The Sky Has Limits

OkCupid's Arrow

Aaron recently turned me on to the on-line dating/social-networking site, OkCupid.com, and I'm beginning to like it.  Unlike my very negative experiences with Chemistry.com/eHarmony, and Facebook/MySpace, so far it seems to bridge the gap between the two types of sites quite well.

Gone are the ridiculous layouts and over-stylized visual explosions that the social networks forced upon me.  My Internet-driven career made me think that I should at least try them out, if only to see what they were about.  I was hoping to meet people, and I ended up hating their tastes instead.

The fact that eHarmony only matched me with one person in the Omaha/Lincoln area showed me that I'm not what their site seems interested in.  And while Chemistry.com matched me with one really good match (she seemed attractive to me) and five so-so ones (they were interesting, but I was not jumping at the chance to meet), it only caused me to cough up $50 (for one month!) and then didn't find another match for me until my membership expired.  Needless to say, I feel taken.

OkCupid is free!  And instead of bombarding me with variations of the Myers-Briggs test I have already seen 100 times, it asked a few short-answer questions about who I am and what I like to do.  The tests are there, but the few I have taken are more playful and entertaining than anything.  The site encourages you to take them because which tests you take reveals to others more about your personality than the tests themselves.

I'm also suspicious that they use these tests and a variety of other tools to group you with others of similar interest.  I can use a simple markup in my personal descriptions for words like "Sudoku" or "Techno Music".  I'm not sure exactly what that does yet, but I intend to find out.

Speaking of YouTube

I found this today--long story how--and I'm kinda disturbed.  This is what America's teens are doing in their spare time?  About the time she said, "I have two kitties!" I started laughing uncontrollably.  So odd.  This is why I don't go trolling the internets.

Sick

My God...

How have I missed this video?

Who knew Formula 1 could be cool?

While I understand that cars moving that fast without that much mass could be very exciting, F1 races have always inspired a bit of terror in me, and after seeing some nasty crashes (in NASCAR as well) I pretty much swore off of race watching.  But I'll be damned if that video doesn't get me a little hot and bothered.  Because I'm lacking in cable TV and I'm not quite sure F1 is to the point where they are streaming live video feeds of their races online, I'll still probably miss this season, but it's still inspiring.

And while we're on the subject of cool cars, I now have to go see the new Transformers movie, thanks to its use of the new Corvette Stingray Concept.  I'm sure it will probably be as pathetically written and as incredibly "spectacle"-effected, but I just can't resist something that sexy.

"Ch-ch-ch-ch-CHANGES..."

(This post was inspired by a string of comments from Kathie on one of my other posts)

I am often amazed when I think of the chain of events that led me down this path in life.

When I was 17, my first serious girlfriend broke up with me (after 4 months) and I was devastated.  I was so bummed, I told my mom to go to hell and spent a weekend at a friend's house.  This caused her to kick me out of the house and I ended up spending my senior year of high school at Ft. Calhoun, instead of Lincoln.

Arguably the best thing to ever happen to me, I went from a very low C average to a 4.0, two semesters in a row, allowing me to graduate with honors (and several scholarships).  I also happened to befriend both of our Valedictorians.

After going away to Hastings College for a semester, I met a girl on the Internet, blew off school, and came back to Lincoln, where my mother and I reconciled.  I found out that one of the Valedictorians was going to school at UNL (because my parents happened to tell his parents who happened to tell him) and started hanging out with him and his circle of friends.

Six years later, I moved back to Omaha, lost touch with all of them but the original.  And then I got this crazy e-mail about a birthday...

And here we are.

All because a girl decided she didn't like me.

While I love you guys in Lincoln and I'm so glad that we have met for a second time, I'm gonna gush about somebody else for a second.  I met someone with whom I have a kind of relationship that I'm not sure everybody gets to experience.  He has referred to me before as his "heterosexual life-mate" and I think that's about right.  He is probably the reason I'm not in jail right now (that is a fun story...), and the only person that I think really understands me.  Truly, one of the greatest joys of my life has been knowing him and getting to watch him grow up (I am referring to his heterosexual wife-mate).  I hope someday I get to do the same.  Here's lookin' at you, Spookybarn.

Now, the fact that I can loose touch with my Lincoln pals for what--5 years?--and then I come down there and it's like old times...  Man, I think that says a lot about good friends.

Growing up is good; we are all arguably very different people now, so things will never be the same.  But I like how they have turned out.  :)

This simply has to be staged

Because if it isn't, I can conceive of people suffocating from being crushed in that, which is kind of sobering.  Nick, is it seriously someone's job to stuff people into a fucking train?!