...booms the PA on a cop car at a 4th of July patron in sunny Pacific Beach.  Oh yea, and there's no drinking on the beach anywhere in San Diego anymore either.  The irony of celebrating the sovereignity of our country under the prohibitive semi-police-state was the only thing good about today.  Oh that, and for it, I am sober enough to blog to you about it.  I feel bad for the generations of young adults that will never experience the utter shit-house madness this place would be during the 4th of July festivities.  It was a canopy to canopy party.  Stop at any canopy to take a hit, do a keg stand, or a body shot.  It'd be so packed, you wouldn't be able see the water from 30 feet away from it.

c'est la vie.

...and off the Chantix.

I actually stopped taking it about a week ago.  I didn't like the effects and I felt like it had already helped me get over the hump.  Now, I barely even think about smoking.  I even go outside and hang out with the smokers with no urge to partake.  I got wasted this weekend...still no smoking.  It's like I was never a smoker at all.  I personally think that the recommended 3 months on Chantix is overkill, considering I didn't even use up 2 weeks of my 1 month supply.  My girlfriend has quit now too .  She's gonna cold turkey it though since she was only doing 4 or 5 cigs a day.

So would I recommend Chantix? Yes I would.  But I'd be careful to listen to my body.  If the effects are negative, and you don't feel like you need to take it, then stop taking it.

This is a stock photo, but it looks just like her

I went to the pharmacy today to pick up my perscription of anti-smoking superstar, Chantix.  It was a whopping $133 which my insurance decided they wouldn't pay.  It's ok though because I used my flex spending account to pay for it instead.  I was actually doing ok quitting on my own but it was really difficult at work.  I sit by the door everybody goes out of to smoke and am constantly asked if I want to smoke.  At home, however, I really don't have much of an urge and it's not like the urge will keep distracting me from something important.

So anyway I went to pick it up at the pharmacy and I got to talk to the pharmacist so that he may explain how to take it.  I get these 4 boxes, 3 of them blue, 1 of them green.  I start with the green one and take 1 a day for 3 days then 2 a day for the rest of the week.  He actually told me to smoke during this time.  A doctor in the medical field, told me to smoke. Ha!  Of course, not wanting to go against the pharmacist's orders I immediately bought a pack of cigarettes at the nearest gas station (I shoulda used my flex spending account for that since he told me to smoke).  I had 2 throughout the rest of the day and not 1 since.  I have already taken 1 of the pills so I don't know if I just don't desire a cig or if it's the drug already working.

Another thing the pharmacist told me is that the side effect of this drug is that it'll give me vivid dreams.  That could be good, since I rarely remember any of my dreams anyway...maybe I'll become more spiritual if I can remember my dreams...HAHAHAHAHA! right...

[edit] Last night I had a very vivid dream.  It was almost lucid in that I knew I was dreaming and I could control some of the things in it.  Anyway, in my dream, Lucky banned me so I went to the videosift headquarters (which by the way is in a huge skyscraper office building).  Lucky tried to convince me that I was writing shitty comments and emails to people and yadda yadda yadda.  He had evidence in my dream, I just don't remember if it was really things I've typed.  Him and Dag were very very mean to me...and I don't remember if they had faces.

No I didn't see "the Hangover" this weekend (although I can't wait to see it). It's about 10:40 now and I'm starting to feel my hangover. This means that I was still somewhat drunk this morning heeheehee

I went to "the Wavehouse" yesterday for my friend's birthday. It was AWESOME. It's pretty much an outside club complete with sand and a view of the ocean. There were super hot women there. I'm so glad that house music is making a comeback in San Diego. There's always such a good vibe at a house club...pretty much no fighting, wonderful people to meet, and little to no drama.

Two of my buddies were kicked out. I still don't know why but that kind of cut our day short. Oh well, I think I'll go again soon.

Well my grades came in and all my hard work and half-assed sifting has finally paid off.  I achieved both my goals of an A and the top grade in the class.  I scored a 100.4% on my final after the curve which means the final was curved beyond what I scored.  I'm glad I worked so hard on this class.  I wish I had the ability to go to school full time, but with Gen going to nursing school I will be the main bread winner for at least another year.  I'll continue to do 1 or 2 classes each semester until she's out.  Then it's her turn to support me while I go full-bore into school...if I don't piss her off too much in the mean time.

Oh and I want you all to know that while I achieved my goals, my drinking never subsided.  You can be an alcoholic and a success.

