Friendster's Facelift

So I happened to login to Friendster yesterday, and boy was I surprised.

I was having lunch when one of my film friends came by and said something to the effect of "Hey, I sent you a friendster message." Apparently it was asking me if I wanted to work on his film, which I was excited about. But when he first said that I thought, "Isn't friendster dead? WHAT A LOSER!" Well, I didn't think that last part... but the part about friendster being dead I definitely thought.

So I logged in to friendster just to read the message, and GOD DAMN. Totally different site. Thank god for facebook coming along and creating some competition because friendster definitely got the message and beefed things up.

Let's look at the features, shall we? Obviously you have your profile, and your friends linked in there, but you also have your photos. Now you also get an album along with testimonials, which I all think was there before. But now you can keep your blog on there, participate in a discussion board, start a chat room, play games, and there's a personal horoscope on your main page every time you login (and apparently I'm rolling in the dough today? So it's obviously not quite as accurate as they hoped). And if you look at the thumbnails of your friends, it tells you how their day is, based on their horoscope. So you can tell if your friend is having a shit day just by going to friendster!

You can also post your favorite RSS feeds for your friends to link to, or create one of your own from your blog. And what's great, compared to thefacebook, is if you create groups, ANYONE can be in them, not just exclusive shitheads from your own school (can you tell I have a chip on my shoulder about this?).

So I think it's safe to say that friendster finally got it together. Yes, many of their new features are in the beta stage right now, but who isn't? Eh? WHO!? This does not, however, mean that I will be taking up an active friendster life again... that ship sailed a long time ago... and I'm just not really into any of the social network things anymore. I hear MySpace is quite happenin' though. You know, I joined myspace a looonnng time ago... so long that when it actually became popular and people asked me if I was on myspace, I said no, because I had completely forgotten about it. Apparently I'm just a trendsetter with a bad memory...

Current Status:
Mood: Hungry
Food: Nothing at the moment... goodbye dinner w/ Mo and Tiff in two hours :(
Song: "Is That Incredible (Green Keepers Full Mix)" -Michael Giacchino & Green Keepers

Joining the Blogosphere

I read an article about the "blogosphere" yesterday, and I thought... am I actually a part of it, or am I out of the loop?

The blogosphere is generally defined as the blogging community in general, right? But does it mean your in the blogging community if your blogs aren't directly connected to others?

I guess what I mean is... most blog services, like blogspot, msn, blogigo, etc., have a sort of community built in to the service. People you don't even know are connected to your blog just because they are using the same blog service. You see? DO YOU!?

So this is why I feel a little left out of the loop. I mean, I don't use any of those services, I make my own... so I'm not really connected to all those other shitheads, and it makes me feel left out sometimes. WHERE'S THE LOVE?!

I think I'm going to contact msn, and blogigo, and eblogger, and all those other big blog services, and request that my blog be connected to all of their users.

I have a voice that needs to be heard, people! And I think it's my right as an American blogger. Speaking of American, my car dilemma continues. I found out I can get a Hyundai at cost through a friend at work. But I don't know if I really want one. I'm not saying they're bad and that I wouldn't want one because of what it is, I just really really like the Mazda 3.

I'm such a little brat...

Current Status:
#internal service error. status not avaiable (%&3875) Please check Justin's pulse, and try again later. Error #52.

Yeah I Like You

I slept 11 hours last night, and I'm still tired. What the fuck.

I only slept 11 hours last night because I had only slept 1 hour the previous night (which you would know if you read my last entry). Anyway, I got home from work sometime after 9 (a 12.5 work-day) and crashed into my pillow.

I proceeded to wake up this morning around 8, and while I throroughly enjoyed the massive attack of sleep, once I got to work and had been here for about an hour, I started feeling sleepy again.

Now, when I was getting ready and driving to work, I was fine. I was perky and awake... and fine. I was fine. But now that I'm here, I just want to crawl under the desk and nap.

Needless to say, I'm starting to connect my lethargy with my work. I think I'm becoming a lazy, fat piece of shit because of my job. Since I've been at this office, I find my mind wandering, and I constantly look for distractions to keep myself from actually working because the work here is so boring.

Sometimes these distractions include car shopping. Sometimes they include blog entries. And sometimes the include food. This is something that does not please me, because I normally eat lunch, then dinner, and nothing else. So even a little morning snack makes me feel sick, especially if it's followed by another mid-morning snack. GOD.

