Last post of 2009. I think I'll spend tonight very similar to what I did last year: cheesy movie marathon. Killer Tomatoes, Airplane!, Top Secret!, and maybe a few episodes of Freakazoid! or the Tick. I'll be doing this while enjoying some six-cheese pizza. To drink, I have berry weiss (berry-flavored beer), everything to make white russians, and very probably some hot cocoa.

I guess I'll do a highlight of the best things of the year:

- I adopted (and befriended) many rats throughout the year (five to date, although two have passed on)
- I learned to unicycle, and have gotten pretty decent on my 36"
- I even made the paper because of my big wheel
- I completed the Twelve Labors of Hercules cache series, which include caches placed on many of the mountain peaks in the area (many not on trail and extremely difficult to get to). The last of the series I found (both this year) were on Florida Peak's Unnamed Counterpart (technically, Florida Peak is a few feet lower but was named first... then it was discovered its twin is actually higher) and The Organ Needle (the highest peak in the Organ Mountains)
- I started living a car-free life
- I lost my GPS unit while hiking. Wait, this isn't a good thing. D'oh! It might still be out there, actually.

Hopefully tomorrow, I'll remember to write a counterpart to this post with stuff I hope to accomplish for the new year... so I can promptly forget any expectations I have for it.

I completely forgot to post a list of highlights from last Friday, No Pants Day. Overall, there were no problems. It was a fairly mild event. I got a few laughs and a few people asking me why I don't have pants on. Some highlights:

- One of my friends saw me in the music building and basically said she didn't doubt I'd do it. It's nice to know my friends understand the true level of my insanity.

- A music professor came up to talk to the friend and looked at me. After getting a brief explanation, she commented: "At least you're modest and not in fishnets or something."

- One of the RAs in my building started to take off his pants after seeing me in my underwear. He just looked at me and exclaimed, "No Pants Day!" He unzipped and started pulling them off... but then stopped, adding that his boxers didn't have a button on the fly (which would be bad, as he said).

- I saw at least 2-3 others who were walking outside without pants, and have heard of more (still probably a small number- but I wasn't alone). A few of the guys in my dorm even briefly (no pun intended) dropped their pants to walk down the hall a little ways.

- A few days after No Pants Day, a cafeteria worker commented that she was glad to see I was wearing pants again (I was actually wearing my kilt that day, but close enough).

- One person asked if I had forgotten my pants when he walked by by sitting in front of the student union building with the signs.

- Two people told me they couldn't do No Pants Day because they go commando.

That's about all I can remember for the moment. I'm sure there are more highlights that I've probably already told s0rr0w, so I'll just check our chat history and might add to this later (probably by mid-week since my computer's not set up at the moment). There won't be another post- I'll just expand the list in this post.

It's No Pants Day (or will be in an hour and a half). I decided to create two posts- one public and one friends only. The friends only shows pictures of signs and my outfit. This is just a generic reminder for anyone who happens to read my journal to not wear pants.

So how does a geocaching guy like me honor Father's Day? Okay. Think real hard on this one. Does it involve going to Dairy Queen? Well, actually, yes. My family did do that. Before that, however, I hid 8 caches around the yard for my dad to find. I mean, I couldn't just tell him where my present was. Instead, I gave the coordinates to the starting cache on a birthday card. Each cache then contained coordinates to the next cache. (This is typically referred to as a multi-cache).

( Description of each cache )

Oh, and the present was a GPS unit (Magellan eXplorist 210) and a road atlas.

(My MySpace Blog has more info, or check out NoPantsDay.com).

I don't think I'll do anything at school, since I couldn't get ahold of any of my friends who go there. Maybe I'll still try. It'd be fun to be pantsless at least a few minutes on campus... but doing it alone might seem a bit creepy and weird (in a not-so-good way). Otherwise, there's a party I'm invited to tomorrow night in which the host said that it could easily turn into a pantsless party (but it's not being advertised as such prior). I may or may not go to that.

If I see someone else on campus without pants, I'll drop mine, too... or if I could convince a friend to do it... hmm... maybe I'll go for it. I'm sure my geography class would love to see me in my boxers. I could just imagine my T.A.'s reaction now when I tell him, "I was working so hard on my project that when I left my house this morning, I just completely forgot my pants." {12 hours, 45 minutes until projects are due}.

