It's Pee Time

I was at Red Lobster this past Monday.

While there I went to a urinal in the bathroom.

Someone at the urinal factory had the genius to put an image of a fly smack dab in the middle of the urinal, just a bit above the drain.This is the prime location for aiming in a good whizz session. Reckless urination results in splashing... and most of the time it's very light spray, but enough to be a nuisance AND unhygienic. Peeing straight down the middle at the "wall" allows for minimal dispersion and makes for the least irritating leak you'll ever take.
Well, unless you have trouble getting it out, in which case you can't really ASK anyone to help you...

Yep, that ceramicized fly goes a long way.


Shot at 2008-04-30

Preparations

Saturday morning, I had woken up at 7.. perhaps the earliest in who knows when. At 8:30, I would be at Ventura College, getting ready to take some math and English assessments as well as going to orientation and counseling. The tests themselves were on a SAT/ACT level of difficulty; definitely not the AP test level of insane difficulty I had come to dread.

For the English test, I received a 90/105, which placed me in English 1A. As for Math.. since I took the Level 4 test, the highest (and pre-calculus level) one there.. although I should've taken the Level 3 as I had scored 19/40, which allows me to take the second-tier of math classes overall. Coincidentally, I could've gotten a great score on the Level 3 and the highest available classes available to me would be the second-tier selection. A 26+/40 on the L4 nets you the top-level class of Calculus/Analytical Geometry, which is quite possibly harder than beans.
Don't do it if you prefer to live.

So... after several hours of trying to fit together a tentative schedule of classes for the summer and fall, I went home. However, my dad couldn't pick me up -- he was painting a room in our house. "Take the bus." So I went for a bus... and then found out NO BUS FOR MY ROUTE ON SATURDAYS. HECK YES!!
HECK NO!!

I should've/could've/whatever'd called my dad right then and there and explained to him the situation as he would most certainly have come to get me, however, I decided on something to the tune of... walking 11 miles from campus all the way home. A 25 minute auto-ride now resulting in a 4.5 hour walk. It was exhausting.. but I did it.
JUST to say that I did it.

This combined with my Hollywood experience help me know what it is like to be a hobo.
(Read: No, not really.)

A bone in my left leg still hurts a bit.
**

Here's my upcoming class schedule:

Summer Session 1 (May 19 - June 11)
College Algebra [3 units]

Summer Session 2 (June 16 - July 23)
Racial and Ethnic Group Relations [3 units] -- Online Class!!

Fall Session
English 1A [5 units] -- Online Class!!
Intro to Chicano Studies [3 units]
Elements of Physical Geography [3 units]
+ lab [1 unit]

In actuality, it was stupid of me to take the Level 4 math test. I was totally lost on most of it, including stuff that I would've had down just last year. If I've learned anything about academics in the past four+ years of school, it's that ONE SHOULD NOT BITE OFF MORE THAN CAN BE CHEWED, otherwise, you'll choke and have a hard time moving on. Which leads me to units.. 12 is the minimum number of units taken during the normal school year (Fall, Winter, Spring) for one to be considered a full-time student. If you had some sort of difficulty with school, you should go with that amount of units. If you feel more confident and were generally trouble-free, then around 15 sounds about right. It gets hard... and even moreso at 18, which you should really only undertake if you've got studying down to an exact science.

I knew a guy at UCSB who took 21 units and felt like taking more classes. He was no slouch though.. Well, he was specially selected from India to come there if that says anything. (He once spoke of a particular Indian university that only accepted 1 out of 1000 applicants. It's completely blonklers over there; refer to HUGE population.) All the competition in his country prepared him for the rigors of hardcore studying, but I suppose it's nothing we native to this country can't undertake ourselves. One can start by knowing how to study effectively and realistically. (Yeah, how's about it, Peter?)

It's challenging.. and I'm not even there yet, but it's so worth it.

Some interesting computer-y news to come soon.

Let's Get RestARRted

My name is Peter Salazar.

I am 5'6" and weigh ~130lbs.

My Social Security Number is 793-21-1833.

I am Mexican, though you probably wouldn't know it if you grew up seeing me pass by.

My interests pretty much revolve all around technology: computers, digital audio/video, content delivery, and more involving these devices and systems which help convenience (and inconvenience) our lives..
It piques my interest like none other.

I graduated from Channel Islands High School on June 15, 2007.
I had been accepted to the University of California, Santa Barbara, for the major of Electrical Engineering.
Long story short, I found out I didn't want to be an engineer and withdrew from the school on February 22, 2007.
It was a downer.
However, I now know that a given major won't necessarily pigeonhole me into one area for life.

I have an obsession with specifics, especially dates and times.

This is probably a sufficient-enough slapdash introduction to set things off.

--

My reasons for bringing up a blog stem from recent events in life + a culmination of all sorts from before it. Not to mention my interests and concerns.

But, before I go any further, I must relate with an occurrence that began four years ago. At that time, I had broken off contact with a friend of mine over a dispute and I pretty much hated her guts with the burning passion of a thousand suns and wanted nothing more for her than to fail face first in a pile of mud. My plan was to keep tabs on her blog where she kept a record of going-ons in her life and rejoice when her time came for a sweet come-uppance. Shockingly, I never counted on supporting her.

Despite all my grievances against her, she had bigger problems to face off. Firsthand through her blog, she recounted her annoyances and pains in life. Whether through other people she knew (family, friends, "outside world") or society in general, nothing went untouched. She wasn't what people would call a BITCH -- her concerns and arguments were genuinely backed up with reason. Gradually, I came to support her thanks to her finely chosen words, despite telling myself I still wanted her to crash and burn.. until I could not honestly think those resentful thoughts anymore.

She called her act of writing a 'catharsis,' which is just another way to put "getting out emotional feelings for your own good." 'Purging,' 'cleansing,' 'renewal;' the sort of words you'd expect to hear on a women's health commercial, describe it even further. Maybe I should bash my head into a window to get it over with. THE TOPIC AT HAND IS CERTAINLY nothing to poke fun at, though. Why wouldn't I jump on something that could very well help me out and better myself?
..Besides, I actually do have a motivation to write. It's born out of my lack of motivation to do anything else lately, or moreso my frustration at not knowing what exactly I'm going to do with my life further into college and beyond. This is my way of figuring out that something worthwhile of myself.

As a person, I don't really talk much in public.. except to a certain some certain people.. and even then do I only pour out to a few. Those few may already know of some of the stuff I will post. Even then, I will clarify things mentioned to them before and bring out new things for everyone to check out. My goal with this blog is to put what I have to say out on the table, plus have a bit of enjoyment (and humility) while I'm at it.

Perhaps I may even find out more about myself.