In addition to excessive snacking, I'm sitting in a chair at a desk all day. While this wouldn't bother me if I had something exciting to do and wasn't snacking... this isn't the case. And so I'm not so thrilled about it.

And of course, after a 9-5 day of work, I definitely don't feel like working out when I get home. It might be different if I had someone to work out with, but I don't. However, this will change when I'm living with Stefanie (... don't know if I talked about this, maybe I'll write about it later).

Anyway, back to nothingness.

Current Status:
Mood: Lethargic
Food: Banana Nut Muffin & Cranberry-Grape Juice
Song: "Black Milk" -Massive Attack

Piles of Caffeine

Went to bed at 6:30, woke up at 7:30... caffeine is my new best friend. Kind of.

"A good friend is like a parachute. If they're not there for you the first time you need them... chances are, you won't be needing them again." -Unknown

Thanks for being a shitty friend, caffeine. I've tried quite a few things, and nothing's really kicked in. You might be wondering...

Why did I give myself only and hour to sleep? I really can't answer that. Not because I'm bound to secrecy, but because I have no fucking clue. My original plan included the BRILLIANT idea to simply stay up all night and then by the grace of God make it through a 12-hour day of work.

Luckily I gained a modicum of sense in the early hours of the morning, and slept for a little bit. I can't say how much I hate waking up in the morning even after 4 or 5 hours of sleep, so you can guess how waking up after an hour of it made me want to burn children alive.

Luckily for the children, traffic was great this morning, and I actually made it to work 10 minutes earlier than usual. In addition, the guy at the gate gave me a free parking pass because there wasn't enough on my card to buy one, and I guess he didn't feel like doing his job and making me pay... but hey, I'm not complaining.

So yes children, thank God when you pray tonight, because he kept you from spending the day in an intensive care unit for burn victims. *** I think I'm officially the most horrible person on the planet... I'm talking about burning children.

I hope you all understand my humor is quite dark at times, and in no way am I serious about burning children. In fact, I was originally going to say I wanted to burn kittens this morning, but that thought made me too sad, and also I figured children would go over better with everyone. So consider yourselves lucky. Boy would I have gotten an earful from the animal rights nazis.

Well that's all for now. Have a fantastic day... only six more hours until work's over!

Current Status:
Mood: Disappointed in the power of caffeine
Food: Diet Coke, Chai Tea, COFFEE - anything with caffeine, basically (even though I didn't drink any coffee... you know I can't stand the taste... I was just being dramatic)
Song: "Insomnia" -Moon Theory

Planet of the Apes & New Cars

It's been a while since Tim Burton's version came out, and since I just watched it again recently, I'm sad they didn't make the other two.

Yes for those of you who aren't aware, there are supposed to be two more films after the 2001 Planet of the Apes. I think it's a shame the film didn't do well, because it basically kept the other two from being made. As I'm sure most of you are aware, the film ends with a cliffhanger: Mark Whalberg's character returns to Earth only to find it also has been taken over by apes. And the Lincoln Memorial is replaced by a sculpture of the evil Thade.

That aside, I'm just saying I wish the trilogy would be finished. I enjoyed what Burton did with it, and I think the next two installments would have been quite entertaining and worth the making.

Moving on, I've been car-shopping for the last week, and it's been rather unsuccessful so far. I found an Acura RSX and a... something else that I was interested in, but I was disappointed when I took them for a drive. Now I'm looking at a Corolla and a Mazda 3. I also like the Nissan Altima that I drove, but it's a little pricy for me right now.

I took the Mazda 3 for a test drive today and I was rather impressed. The interior wasn't as small as had been rumored by my auto advisor, Mr. Jordan Queen. :) And I like the way it looks inside and the way it handles, among other things. The Corolla I believe I drove before, and I remember enjoying it as well. It gets better gas mileage than the Mazda, but I like the way the Mazda looks a little more... is that wrong?

I think it's natural to be at least a little superficial when it comes to buying a car. But all things aside, I don't even know what I can afford right now, especially since I'm about to go back to school and I'll be working less than half of what I'm working right now (at school anyway). I could always get a second job again like I had last year. And I'm moving so I don't even know if I'll be driving to school next semester since I don't know where I'll be living... which makes purchasing a new car slightly ridiculous.