While I'm busy not working (don't ask how that works... or doesn't work...), I figure I'd announce that tomorrow, May 5, Cinco de Mayo, and my friend Shayna's b-day... is No Pants Day (or, the official MySpace page).

Now the question...

Poll #722594 No Pants Day
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4

How should I go to school tomorrow?

Note: "No Pants" also means no pants substitutes. No skirts. No kilts. No shorts. They don't count. It's about being in underwear... not skimpy gross underwear, either. Clean, thick underwear- that's suitable for wearing out in public (or to a birthday/Cinco de Mayo/No Pants Day party if you live in Fairbanks).

Even though most traditions for St. Patrick's Day include making things green, I think I'm going to try for cylon shooters that day. Cylon shooters are red (if done properly). Tonight, I went out to dinner with my parents. Bennigan's didn't have lichee. Realizing it might be a little too "exotic" for this area, I might have trouble finding it- at least in a restaurant. I might try getting the ingredients myself and making each one of my friends (who aren't driving) have one on St. Patrick's Day. Poor soul who will end up being DD. With my luck, no one will agree to that and I'll end up being sober the entire time. Oh well. Party on. (Or study. Midterms come up soon).

Before I get to the Icelandic Survial Guide (found on my Nói albínói CD), actually, this isn't very important. It is neat, though. For any X-Files fans, you'll be happy to know DVD sets are coming down in price. At Best Buy, the price (at least for the first few seasons) were about $40. Also, they've been repackaged. They're the same season discs, but the packaging is slightly different. Insteady of having the clunky fold out box, the discs have been put into the slim DVD cases- much like how Wonderfalls is packaged.

Since tomorrow is Valentine's Day, I thought I'd refer back to last year's post. I really don't have any problems with V-Day, though. I really don't pay much attention or am too apathetic to really care.

Finally--- the point of this post.

( Icelandic Survival Guide )

Okay, so I gave up my fast and spiritual quest for today. I tried meditating, but it didn't seem to work. I kept wanting to go to sleep. So, at 1 today, I ate lunch. Oh well. So much for that.

Aside from that, I've been watching the Twilight Zone marathon and picking pecans in my backyard- well, was, until it became very windy. I'm also trying to figure out a writing system for my language. I know I came up with one, but I don't know if I'm happy with it. I'm looking through a few books I checked out from the library that compare languages in the world.

Regarding my website, I think I will change the layout. I think enough people were having problems to make the style more problematic than the convenience it provides. I might still use TiddlyWiki for a "Wiki on a Stick" as some kind of virtual notebook I keep on a USB flash drive. Since I'm looking for a new style, it occurs to me that maybe I should develop some kind of purpose for my site. At the moment, the big thing I want to put up is my information about my language - which I still might use as a TiddlyWiki so I can search entries in the dictionary fast.

Hmm... </ramble>

Tomorrow, I think I'm going to celebrate the new year by fasting during the day and then eating my first meal in the evening. I also hope to spend some serious time in thought and/or meditation, hopefully to help get direction about the future. I don't know about the whole fasting thing, though. I'm not certain what I want to accomplish with that. It doesn't seem like I can really do much cleansing of my body in only day. I suppose it's more about the sacrifice- that even though I can eat, I'm choosing not to for possibly some greater good. I also won't completely fast- I will still drink water. Otherwise, nothing until dinner.

I opened most of my presents tonight. I was hoping to show off a new mood set, since a paid account was part of it... but that takes a lot of work- so I'll have to wait a few days until I'm patient enough to do it.

( List of gifts )

Edit: After typing that list, I felt kind of bad/spoiled... just seeing how much it is. Maybe I won't celebrate this holiday in the future. Even as excited as I usually am about opening presents, I usually feel bad about getting them- as if I'm expected to not only give, but get a bunch of stuff that will further crowd my room for years to come... plus, there is also the whole, "This money could have been donated and I didn't think of others as much as I should have" thing.

Edit²: As "stocking" presents that Santa left, I got a bag of candy, a deck of trivia cards, a headset/mic for my cell phone, and an oranges/grey reversable vest. I guess now I can go hunting... well, if I had a gun. I have the vest, though! Hopefully no one will come shooting me now.

I had an interesting conversation with my dad. He was watching football on tv and the announcer said something about Christmas Eve. He wanted to correct the announcer and have him say "the day before Christmas" and that Christmas Eve isn't until tonight. He further explained how "Eve" is short for Evening was using the phrase more literally to mean the evening before Christmas. I then tried to explain that "Christmas Eve" has evolved to apply to the entire day before Christmas... and also that if you really want to get technically, "Christmas eve" should apply to the evening of Christmas- ie, tomorrow night. Isn't linguistics fun?

