Viva Mnementh!

So, you might be wondering what the Hell this blog is about.

Well, this is all about how anal retentive and cliquish some metalheads are when it comes to their music.

But first, the story behind DOPDM, and the reason I posted this blog: while listening to Pandora, the band Novembre came on, and I couldn't help but think, "wow, this is some great doom oriented progressive death metal."

My next thought was: DOPDM, what the fuck!?

And then I really began to think: just why are there so many subgenres of heavy metal that most people have never heard of? Is it a sign of variety and diversity? Or is it just another social tool for categorizing people, and somehow pitting people who have similar, yet different, musical tastes against each other?

Discuss.

So, after the 2-5 disaster at my local tournament last Saturday, I've decided that I likely will not play in another scrabble tournament (not counting local Fresno tournaments) until the following conditions are met:

a) I've studied at least the fours, the fives, at least 5,000 sevens, and 5,000 eights.
My word knowledge has not only been stagnant as of late, I believe that it has dilapidated - as can be attested by the excruciating amount of lost challenges I had in my games (I think it was at least ten) - and I don't even want to think of how many bingos and good plays I must have missed.

I know that this is cliche, but I'm certain that one of my largest holes at the moment is my word knowledge. Granted, it wouldn't do me well enough to just know words, and that's why I also won't play tournaments until...

b) I've played enough, whether it's over the board or online, to consider myself "not so fucking rusty" anymore.

I took a rather long hiatus around late summer/early fall, partially due to disinterest, partially due to my own depression (which I hadn't really caught until recently), and when I returned, I was horrible! For several weeks, I was having games where I went five minutes over on the clock! I was never able to focus worth a damn (again), and I was probably playing some of the worst scrabble that I've played since my mid-beginning days! It was just awful!

c) I've exercise my mind and body more.

Simply put, I need to lose weight, and I need to control my temper. For those of you who know me well, this makes sense. Of course, one implication of this which may not be so well known is that losing weight will probably rid me of sleep apnea - which has been ruining my sleep patterns for years.

Yes, yes, I know, it's been forever since I've posted on here, my bad! Soooo, if anyone cares a shit about what's goin' on over here, I'll try to give some brief catch-ups here.


Real life/School

Well, kinda meh. My GPA so far is sucky compared to my actual ability (2.7 or so), and now I'm taking 7 units in 4 weeks (thankfully that's done next Friday already... IT'S DRIVING ME INSANE). Still no job, still no license, still no local friends, still no real social life outside of school/scrabble/chess... :/ Something needs to change, and soon!

Mentality

Up and down. Thankfully, there's more up than down, especially compared to what was happening around my last LJ post. However, there are definitely still some problems that need to be ironed out - specifically the fact that, for some reason, I'm beginning to feel more tense and anxious around people and being in public, and it's only getting worse. I'm even beginning to have troubles communicating with even my family and closest friends (of course, most of my closest friends at this point are online. Go me, the hermit!).

Scrabble/Chess

I still suck at chess, and am only slightly better at scrabble :P. I went 3.5-3.5, -300something at a local tournament (though I was playing in "d1), and my rating went up by 35 points. Still in the 1400s.

Anyone want to donate me money so that I can afford Summer Reno next month? Please?

Other stuff I can think of

Um... I think I'm going to be getting my American FFA Degree this year!

Um........ er... sorry, phoenixsansfyr?


I'm playing tennis now, and I'm improving rapidly. And I'm rapidly getting worse at golf :/

Lessee, I know there's more I could probably say, but it's not coming to mind. So I bid you adieu

Okay, so I didn't do that great at Reno. Sure, I went 9-10, but I didn't even get to play that many experts (only Ed De Guzman and Randy Greenspan). Ah well. It was still incredibly fun, and I wish that the tournament was longer.

Okay, so now I'm going to do a music meme that I yanked from xpmorgan , who yanked it from anendlessnight .

Instructions: Open up your iTunes and fill out this survey, no matter how embarrassing the responses might be.

