My Jack-o-Lanterns for 2006.

Alright, well today was a most productive day. I carved my two Jack-o-Lanterns for the the contest that my apartment complex is holding. As well as getting a good amount of homework completed as well. Anyways, for those that are interested, yes I did take photos of my works of art. So here ya'll go, and I hope that ya'll enjoy them. Please let me know what ya'll think.

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I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel...

Well, as scary as it sounds, there are 6 weeks left of classes (7 including finals) for the semester. Right now my classes that I was struggling in really bad in, is starting to pick up (however it's still a struggle). I will say that this semester has been the hardest doable semester that I have taken. I say doable because last fall was the hardest semester that I have taken because I took 2 math classes as well as 2 computer science classes. That semester just overwelmed me and I felt like that I had no time to complete all the assignments. This semester is challenging because of the material (time is and isn't an issue). The two math classes that I'm taking, the material is challenging to grasp. These aren't one of those classes where you can memorize formulas or just computations. Sure there's some (not much) computation, but for the most the assignments are paragraph word proofs. I have come to learn through the hard way that I need to know the definitions formally and informally to do well for the class.

As for my other classes, they are going fine. My music classes I'm enjoying, especially the music performance classes. Like this past Wednesday I had my recital for the Trombone studio. I felt that the performance went well, and I also got some complements from my fellow trombone players that they enjoyed it. Then for Chamber Winds, we had a concert a couple weeks ago, and aparrantly the audience enjoyed our concert so much that we got a standing ovation and the director came back onto the stage 2 or 3 times because of the applause. From these performances, I just can't wait till the Trombone Choir concert and the next Chamber Winds concert later in the semester.

So things are starting to pick up, academic wise, and there are still some things to come in the semester. Such as here on December 8th, I'm going to be getting my class ring! Heck yeah! Also coming up in a couple of days is Halloween. I'm excited about that because my apartment complex is going to be having a Jack-o-Lantern competition, I think my two ideas are going to give people a run for their money. Also it sounds like that I'm planning on going to a couple of costume parties, which I think people are going to love my costume that I have for this year. I'll try to post the pictures of the pumpkins that I'll carve as well as the costume that I'll wear. Another item that I'm looking forward to is Thanksgiving. It'll be second time that I'll be home all semester long! I do wish at times that I go home more often to see my parents, brother and sister-in-law, cousins, aunts and uncles, and gradparents (okay basically to see the family). Strange how being away from family can bring the family closer at times, or at least make you realize how much you appreciate them and appreciate them even more than before. I love and thankful for every single family member that I have. Also I don't know what I would do without them. Everysingle family member that I have has made some impact on me and the man that I became and becoming. So if you are one of those family members that I'm speaking of, if I haven't said so recently, thank you for everything that you have done for me and I love you for that.

Some photos that I have taken in college.

Okay I came across this website that can put some of your pictures into a slide show, so I'd figure what the heck. Let me know what you think and enjoy.

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Excited about upcoming movies...

Well, this weekend I've been left to myself since all my friends either went home or with the BSM to the Fall Retreat, I wanted to try to do something that I haven't in a while. So I went and rented a movie. Now the question came down to what movie to rent. Well, most of the movies that are out on DVD either I've seen already or they didn't have any available. So I started to think, what movie have I been wanting to see for some time now. Ah, then it hit me! The Ultimate Avengers movies. Ever since I've always enjoyed these superhero stories, whether it be through the recent Marvel and DC comics movies or back in the day when we had the good Spider-man, X-men, Batman, and Superman Animated series. For some in these characters I kinda saw myself or wanted to be. In X-men and Spider-man I felt different than everyone else around me and kinda of an outcast. As for Batman and Superman, well there were just cool (to me I've always favored Batman). With Batman, he was just a normal human using his intellegence and problem solving capabilities to stop supervillans.

Anyways, as I was watching The Ultimate Avengers, I got learn some background or meet some characters I've seen but never really get to have a better understanding. For one, I never understood or knew Captain America's history, and that is the primary focus for the first Ultimate Avengers movie. Also going to Walmart or some toystore, I try to check out the action figure section just to see if I can find a sweet looking action figure to have on my desk, and I came across Giant Man and Ant Man. Well aparantly Giant Man is one of the original Avenger members, his power is the ability to grow up to 60' tall or shrink down to as small as an ant (hint Ant Man). Though when I was watching this movie I was hoping to see Red Skull, Captain America's arch nemisis. However the two Ultimate Avenger movies do deliver on the story and action. I didn't realize this, but at first I was quite surprised to see that these two movies are rated PG-13. After watching the movies, and I could see the reason for the rating due to the action and potential real life connections. So all in all, I was rather pleased with these two movies and would recommend them to fellow comic book fans.

Now after watching these movies, made me excited about some upcoming Marvel movies that are in the works. First that Spider-man 3 coming out in May 2007. Then after watching Avengers, I really got even more excited about Iron Man coming out in 2008. For those that don't know about this Marvel hero, well here is some brief information on him. Iron Man, aka Anthony Starks, is a brilliant and wealthy engineer that was struck with heart failure. So in order to save his life, Tony created this suit that would keep his heart working. In the process he started adding on military weapons that he designed and started to fight crime. Though initially he was kind of a loner, but he eventually becomes a team player when he joins the Avengers, and has a partner join him (known as War Machine). Right now for the live action movie of Iron-man they have Robert Downey Jr. signed on to play Tony Starks, and Terrance Howard as Jim Rhodes/War Machine. And to direct this movie you have Jon Favreau, you might recognize him from Daredevil as Matt Murdock's best friend. Below is the teaser posters for the movie: