Bought A Car!

1991 Subaru Legacy Wagon L
Color: Misty Dawn Metallic ;)

Update in pictures (http://fsayre.smugmug.com)

Work.



Thats right, 4 square!


"LOVE" in candles at cal Anderson.


Cherry Blossoms @ Cal Anderson. One of my best.


House party at Brian's. All Hilltop people!



The one day of sun! Almost 80 degrees!


Atlanta, Championships. It went okay :/

I feel...

...a bit racially/ethnically isolated. Hmm.

http://www.33rpmdesign.com/print_illustration/sasquatch_03.htm

I love the pinky show

Today Was A Good Day.

You know, it seems like everyday lately I have thought to myself - today was a good day!

So whats been happening -

I quit my job. I will be getting a 25%-300% raise to work less and completely flexible (from home) hours. I will no longer be spending 5-10 hours commuting to Rent'n a week, and I will finally get to listen to music at work. (Who does that by the way?! No music at work? I should have known that should have been a dealbreaker!)

At work they started a health and wellness program. Jist of it is that if you lose 10% of your weight and keep it off they give you 500$. So since I am leaving I am not eligible for the money, but I thought hey, why not? I was the first to hit the 10% (which was today) losing 21ish lbs in three months. Not too shabby. It was an important lesson in making small shifts in life that build to bigger changes in quicker than expected order. 3 months is nothing, a year is nothing really and its important for me to understand how impatience can limit things that are so easily accessible.

FIRST is going really well. Almost eerily too well. It is like we are getting good at it or something. We are 2 weeks ahead of where we were last season, which in a 6-week season that is insane. We finished in three days what took us two and a half weeks last year. The game is ~eah, but I think I pretty much always feel that way.

My roommate is moving out. No complaints, it was worth the savings having a roommate but ultimately we were two different people. Socially we never were friends and we have a different concept of "clean." Anyway, it worked out for the best though, cause Lindsay will be able to move in when her lease is taken care of soon. She is going to desperately try to get me to wake up with her in the mornings to go get coffee. Not sure how thats going to go, although getting up early and having the mornings will be nice.

I am going to Twisp, WA this weekend. Supposedly there is a foot of snow. That is a clear indication of what I must do. I am going to build an igloo. Seriously. It will be awesome. If I am moderately successful I think snow camping will become a lot more feasible (and I wont have to spring for a 4 season tent). Anyway, much fun in the snow. I was at a beach in Edmonds a week previous of this past Sunday celebrating putting my two weeks in. I went swimming and built a fire with L. It was most-pleasant and the funny thing is that the next day I was playing in the snow. Yay global warming.

I guess all of this is more or less building up to my Big Plan. The plan is to travel, see the country (and maybe others) with no real commitment to anything other than living, maximizing happiness and minimizing everything else. *cough* work *cough* :) I am very excited about the whole thing. Hopefully after the robot season is over I will be taking off. I even turned down an interview at PSC for this. I guess I am realizing where some of my priorities are :)

Also, I ended up buying myself a wonderful Christmas present that was a digital camera. Been having a lot of fun with it.
http://fsayre.smugmug.com/

- peace -

from: http://indexed.blogspot.com/

Beautiful Vistas

"Vista told me that there were programs running in the background that were causing slow performance and in the list was explorer.exe
I laughed.
Then cried.
Then formated." :)

Oh, and check out: http://fsayre.smugmug.com/
If you are thoroughly impressed by smugmug, join! (I did). And if you do, use my code so we each save 5$! (yeJnJ7vK9yxlU)

On that note, my new camera is on its way. Yay!

There is more, but 2 things briefly:

1.  If you voted for bush, why the fuck do you live on my hill?

2.  Faves.com?  WTF?  It makes me want to stop dotting.  Sad.

I heart huckabees

You know, there are some things in life that I want to share with everyone. There are some things that I want to share with someone in particular. Everyone is special to me in that way I suppose. The problem arises when I have these feelings about someone that I no longer have the practical ability to have this interaction with. It can be a bit depressing at times, but I do think it is a beautiful part of life caring about people and missing them.

It occurs to me about how people talk about the honesty of some people throwing around this "love" thing. I guess at any level. People think that many others will say it without meaning. I suppose this can be true, and I think that I am hesitant to try to defend my professions in the past, but everything inside of me tells me that it was truth. I miss everyone of the people that I used to have a special closeness too.

Existentialism, nihilism, sex, truth, beauty, love. It flows through me in as far as I can tell an irregularly high frequency. Turning off my brain through any of the various means is of course, a temporary bliss, but I think I have come to realize that it is temporary. There are bigger things than avoiding reality. I still want to believe that people try, and are for the most part, good. Understanding how the extreme emotional experiences we all have had bond us together will still be something that I will persevere with.

Generally I am happy. Busy and not without the normal social dramas occupying my thoughts (at least it is no longer homework or money!). I feel the urge everyday to have someone understand me better which I think is an important driving force in my life. I think that I finally have been able to live a lot of the ideals that I have developed over the years which is a quiet, slow, but powerful realization despite the painful decisions it forces me to make from time to time.

I am burying myself in Seattle and I am not sure how I feel about it. I would find a greater freedom very desirable but there are so many things that I have assembled around me. Friends, activities, etc.

I love you all. Seriously. And all I have to say is Fort Night '07 Baby!

Ugh, that time of year...

I am getting sick and things are not going to calm down till what, February? :(

I am potentially getting a roommate that I met for 5 minutes in two weeks, awesome (kinda). So I have to clean the apartment and get my shit together.

Robotics is going full swing again and we are still in the preseason. I somewhat foolishly offered to let one of the kids cut my hair if they got a $500 donation, well that quickly got out of hand - two other people matched the $500 so it was instantly a $1500 haircut and I could no longer back out. They just got the money and my head is going to be a bit chilly in the near future I fear. They are throwing a party for cutting my hair. How strange.

I had a connection with someone recently that was very much long-time coming. It was a relief if nothing else, and think valid despite any levels of intoxication. I think they are preparing for some more turmoil in their life which makes it hard to know what to say. I have to be encouraging but not too pessimistic.

Halloween is stressful. This sucks. I have a costume idea but I don't know what I would even be doing with it. I am not exactly thrilled to be going to a party that I am half welcomed and basically not invited. Seriously, wtf?

Maybe it is time for FIRST to kick in taking 20+ hours a week (escape), IDk.

Ahh I have mobile music once again!

Regina:
This is how it works
You're young until you're not
You love until you don't
You try until you can't
You laugh until you cry
You cry until you laugh
And everyone must breathe
Until their dying breath

No, this is how it works
You peer inside yourself
You take the things you like
And try to love the things you took
And then you take that love you made
And stick it into some
Someone else's heart
Pumping someone else's blood
And walking arm in arm
You hope it don't get harmed
But even if it does
You'll just do it all again

Postal Service:
I was waiting for a cross-town train in the London underground when it struck me
That I've been waiting since birth to find a love that would look and sound like a movie
So I changed my plans and rented a camera and a van and then I called you
"I need you to pretend that we are in love again" and you agreed to

I want so badly to believe that "there is truth, that love is real"
And I want life in every word to the extent that it's absurd

I greased the lens and framed the shot using a friend as my stand-in
The script it called for rain but it was clear that day so we faked it
The marker snapped and I yelled "quiet on the set" and then called "action!"
And I kissed you in a style that Clark Gable would have admired (I thought it classic)

I want so badly to believe that "there is truth, that love is real"
And I want life in every word to the extent that it's absurd

I know you're wise beyond your years, but do you ever get the fear
That your perfect verse is just a lie you tell yourself to help you get by?

ludicrous speed

Dating is expensive. Is it that a person becomes that much more active or is it kind of an artificial need for formality in going out to eat or things like that? Probably a combination but I need to budget a bit better... or get a better job... or a roomate :/

Suddenly it feels like the important things in my life are summed up in a handfull of concepts/points/ideas. Is it not more complicated than this? Have I really created a generic litmus test that can so immediately dictate an interaction with someone? I think time still plays a factor but it is amazing how irrelevent it has become - whether it is a couple of months or a couple of weeks (and maybe, but hopefully not a couple of years).