How many songs total: 565
How many hours or days of music: 2 days and 3:46.27 3

Most recently played: Nightwish The Poet and the Pendulum
Most played: Machinae Supremacy Bouff, 136 plays
Most recently added: I'm actualy not sure, but I think it's Nightwish The Poet and the Pendulum

Sort by song title
First Song: Blue Oyster Cult (Don't Fear) The Reaper
Last Song: Tatsh Xepher

Sort by time
Shortest Song: Dethklok Dethjingle (1:11)
Longest Song: Opeth Black Rose Immortal (20:14)

Sort by album
First album: Tool 10,000 Days
Last album: Miseration Your Demons, Your Angels

First song that comes up on Shuffle: Scar Symmetry Reborn

Search the following and state how many songs come up:
Death - 45
Life - 15
Love - 9
Hate - 4
You - 32
Sex - 3

Okay, so I am now officially going to Reno for the scrabble tournament in January. And yes, I will be playing in the expert division this time around! I'm going to go 5-14 -970!!!!!!!! (Actually, I've already been given an estimate of 11-8.. if I do that, I would be sooooooooooooooooooo happy). But yeah, I'm already excited about going to Reno. After all, it's my first multi-day tournament since Campbell in May, and I'll get to see people who I haven't seen in forever, and I'm playing in the expert division, AND THE HOTEL I'M STAYING AT HAS BOTH DDR AND IN THE GROOVE! BOO-YAH!

For those of you that don't know, I'm officially a debater. Well, I did novice parli debate at CSULA at the end of November... I sucked, but I had a lot of fun. Between having a 7-person, 40-minute-long pillowfight in a hotel room to playing apples to apples the entire time on a 4 or 5 hour bus ride, it was fun. Oh, I also did the novice impromptu contest... I came really close to breaking into the finals for that, but alas, I didn't. Next time!!!

My classes for next semester are:
Badminton
Golf
Forensics (speech and debate :P)
English 1A (IM TAKING IT ONLINE, FTW)
Photoshop

For a grand total of twelve units. The schedule is easy, and allows me more time to focus on things like scrabble, forensics tournaments, and GETTING A DAMN JOB!

Anyways, that's it for now. And if I don't give another post by them, Merry Christmas to all and to all shut the hell up.

-Brian :D

PS. Just because I want more people to do this, I'm going to do the music meme again.

Hey everyone! The purpose of this journal entry is to babble on about my life.

So recently, I've been learning chess... as in past three weeks recently. I attended my first chess session back on Friday night, where I played two Class A players, who seem to think I am already about ~1200-1300 in skill... i dont think that's too bad for only taking chess seriously for less than a month. I'll be playing an unrated tournament at the beginning of December... first prize in the unrated division gets a one year free membership to the USCF!

As far as scrabble goes... I'm not giving up, despite my self-afflicted rumors. I'm still playing Fresno in October, and most likely Reno in January (in the expert division! 3-16 -30474720740 for me, woot!). But seriously, my goal is to break 1650 after these two tournaments... well first, I need to study and salvage my game. Ah well, screw the first goal, I just need to get myself better first.

Otherwise, not much is happening. I'm working on speeches for my first forensics event, which will be at Diablo Valley College at the last weekend of this month. I should be doing the Informative and After Dinner Speaking events.

Well... I got kicked out of Cal Poly. And I'm glad. Doing school at home will be much easier - not to mention a lot less expensive.

Um... I got my permit. I'm looking for a job...

Otherwise, I'm really really really bored and have nothing to say.


Scrabble players: I'm going to play Los Gatos this Sunday... any of you going?

11-9, +286.

I thought I would do better, and get top 3. 
The only reason I broke .500 is, well.... I got lucky. However, I also think I began thinking more clearly after the vents on here. Especially on day 4. I was very quickly finding words that would have usually taken me much longer to find, and I could feel like that i was actually THERE (especially on day 4, yet again). 

I had my tournament high game against Maggie Morley: a 608. i had five bingos, including the phonies sfumati* and panches*. I think it might have been the overall high game for the tournament (the closest I saw was a 602 from clubmate Kevin Fraley)

Well, I gained 93 points from the whole thing, raising my rating to 1295. Thankfully I was a very low seed :D

Maybe I'll try to find a way to Reno after all.

I just want to thank everyone who stuck by my side, and helped me through the tournament and talked to me afterwards, despite the fact that I was cussing and wanting to end my scrabble career.

