projects with our church. I've done them once before with Grace and it was a good time. We did yard work for Chip Howard (of Sports Radio). Other than that, I'll prolly sit on the couch and watch TV...

As many of you probably know, I don't normally watch a whole heck of a lot of TV. But the COX guy came on Wednesday and fixed our reciever, iut had been down for several weeks and during those weeks, they had added new channels to our line up. So Wednesday night was the first night we had all of these new channels. We sat around my house for several hours, just watching these new channels. Beginning of course with MTV Hits, we then moved to the Nickelodean game show channel. No kidding! We turned it on to catch some Double Dare action. Now, when I was little I loved this show, but there wre a couple of things I didn't notice when I was younger. First, the host is a huge nerd, I always had thought he was the coolest, but Nick and I agreed, total geek... Second, I never remember yelling at the TV so much during the physical challenges. But there we were, 5 college guys yelling at the pudgy girl to run faster! Double Dare is intense. By the time it was over, the team from Houston won and was taking home a sweet cassette player, a camera and cutting-edge VCR (That's Video Cassette Recorder! You can record you favorite shows on your own TV!) We then began to reminisce about other shows that we used to watch, we remembered the greatness of Figure it Out, Guts and of course Legends of the Hidden Temple. And as we talked, lo and behold, Figure it Out comes on the screen. We cheer with glee as the girl that "Invented a No Hands Gerbil Belt" comes on the screen! I then look through the listings and see that Guts is on next and Legends of the Hidden Temple will be on at 5AM. We plan our schedules accordingly. That evening I learned from the Tennis Network that raquetball is probably the worst spectator sport ever to watch. And I learned that there is a video game channel (and the people on there are even nerdier than the host of Double Dare). But in the bottom corner of the screen, we were enthralled by footage of a guy that was beating the Nintendo 64 version of Mario in under 20 minutes! By this time, it was time to go see Penny, but I couldn't draw myself away from the TV. Luckily she agreed to come to my house instead so we could watch Tom & Jerry on Boomerang... By the end of the night, we all realized that we were huge losers. But that's ok, we had each other...and cartoons...

My boy T-Murph finally signed with the Packers, promoting them to my 3rd favorite NFL team. Way to go Murph! And to end this week in sports, I'll share the following news story I found on Fox Sports that I like to call "There's No Crying in Football."

I guess that's quite enough for this week, so I'll save the Vanilla Ice mystery for next week. But I will say that sometimes I feel like I'm on a hidden camera show. I don't even know how to explain some of the things that happen to me...

Solving the Unsolvable

If you ever watched Unsolved Mysteries, I'm sure by the end of the show you were like me, confused and scared... What happened to these people, who did it? You don't find out, no one knows. They just leave you there, worried that the culprit will strike again and this time you will be the unsolved mystery... Well, good news. I have a follow up on our little Unsolved Mystery, so you don't need to worry (or do you...). As I file the gunblast case under "Solved," I will share with you what truly happened.

Yesterday, Nick, Jason, Dooley and I were sitting in the living room watching our sweet new channels (more on this later). Nick left briefly to his room and soon thereafter detective Kevin Miller entered my house. In his brilliant style of questioning, Kevin addressed Dooley, "So, I hear you shot a gun off in the house a couple of days ago." This question caught my ear and I turned my attention away from Double Dare. Fully expecting another excuse, I listened to what it would be. "Yeah..." Dooley said, "It was an accident, I was cleaning my guns, I've grounded myself from guns because of it..." I then took over Kevin's questions in a variation of "good cop/bad cop," or...more suitablely named "calm Kevin/freaked out Chris." "You were cleaning loaded guns??" I exclaimed. "Yeah, I was cleaning them and I sneezed...it accidently went off," was his stammered response. "I knew it! I knew the firecracker was a cover story!" He defended the story by saying he didn't want to freak the girls out, which clearly by the way we acted, included Nick and me in addition to Karen and Gage. Kevin, once again, not so smoothly adds in, "Yeah...we looked around in there and didn't find any bullet holes..." Yeah, Kevin, tell the roommate with guns that we were snooping around in his room... Dooley, seeming to ignore the comment, then invited us into his room to show us what we overlooked, The Bullethole...