Current Status:
Mood: Financially Frustrated
Food: Graham Crackers and Hershey Bars
Song: "Smelly Cat" -Phoebe Buffay

All Work and No Play

I've been working every day, 40+ hours a week since summer started. It does things to you.

My job at USCard has moved from part-time pocketchange to full-time cause of suicide. There are so many politics to the workplace, even in something as simple and small as USCard. But beyond all the beauracratic bullshit, there's a deeper level of insanity, and it comes from working in the main office.

**These pictures are of my new gecko Zip. He and Lee are getting along wonderfully!**

For those of you who are not familiar, I normally work at the customer service office in the student union. But for the past few weeks, the powers that be have had me working on a special project in my spare time over in the administrative office. And let me tell you, n'er have I felt more like a pet in a small cage.

At the admin office, I'm just sitting at a desk in a cubicle, working of the same project at a computer. This was fine at first, because I was only doing it two hours a day, max. But then they got ambitious and started making me work here more and more, to the point where today (which is an orientation day - one of the busiest days of summer, and I SHOULD be working at the CS office) they have me working in the admin office ALL DAY, minus the hour I relieved a coworker for his lunch break.

It's ridiculous, is the point, and I'm going stir crazy. I don't think they realize that I can't sit here and work on the same BORING project the entire God damn day. WHAT ARE THEY THINKING!?

On another note, I was playing Spiderman 2, the video game, again yesterday and I've realized that I really enjoy it. Of course I'm not a master at the controls yet, and I get a little frustrated because of it. You would too if you were trying to follow Shadowcat and kept accidentally jumping off buildings in the opposite direction.

That's all for now. Tune in later!

Current Status:
Mood: BORED OUT OF MY MIND
Food: Thai Chicken Pizza from CPK
Song: "Can't Get You Outta My Head" -Kylie Minogue

Justin's Full of Himself

After recently reading a friend's website, I noticed a link to my site from his blog... which I was pleased about, don't get me wrong. At FIRST.

But like all good things, it came to an end as soon as I read the caption right below the link. So apparently I love myself more than anyone he's ever met in his entire life. What a load of crap! I mean, yes, I do have a gigantic picture of my eye as the entrance page to my site. And yes, my main page has a total of five pictures of me in various poses... but those are for artistic purposes! First of all, it's MY SITE! Of course I'm going to be on it... and second of all, I was trying to give the viewer a more visual navigation system rather than having to read about which link is for which section of the site. Jesus... can't everyone just appreciate a little constructive creativity?!

Furthermore, the pictures of me that are on the side navigation of each section of the site are simply a reminder to the view as to where he or she is. Heaven forbid I should try to provide a little stability in a highly unstable world. I mean, poor Karen may be looking at my site, at my blogs, and suddenly forget where she is! "WHO'S BLOG IS THIS?!" she hypothetically may shout. But thanks to the good graces of the heavens, there is a friendly reminder to the left, a picture of Justin Porter, to calmly remind her. ANOTHER CRISIS AVERTED. I think rather than ridicule my ridiculousness, Ben (the guy who linked to my site and called me narcissistic, basically) should be PRAISING my efforts.

I don't know how you all feel about it, but I think it's about time you all speak up. I went to a lot of trouble to add the comment option to my blog... IT TAKES A LOT OF CODING TO DO THIS SHIT! Forgive me if I plaster a few pictures of myself everywhere... I mean, the comments... leave some comments because you can, and let me know what you think.

Oh and Happy 4th of July to everyone! I know everyone's excited to be off from work and school... who wouldn't be?! Of course that does mean a whole day of no pay... which for some of us 40hrs/week-ers means we lose $80. Holy shit, I'm a starving college student and I've just lost $80 because Uncle Sam got a fat head and made the whole country shut down for his stupid birthday! Now THAT's someone in love with himself. He just bypassed the "self-pictures all over his website" thing and went straight for the national holiday. Well Ben, I think you have some serious reconsidering to do when it comes to self-loving actions, because clearly you're not thinking straight. If I put pictures of me on my site, and good ol' Sam takes a national holiday and I'm still the narcissist... then I guess I just love myself and there's nothing I can do about it.

Well I can see we've made some excellent progress today. I'll see you here again, same time and place. Lates!

Current Status:
Mood: Narcissistic... er... I mean, happy
Food: Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Song: "Pon De Replay" - Rihanna