So... Christmas Eve:
-the evening of Christmas
-the evening before Christmas
-the entire day before Christmas.

An X-mas carol of the future:

So lock the door,
and hit the floor
'cuz Santa Claus comes tonight.

They keep coming. Last night's main attraction involved me being at school. I was taking a creative writing class, but missed a lab portion. (A lab for creative writing? Apparently, it was the day we would analyze stories we wrote). Then it weirder by my instructor saying that anyone who owns a house can't be in the class (or some other ridiculous statement like that). I try to straighten it out and talk to her. Later on, after band practice (*sigh* even in my dreams, I'm a band nerd), I talk with another professor. Somehow he starts talking to me about geoarchitecture (and actually used that term in my dream). This lead me to think about a project where I'd examine some building's main features/elements and determine what style of architecture was used.

Aside from that, there's about 10.5 hours until I open presents... and it's just a coincidence that the presents are mostly grouped by who they're to underneath the tree. It's not like I'd sort them or anything. Okay, so I thought about doing that, but honestly, they are mostly sorted--- just conicidentally. I didn't really have to sort through them. *cough* Coincidence.

I am quite excited, though. This is an actual conversation I had with my mom at 6:15 this morning as we passed each other in the hallway (I was getting a drink of water- no sane person would willingly get up that early).

Scott: Did you know there are only 62 hours until we open presents?
Mom: Now I know what you think about all the time.
Scott: Is that bad?
Mom: It's just weird.
Scott: Actually, it's more like 61 hours, 45 minutes.
Mom: Good night, Scott.

Edit: At the time of this post, there are 58 hours and 30 minutes until estimated present opening time. (Yes, we're a weird family. We open presents on X-mas Eve.)

In honor of X-mas and the new year...

( Holiday greetings from tvland )

I almost forgot in my last post- happy winter solstice, everyone! Today is the shortest day of the year... which naturally makes for a long night. Exciting, isn't it?

I got an early Christmas present today in the mail- an English tech tree for Civ 4. Huzzah! That was a big highlight of my day, sadly- but not the biggest highlight. That honor goes to a new layout I've picked out for my web page. It should be up by X-Mas. Speaking of X-Mas, check out the 12 Days of Christmas according to that sim-er.

Today on the radio, I heard two hilarious Christmas songs. One of them was about how Santa should give a Jew girl a Christmas present- some comedy song. The other was an "inspirational" song- not meant to be funny. It told a story of how Jesus helped Santa save Christmas. Apparently, there was a blizzard so strong that Rudolph's nose was useless. Jesus came to the rescue and his mighty halo shined the way. Then some toys were broken. No problem. Jesus, being a carpenter, was about to fix them.

Lastly, God hates Christmas. I don't disagree with everything on that site- Christmas has become very commercialized, and it would be nice if people thought of others (more than just "Oh, I have to get so-and-so a present"). One thing I do disagree with is the use of "X-Mas." With the Futurama reference aside, there is a logical reason why some people say X-mas. "The 'X' is thought to represent the Greek letter 'Chi' - the first letter of the Greek word for Christ, Christos." (BBC story). "It is derived from the word ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ, transliterated as Christos" (Wikipedia Xmas entry)

( Dear Santa... )

Hmph! And I'd do it all again (especially the ruling of Canada as a cruel and heartless dictator)

Virgin Mobile is still at it. It's time for another year of Chrismahanukwanzakah. They also set up 1-888-Elf-Poop if you need help deciding what to give people for X-Mas (lots of Chrismahanukwanzakah jingles... but you have to deal with the advertising). Check out last year's commercial and an animated version. Something similar, I found was RamaHanuKwanzMas .

In other holiday news, Festivus is still around. There are two books about it: The Real Festivus: The Handbook for the Rest of Us, by Daniel O'Keefe and Festivus: The Holiday for the Rest of Us, by Allen Salkins. I've put them both on my Amazon.com wishlist. Maybe I should buy a Festivus pole?

Thinking about holidays, I also want to decide in the future what holidays I actually want to celebrate, especially when it comes to winter holidays (There are just so many! Check out this list). One of these days over winter break, I'll make a list of holidays I want to celebrate.