On our way in, I saw Nick in the hallway, and to get him updated on the situation, I gave him a wide-eyed face of terror, he acknowleged mine with his own version. He joined us as we entered the room for the first time since it happened. He bent over and picked up a small desk fan that was sitting on the floor by his closet. As he picked it up, he pointed out the hole through the base. Aha, the point of entry... The fan was passed around and examined. He then stooped down and stuck his finger in the hole that had been pierced in his carpet. "The bullet went in here and fragmented like it's supposed to." No, bullets are not supposed to fragment in my carpet...or anywhere in my house. He pointed out that all of his guns had been put in the top of his closet and locked away. He said he would not touch a gun for 180 days as punishment. His room, for the first time, did not resemble a pawn shop, there were no guns in sight. After he left, we were able to further investigate. The bullet had fragmented and left a circle, 6 inches in diameter, under the carpet without padding. Kevin excavated a piece of the bullet from under the carpet, which was then placed on the entertainment center next to Bombay Monkey on a Bike as evidence. But, as Dooley exited the house, to go to work last night, I heard sirens. He soon opened the door and hurried back in the house. "Oh no..." I muttered. "No, no," he said, "I was just wondering...none of the neighbors called the cops the other night?" I told him no, Penny didn't even hear it... "Wow, I fired off a gun and none of the neighbors complained? Alright, see ya" and he left for the night.

The neighbors complain when we play hall soccer, they complain when we play Bottle Ball, but they don't complain about the gunfire... I did find that odd. It would be understandable if we lived on the other side of the street, but not on the Northside. It's like Balcones Street is the boundary between ghetto and quaint living. Very often, the police sirens we hear are coming from across the street, the impalas are bassing out to Mike Jones, and on one occasion we were asked to go inside our apartment by some police officers because they were about to release the K-9 Unit... Gunfire might just be a normal sound for those complexes, but I didn't think the residents of Fox Meadows would agree. Whatever the case, one thing is for sure. My house now has bulletholes in it, so the boundary defining "ghetto" may have just moved to the stairwell between Apartment 19 and Apartment 21...

Win, "loose," or draw

Sometimes there are little things that just get on my nerves. And one thing I can't understand is why 80% of the human population cannot spell "lose." You can't tighten a football game, so how would you be able to "loose" one? I see this misspelling daily and bothers me even more than when "they're", "there" and "their" are used incorrectly. It's a word you should have learned by 4th grade, but since most people haven't, I had to do something about it.

As you can see by my nonsensical rant, I haven't had much to do at work today. I stayed awake in class this morning, that's 2 days in a row! I came back home and the COX guy came over shortly thereafter to fix the cable. All of the channels over 100 have been out for a couple of weeks (Yeah...we've only had 100 channels, sad, huh? Poor Americans and their problems...). He blamed the problem on the wiring, said it's a common problem for our complex. Apparently the signal gets split too much by the time it gets to the living room. But it's fixed now and we have a clear signal for the first time in a long time. He said he didn't know how long that'd last though... But I turned it to Fuse and Dave Grohl was screaming out "The Best, The Best..." flipped it over to MTV Hits and some angry girl was screaming as well. I flipped off the TV and took a short nap before work. They just added MTV Hits a couple of weeks ago, but this is the first time we've been able to get it. Nick got the channel when he went to UTD and he always praised it, so I'm excited about having it now (at least for the next week until they revise our subscription). I texted Nick to let him know the good news, he too was thrilled.

Lastly, I noticed I had 0 comments on the day I posted about leaving comments for me. I need some sort of satisfaction... So do your job, "loosers"...

Summer Days

I actually worked the entire time I was at work today (no lie), thus the late blogging...