The Red Bull soapbox races were a blast. There was an incredible turn out despite it being rainy-bad weather. A fire engine drove down the street in the middle of the course either not knowing the course would be there, or needing to get through anyway. Within maybe a minute maximum, the firefighters jumped out of the truck and the audience broke the course dragging the rails and bails of hay in a frenzy of help so the truck could drive through, and then almost instantly returned the course to its previous state. It was kind of amazing to witness. By far the most expensive polished design crashed in one of the shortest amounts of time :) I ate a ton of kettle corn :/

Some things in life still challenge me. It is wonderful and beautiful in its own, hard to appreciate way. It is nice to get a glimpse into someone even after I had believed it was a forgone possibility.

I am a bad blogger

I am very, very happy about my new black socks.

The bus tunnel is open again. It gives me a very strong feeling of nostalgia being down there - it feels like it has been forever.

The social scene is as expected (crazier than ever). A lot of acquaintances becoming friends and more, and having new hideouts around town where I can feel at home are always appreciated. There will always be turmoil and a healthy dose of pain once and a while, but thats just a part life and is to be appreciated in its own way.

I have played more dig-dug and pacman in the last week or so then I would have ever thought possible since the old atari console. Awesome.

Public art is my new obsession. It is off to a good start as I have been doing a lot of rock stacking and sculptures on the beaches and river shores of Washington state. It is a very satisfying and fun activity. Golden gardens (hopefully with a bon fire) will be the next target - hopefully sometime soon.

FIRST is ramping up again and its about time! There is plenty of work to do, and I am excited. There are new people in my life though who I think don't yet understand that I disappear for 6 weeks every January. It will be tough as usual, but I have survived alright so far ;) I am glad to hear the LHS program will survive, and it looks like we will be starting some lego league teams in the future. Yay!

Thank god!

I found a reference to a Shannon Jex on facebook doing the rounds to find some old friends. Thankfully it was not what I had feared!

Overheard conversation...

"So we updated our drug panel, retroactively to July 1st... so if you have any suspicion that someone is using those kinds of drugs you can go ahead and have them randomly tested, again"

Thought of the day...

Privacy is not about hiding a wrong.

and

It too damn hot. Seattle with a high in the upper 90's? WTF!

Birthday

Thank you everyone who made my birthday special. I really appreciate it!

- your 24yr old friend.

Sheesh!

So I went to applebees for lunch today. Turns out they open at 11am which was when I was planning on getting there. So when I arrived they had not yet opened with a numberr of people waiting out front.

Anyway, this black women comes to open up (like 11:05 at the latest) and opens the doors for the people to come in. Upon showing up but before she would have been within range, one person of an elderly couple also waiting to get in makes this comment. "I guess there is white time, and I guess there is nigger time"

I wanted to cry. How do people like this still exist in this country? I guess it takes time for these people to die off, but they are living a bit too long on my social security payments eating from the senior menu at applebees. I just hope their kids are intelligent enough to break the cycle of this mindless racism and bigotry.


People know where this is from, right?

I survived the midwest.



I am 24. It is official, I am in my mid-twenties.

I love my apartment. The money thing might get old, but having it just as I like it is wonderful.

Of course I miss val, but the social scene has picked up a bit lately.

I love board games. 10-4-3 settlers game and 3 player TI pwnage :) They want me to start playing the games they are better at, hah!