With the conclusion of the spring semester, I no longer have anything to do after work other than chores and maybe making dinner.  What do people do after work? I want to avoid drinking without an occassion.  I thought about getting back into shape but...even that's only an hour or two of time out of each day. TV bores me. Videosift is what I do at work, so I don't want to burn out on that on my free time.  Here are some options.  Feel free to add to the list.

•  Read
•  Fix my computer
•  Start writing music/songs again
•  work out
•  Independent studies 
•  Try to find side work
•  Shut the fuck up and enjoy my "free" time

I just obtained the newest Bloc Party remixed album entitled "Intimacy Remixed".  It's an awesome electroclash/indie project.  Some of my favorite albums are total remixes of a specific group.  If you like Death from Above's remix album or anything by MSTRKRFT you'll love this album.  It features some pretty big names doing the remixes including Villains, Mogwai, and Armand Van Helden.  But don't take my word for it. 

*BUDDUH DUH!*

Ares (Villains Remix)

Unfortunately Blankfist's bookcase full of tranny porn didn't topple over and crush him.

 The good news is that I found a new website for monitoring seismic events.

 go here: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/ for the heart pumping, adrenaline filled adventure that is geological survey.

Hey everyone LISTEN

Did you hear about me accidentally calling a dupeof on a video? NO? WELL HOLEEEE COW I DID!! 

I just want to alert everyone to how "DANGEROUS" and "BONE CHILLING" and "NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCELIKE" something like this can be.

This "Danger" is lurking around every corner. Don't let the dupeof invocation fall into the hands of TERRORISTS or then the Videosift website will become nothing but a battleground for lunatics in a race to see who can tear this place apart the fastest!

END

Ugh, every moment I am not at work I have spent my time on this one math course.  I don't know if I'd be able to do the next level of mathematics with another course while working full time.  I might have to ask for a reduced work schedule if I ever want to make it to the big leagues.

That being said, I'm pretty stoked on my standings in the class.  I got a 95.9% on my last test, which was second in the class by a 0.5% difference.  I rank third overall grade so far with only 0.6% from the leader.  Some may think it's weird that I use a ranking system relative to others in my class, but being a competitive person, sometimes that secret contest I have with the class leaders helps my drive.  

At a 91.0%, though this next test and the final are going to be detrimental to my success.  I don't get B's.  B's are shameful and I refuse to pay 20 dollars a unit for one .  That means I'll really have to buckle down and prepare for a final that's worth 30% of my grade.

Also, it's such a surprise at the amount of people that still cheat and copy homework/take-home assignments at this level.  You'd think if people had the discipline to get this far, they'd know that they're only f*cking themselves over in the long run.  I guess one day they'll hit a wall where they just don't know enough to go on.  This is all a part of my negative view on many students of modern-day higher education.  They treat it like a glorified vocational school; gotta make money so I gotta pass, gotta pass so I gotta hand in the bare minimum, gotta hand in the bare minimum so I gotta take short cuts.  Put down the dixie cup and get busy.  Your frat brothers will keep your bed warm for ya.

...but not always a proud one.  Although I often feal like I'm righteous in my belittling of coworkers that make their poor planning my emergency, I do feel that I have gathered the title of an "asshole".  Sometimes I don't mind, I think there's too many dicks and pussies out there and you need a little asshole mixed in there (remember dicks can't fuck assholes without getting shit all over).  At the same time, I want to have a successful career where I can manage to work with the dipsh...er...coworkers I get the pleasure to deal with from day to day.

 The problem is, I feel that incompetence in the office needs to be met with some sort of action.  Since the management seems to handle things their "own way" I feel that people are let off the hook and don't actually feel like they are doing anything wrong.  This is where I shine.  Sparing you the details, I like to make life miserable for certain people who need my help.  Why? Because they cost me time with their mistakes.  So I make sure shit's right everytime I get a request for assistance.

 Does this make me a bad employee? Bad for the company? Am I angry at something in my own life? I was never a bully in school.  I'm only trying to protect the system that was set in place so we can streamline the transfer of correct information.  Maybe there's other ways to handle people.  Maybe I can learn those ways...maybe I'm destined to be an asshole. 

What's your take? Anybody here a recovering asshole? Is there some sort of patch I can wear on my arm?

Great movie.  I haven't laughed that hard in a theatre in a long time.  Go with friends that like to laugh.