Last summer consisted of some of the greatest times in my life. To be honest, at the beginning of this summer, I was kind of anticipating a disappointing summer. However, as this summer played out, it has become the best one to date. Each day, it seems, things have been getting better. I feel like I'm exactly where I belong. School has actually been great. Yes, I am only taking one class, but it's a class I set aside specifically for this summer because my favorite prof (Dr. Ben Welch) was going to be teaching it. Just like most classes, on the first day I walked in not thinking I'd know anyone, but this time I unexpectedly found several friends in my class. It's actually not been too bad getting up at 8AM to attend class. Normally I stay awake too... Work is actually good, I love the people I work with(for the most part). Robin is the best boss you could ever have and she geniuinely cares for the student workers. She shows that she appreciates us. That's important, not only at work, but all aspects of life.

I'm finally really involved in a church here, Grace is definately the place I belong. Being a Growth Group leader has given me the oppurtunity to really serve the Lord this summer and just to get to know some really awesome people. I look forward to the fall when all the students come back and my new group starts. In addition to these new friends, I have a tight knit group of people that geniunely love me. I'm blessed to have them in my life.

Another thing I was unsure of at the beginning of the summer were our new neighbors that were moving in where Carolyn and her crew used to live. Those girls were our only neighbors that actually spoke to us, probably because they didn't share a wall or floor with us and we didn't terrorize them. But to say the least, the new girls that moved in their place are the best neighbors I've ever had. I say that not because since then, one of them has become my girlfriend and is probably reading this, but because it's true. Which brings me to Penny. I didn't see her coming, but I'm glad she did. She's such an awesome person, truley genuine, and we have so much in common (even down to the weirdest things). I'm very happy that she moved into my building and into my life. (Enough about her though so that my readers don't "BLAH" at me.)

Now I don't say all this to gloat or bring attention to what a great life I have, I'm just thankful for everything and everyone in my life (and I also had a rather uneventful day and nothing else to write about). No, not everything in my life is perfect, but that's no reason to complain. Never is everything in one's life perfect. And I realize that there are people that are on the other end of the spectrum, thinking everything is at it's worst. You'll get through to the other side. I've been down before, but my friends and the Lord have always been a constant in my life. If you need help, don't be afraid to ask.

As the summer ends though, I look forward to the fall. I love the atmosphere, campus is always buzzing, and especially the football. There's so much to look forward to: Growth Groups starting up again, all my friends returning, Clinton moving in, Reggie winning the Heisman...

Wow, that was more introspective than I'm used to. I'll try to have an adventure tomorrow to keep y'all entertained since it's probable that this didn't... Oh yeah, one more thing. I strive on comments, so post comments on here. Chelsea says she agrees and has my back. I don't know who all reads this, so just let me know. And tell me what you think. Even if it is "BLAH!"

Unsolved Mystery...

Well, my weekend had it's excitement, but that's just a normal weekend for me. I'll begin by saying that I did not lose to any nerds in poker. I did not play poker and stuck to the blackjack tables. Just as well, the girl (guy?) that was dealing hated me and dealt me 15 on every hand... I had fun though, plenty of chickens, lots of cookies, and Penny were there to comfort me.

Saturday rolls around and I return to Houston with Nick so he can find a 4-Runner to purchase. It seems that taking your roommate car shopping with you isn't seen as a very hetero thing to do... I'm pretty sure the salesman at the first dealership we went to thought we were "together." Asking us if it was our first car, asking what we were looking for, etc. I didn't help by pulling out Rafiek's card when the salesman asked for Nick's landlord's information. We're just roommates... So at the second dealership we go to, I introduce myself as Gavin, Nick's brother. Nick was taken by surprise, I explained later that being brothers is not gay and informed him that my middle name was Lee. Now, I don't know why I created a whole new name when I think Christopher David Cleavelin would have been just as believable... Oh well, why not.

Now Sunday was as eventful as ever. I attended church, helped paint the college auditorium (which is looking pretty sweet, especially my wall), but the main event of the day was going to be our potluck. I had some potroast in the slow cooker and some others were bringing side dishes and desserts. Tiffany and Gage brought a tasty cake and delicious cinammon muffins. Kevin whipped up some mashed potatoes, Kasey brought some bread, Jason brought the drinks, and I added some corn. It was a good meal.

