2005

May202005

Unproductive

Having gotten home rather late last night, I was lucky to be in no hurry to wake up thins morning, and I didn’t until 11. I was at home most of the day, playing on the computer and whatever. I folded some laundry in the afternoon while watching Chapelle’s Show on DVD. This evening, Dad and I went to a baseball game that never took place. There was some surprise rain uptown this afternoon that got the field wet. The game was delayed one hour but it was later decided that the field was unplayable. We made it all the way to Turchin before learning this. With the game postponed we went back home, stopping for a few groceries on the way. I played counter strike later in the evening before going to bed at a half decent hour.

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May182005

21

Today marks my 21st birthday, sort of a big deal I suppose. Unfortunately, my birthday was yet again tainted with disheartening circumstances the same circumstances as last year actually, when Jessica broke up with me on my 20th birthday. Even so, I was in comparatively good spirits considering. I stayed home from work today as there wasn’t much to do. I did spend an hour trying some reports from dictation I brought home yesterday. There were only three but it took a little while because I was watching The Hustler on TV at the same time. I spend the remainder of the afternoon playing video games and talking to Khadijah intermittently on the phone. Later in the evening, my parents took me to the Palace Cafe for dinner. There was a 20 minute wait when we arrived so we sat at the bar. Our table was at the windows on the second floor. I had the rib eye steak and mom and dad both got fish. We had white chocolate bread pudding for dessert. I was too full to finish it although I must say this restaurant is one of very few that gets the portions right on. We took mom home before Dad and I went back out to see Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith after stopping at the Boot for a drink. The Elmwood Palace showed the movie on something like 12 screens at 12:01 in the evening. In short, it was very entertaining, although there were a few cringe moments. While the action was great, I doubt Lucas could write a meaningful greeting card. The ‘tender moments’ were painful. We drove home after the movie and arrived sometime after three.

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May182005

Long "Work" Day

I had to get up unseasonably early this morning to make it to ‘work’ with Dad for 8:30 this morning. No actual work was involved though. Shortly before noon, Dad took me to the mid city office after stopping for lunch. He had to go have to the west bank office for a while. I didn’t really have anything to do at the other office either and spent the workday trying to amuse myself no easy task. Dad arrived back at mid city at 5:30. We left for the day after six. We had leftovers for dinner that remained from grandma’s. Later in the evening I played CS: Source for a while and watched The Final Cut.

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May162005

Monday

Dad and I arrived at the office at 10 this morning. There was some dictation left from Friday I did this afternoon. I got them dome but I was rather distracted all day. Other than those evaluations, I didn’t have much work to do. Dad was at the east office for a while and returned sometime after two. We both left the office just before six. That evening, I played CS: Source for a little while and worked to come up with a design for the next version of my website. I also watched The Adventures of Robin Hood from 1938, an amusing, of occasionally corny movie. I didn’t know Technicolor was in use by Hollywood so early. I guess I was only surprised to a lapse in my limited knowledge of film history.

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May162005

All Good Things…

Exactly a year to the day that I saw Jessica for the last time, Melanie broke up with me. I cannot recall a day I’ve been more unhappy. “Well, there it is.”

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May152005

Saturday

This Saturday passed rather quietly. I cannot recall any events of significance.

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May142005

Gloomy Friday

The weather was rather gloomy today, with dark clouds overhead all day. Dad and I arrived at the office at 9:30. I had some work to do throughout the day but it isn’t as easy to accomplish on Fridays as the office is so busy. I took lunch around noon and went to Bangkok Cuisine for some phat thai. There was a problem with the order and they had to make the dish again. We were going to leave for the day around three but it was raining rather heavily so we waited for a little while and left at 3:30. We picked up Andrew on the way home.

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May132005

Thursday

I worked at both the west bank and mid city offices today. I worked on some reports at the west bank after Dad and I arrived at 10:30. We were there until about two I think, at which time we left to go to mid city. I believe there was a good deal of filing work waiting for me, which I did until we left at 5:30. The evening passed without circumstance.

