Checksum Arcanius

Linkin Park has been my favorite band every since I personally discovered them sometime in 2002. Just about everything they did over three and a half albums (I count Reanimation as a full offering; Live in Texas gets the 1/2 tag) was golden to me. Although I did enjoy songs such as Papercut and One Step Closer, it was the more varied and softer songs that retained edge that really did it for me — Crawling, Easier to Run, My December, Pushing Me Away (Remixed).

Then something happened; I’m not sure what. Linkin Park mashed with Jay-Z in Collision Course and produced a bunch of music that had no real substance despite a few offerings having some catch. But I’ve already complained about that offering, so I will move on. Mike Shinoda made it clear that he still has what it takes to make compelling music with his Fort Minor work. So, I thought maybe Linkin Park would be back on track when they finally got around to releasing their latest album, Minutes to Midnight.

In case you haven’t guessed by the title, the album sucks. It is serious, hard core complete drivel. The first song I heard from it, What I’ve Done is dull and hopelessly boring (though I will admit that it was just a bit catchy after I listened to it a few times). Still, I knew it was not going to be a song to ever infiltrate my favorites list, which is significant because 90% of Linkin Park’s tracks are in my favorites. What makes this all so much worse is that What I’ve Done, from what I’ve been able to hear, is in fact the best song on the entire album. Linkin Park has completely lost its way. This is terribly disappointing because they are capable of making music that works with me on so many levels — more so than any other band ever — and they were able to do this in so many ways, from haunting start of Crawling to the screaming end of Faint. I fear they will never make it back there. I hope I am wrong.

I can’t believe that there is a 7:30 class that I have to take to graduate. And its already a class I know I’m not going to enjoy. Oh well, thats life. Pictured here is 18 credits, but only because my Capstone would be taking up 4 of those.

In addition, I will be working at Microvision Mondays and Wednesdays at 3:00 and Thursday all day. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday between classes I will be doing CREE research.

Ryan is emotionally unstable, has abnormal memory characteristics, makes decisions often without much forethought, and jumps to conclusions. This leads to problems like treating awfully the people he cares about the most, failing to remember when he does so, not knowing why he’s doing it or did it, and then coming up with weird possible reasons afterwards that may or may not have any basis in reality. It is a broken situation, and it needs to be fixed.

A grand thank you to all my well-wishers on the last post. The update is that there is no rash developing — for which I am very grateful. The penicillin seems to have done its thing to the strep throat (Today I can swallow without pain for the first time since Saturday!) Don’t worry, I understand the need to continue the antibiotic regimen until its all gone; I will do so faithfully.

Things seem to have proceeded now to just cough (much more outwardly apparent, but also much easier to deal with than a sore throat; for me at least). I love being able to drink the proper amount of liquids without feeling the need to slam my hand into the wall with each gulp. Very refreshing!

In other news, I did defy the doctor today by skipping out on my Bioengineering “Design” class where some lady came to talk about avocados and their uses for sex (for serious), in order to go and ostensibly “watch” my utlimate frisbee team play. Of course, I had packed my cleats and I was wearing shorts under my pants, so I ended up playing some too. We lost; it was not our best effort or our best game by any means.

On a similar vein, the Sun’s playoff run ended tonight to the ghastly-to-watch San Antonio Spurs. Jazz-Spurs? Yawn. Probably the most boring western conference series possible. The NBA just lost out big time. Maybe they should change the rules so that Bruce Bowen’s hundreds of stealth hacks don’t go unpenalized. Just a thought for restoring balance to the game.

I went to the doctor today to see about the possibility of Strep Throat in a worsening sore throat I was confronted with. A few tests and a couple hours later, I got a call from the doctor telling me that I did indeed have Strep Throat. I actually took this as good news, because while in the examination room, the doctor said my my symptoms looked to her like mono. So I was a happy camper — I only had strep, I would be better in two days with the antibiotic regimen, and I could play in the Friday Ultimate Frisbee playoff game. Alas, it was not to be. About a half hour later, the doctor called back to give me some truly terrible news: I also had mono. So in addition to have a really sore throat that makes me want to cry every time I swallow, I have a even sorer throat (perhaps the sorest I’ve ever had, according to the literature) that makes me slam my fist into hard objects every time I swallow. It is agonizing, and all the rest of the sick stuff is going on too — too hot, stomach issues, tired without sleepiness, and on and on. To add insult to injury, my doctor told me that because I have both, the penicillin I’m taking now along with the mono might actually lead to a rash that is “not subtle.” Furthermore, this isn’t the best time in my life for this to be happening.

Oh well, I will survive.