Afterwards we hung out a little bit, but slowly people begin to leave until it was only me, Nick, Gage and Karen in the living room. Dooley was in his room, playing with guns sure enough. The silence was broken by the cock of a gun. Gage and Karen jump and look at us wide-eyed. Nick and I laugh, Nick adds, "I think it's funny that we're complely used to it and we don't even budge anymore..." A few minutes later, a loud BANG is heard in Dooley's room. Nick turns in the chair, knocks the lamp over, and falls backwards onto the floor. That got his attention. What the heck was that? He has trouble standing, but finally manages to open the door and run out. I follow, along with the girls. Soon, I come back inside, while the other kids are hesitant to do so. I am met by the smell of gunpowder as I walk down the hall. Dooley meets me halfway, walking around disoriented. "What the...what...what was that...What just happened..." he mutters as he examines the wall. What is he looking for, bullet holes? Dooley's whole body is shaking and his eye is twitching. He goes back to his room and I stand there with a "What?" look on my face, the other kids enter and we return to the couch... Dooley returns to the living room with his laptop case in his hand, ready to leave for work, but still shaken up. "What was that?" I asked. He tells us that it was a firecracker and he didn't know what happened, his body still shaking and his lip quivering as he spoke. I said, "Did you light it?" And he says he did, but thought he could extinguish the fuse before it blew. Why did he not know what had happened if he was the one that lit it, why was he so freaked out when I came back in, how did he not blow his fingers off? After he left, I told the others the strange behavior I had witnessed upon entering the house and I was sure the firecracker was a cover story. I investigated, searching for bullet holes in the walls, ceiling, furniture, but found nothing. I also searched for firecracker pieces that would surely be all over the carpet if one had gone off, but also found nothing. There's no way he could have cleaned up all the mess that a firecracker would have left, but I checked the trashcans just in case. No luck, no clues. What really happened on the night of July 24th? More importantly, am I safe living in my house? We may never know. It's yet another unsolved mystery...

Blog...now that's a funny word

BLOG. Say it...probably the weirdest word in the whole English language. Anyway, I've realized that I've been working here in CIS for 2 years. And merely by sharing the same building with all these nerds, I have myself incorporated their characteristics and am slowly becoming one of them. Don't believe me? At times, I've found myself sitting in my office reading comics on the internet, not the Japanese ones with scantly clad women like they read, just Pearls Before Swine and the likes. But still, that is something I made fun of them for doing in the past. Also, I saw Batman Begins and loved it! I found myself at the Harry Potter release party this past week. Now, I wasn't there to buy the book, just to visit my friend, Karen, who had been having a long night! But still, I was there, around the nerds and none of them found me out of place (despite my lack of costume and broomstick). However, I still evacuated before midnight in fear of bodily harm that could result from all the wizard and witches rushing the cash register at once... And now, my nerdiness has hit an all-time high with the creation of my own BLOG! But still, I push the envelope because tonight I will be going to Houston with my terrific girlfriend, Penny, to a Casino Night that her company, UCS (Universal Computer Systems) is hosting. You can conclude simply from the company name that I won't be partying with the raddest cats (aside from Penny). My motives may be the free food and drinks, but still, I am aware that some part of me is scared of losing to a nerd in poker. If I do lose, this will surely seal my reputation as one of them. In case that does happen though, I am ready to accept my fate and despite my 20/20 vision, find some corrective spectacles with big plastic frames to wear (and not to look trendy-nerdy like Rivers Cuomo or Buddy Holly). Let me end by saying that today I was the first person in my class of 350 to finish my MGMT test...and I'm very proud of that... Yeah, hmmm...Maybe I should go down the hall and punch of of the nerds in the stomach right now and take his glasses and pocket protector as my own, because let's face it, it's apparent that I'm a total nerd...

Arrr, here she be...

Well it seems that Justin convinced me that a good way to pass the time at this job is to get into this whole Blogger thing. I imagine that I have enough adventures to write about to keep myself entertained (and maybe you if you're reading this). I mean, in this past week alone, I've been attacked by a mockingbird, been reprimanded by the class of '61, and survived another week in my crazy apartment. So in my downtime (the majority of the time I'm at work) I will try and update this.

So, ARRR we be shipping out on the maiden voyage of my Blog...