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May122005

Day Off

I had the day off from work today, my first full weekday at home in quite a while. 24 hours of free time gave me the ability to do nothing essentially. I started the day planning to clean up the kitchen nicely, empty my clothes hamper and clean my room. None of that really ‘materialized.’ After making myself a tasty omelet, I spend most of the afternoon playing Half-Life 2, which I finished today pretty awesome game. I promised myself I’d wait until I had a capable video card to fully enjoy the game but my self-discipline has been directed elsewhere lately. The ducting mod and replacement fan I ordered for my CPU cooler came in the mail today and I spend some time installing that and dusting the inside of my PC case. Shortly after Mom and Andrew got home, I decided to shoot the other roll of 120 film I bought for my Mamiyaflex as it seems increasingly unlikely I’ll be able to shoot pictures of who I really want to. I drove around the neighborhood and shot some pictures of houses. Hopefully this roll will be technically correct and I can move on to improving my technique with this 50 year-old tool. We had leftover red beans for dinner. Later in the evening I watched Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House. It was mildly entertaining although somewhat redundant after having seen The Money Pit more than once. Incidentally, I learned that this ’48 classic is being remade and will star Ice Cube, which seems redundant and pathetic. I also talked to Khadijah on the phone for a little while before bed.

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May112005

Tuesday

Before leaving for work this morning, I started some slow cooked spaghetti for dinner. Dad and I arrived at the office at 11:15. Dictation from last week was far from done so I worked my way through that today. Dad and I left the office around six. On the way home we stopped at the store to get some bread to go with the spaghetti we had for dinner this evening. Later in the evening I was on my computer for a while. Before bed, I started watching Bringing Up Baby. I didn’t get far though as Katherine Hepburn’s character was far too annoying and over-the-top to bear.

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May102005

Work and a Haircut

I went to work with Dad for 10:30, no particular rush. The pile of dictation from last week didn’t magically disappear, unfortunately, so I had plenty of reports to type. I worked pretty steadily through the day but didn’t finish or even come close really. We left the office at 4:30 to go home after stopping to drop off some mail. We had red beans for dinner. I spent the better part of the evening playing through Half-Life 2. I started watching a movie around midnight but I was rather tired and went to bed.

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May092005

Mother's Day

This Sunday passed pretty quietly. After church, I spent a good part of the day playing Half Life 2. I straightened my room up a bit, did a little laundry. Dad grilled some nice steaks for dinner. Late in the evening, I sauted some seasoning for tomorrow’s dinner. That was pretty much it.

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May082005

Barbeque at Audubon Park

This afternoon, my immediate family, grandma Laughlin, grandma Janet, aunt Dionne, Uncle Larry, my cousin Brandon and myself had a little barbeque in Audubon Park to take care of Mother’s day. It was different from most family outdoor gatherings involving eating in that we didn’t forget anything, had decent food, great weather and no insect swarms. We arrived with grandma Laughlin at the park around 12:30. We parked the cars and ourselves on the south side by the clubhouse. Dad’s family arrived sometime after one in a new F-150 they picked up only hours earlier. The next few hours involved a lot of food and talk than not need be described in detail beyond the fact that it was a pleasant affair. I believe we went home sometime around four or five. While we were at the park, Dad’s left front tire went flat. He took the Taurus to get some Fix-a Flat in order to get it to a service station. He had to replace the two front tires, but he took the problem pretty well, especially considering it was an issue with his car. I think we had leftovers for dinner, although I doubt anyone was especially hungry. I formatted my computer this evening and reinstalled Windows with service pack 2, something I’ve been avoiding. It’s needed doing, and with school over, four other hard drives to back up data and my laptop in working order, it was of no difficulty. While this was moving along slowly I watched Arsenic and Old Lace, an amusing, if peculiar Frank Capra film.

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May062005

Tulane vs. Memphis

Dad and I went to work comparatively early for a Friday, arriving at 9. The office is pretty backed up on reports so I had plenty to do today. I worked steadily but didn’t come close to finishing everything. We left the office at 3:15 and went to pick up Andrew from school. We had some leftovers for dinner. Dad, Andrew and I went to the Tulane baseball game this evening. The game against Memphis was over almost as soon as it started. By the end of the 3rd inning it was 13-0. Tulane had a big 2nd inning. Two home runs score 2 and three runs along with a number of base hits yielded nine runs. With the exception of two runs scored by Memphis on the 6th, there was no more scoring. We stayed through the whole game even though it was quite one-sided. We were going to drive out to Metairie after the game to pick up Jeff but he got a ride all the way home. The evening was pretty uneventful.

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2005

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