Poll #991565
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 10

Do you think that Brian Leavitt vs Alex Jaech is (or will become) a scrabble rivalry?

Liberals: They're right, for the wrong reasons.
Conservatives: They're wrong, for the right reasons.

Taken from xpmorgan :D

List 10 musical artists you like, in no specific order (do this before reading the questions below).

1 Opeth
2 Scar Symmetry
3 Nightwish
4 Soilwork
5 Dream Theater
6 Raunchy
7 Between the Buried and Me
8 Muse
9 Disturbed
10 The Mars Volta

What is your favorite song by 9: Ten Thousand Fists
What was the first song you heard by 6: Phantoms
What is your favorite song by 7: Selkies: The Endless Obsession. The ending to this song wins.
How did you get into 10: My sister made me listen to them
What is your favorite song by 5: Pull Me Under
How long have you been listening to 1: Since about 2005, but not very intensely until a couple of months ago.
What is your favorite song by 4: As We Speak
Have you seen 3 live: I wish
What is your favorite song by 1: The Drapery Falls
Do you have any merchandise by 9: no
What is your favorite song by 2: The Kaleidoscopic God
Which song makes you sad by 5: Metropolis, Part I
What is your favorite song by 3: Dark Chest of Wonders
List all of the band members in 4: Speed Strid, Ola Frenning, Daniel Antonsson, Sven Karlsson, Ola Flink, Dirk Verbeuren
What is your favorite song by 8: Sing for Absolution, barely above their cover of House of the Rising Sun.
What do you NOT like about 7: Kinda have to be a certain mood to be able to listen to them.
What is your favorite song by 6: The Velvet Remains
Have you visited 1’s official website: Oh yes.
What is your favorite song by 10: Day of the Baphomets, though this changes almost daily.
Which of these bands have you added on your Myspace: Scar Symmetry

Uh... well, in live play, um.. I don't have much to say.

I've only played two 1700+ers in a tournament: Rick Wong and Mike Baron. Lost to both of them, but the loss to Mike was close enough to do a recount (and I didn't, since I was too damn burnt by then... I'm never doing a night event again.)

As far as club and other live games go, I have a crappy record against Lewis Martinez and Kevin Fraley, probably something like 25-100 or some crap like that (since I've been playing them since the beginning of my competitive days). In our past few meetings, I've broken even with Lewis. Haven't played Kevin recently.

You're wondering by now, WTF, these aren't elites

My rating is in the 1200s, and I've never been to a true Open. I also live in a place which is nearly scrabble devoid, and go to a college which is even worse about scrabble deprivation. These are probably the best players I've played in live tournament/club games. (Although if you count online, I'm more like 2-3 against Baron, but, online can't really be counted for the most part. Otherwise, I'm a 1700+ player... I can't really be that good... am I?)

And I'm really just doing this because it's 12 AM, I'm probably not gonna fall asleep soon (though I'm trying!), and I'm bored out of my skull.

Post #1: Steve Hartsman still owes people money for the roto, yet still enters tournaments. Blah blah blah blah blah
A majority of the 15 posts after this: Yes! blah blah blah ban Trashman blah blah blah Let's form an irrational mob blah Boycott tournaments with the offender in it blah blah blah etc.

That's a big majority of this thread. I've seen irrationality on CGP before, but this is ridiculous. Sure, Steve is likely wrong with the way he handled the roto, but it doesn't serve ANY purpose to attack him when he's down, and then to hurt other people by suggesting a boycott of any tournament he enters. This is completely fucking irrational, and should be stopped. All of it.

CGP has damn near become defunct to it's purpose. Instead of being a forum to inform and help an organized scrabble community, it has become a forum for flaming and junk.

After posting my last blog, I randomly decided to talk around campus.

By the time I begin heading back to my dorm, I began to feel very, very drowsy. In fact, while I was walking back, a cop pulled up alongside me, got out of the car, and asked me if I had been drinking.

The irony here is, I've never drunk an ounce of alcohol in my entire life (is that a coherent sentence? Gah, although I never drink, I may sound like it when I'm really tired).

Remember kiddies, sleeping is good for you!!

Create your own Friend Quiz here

Ok, since it cut off some of the answers to my questions, here they are in full form.

Question, #8, first answer should be:
Fuck you! You're a deceitful bastard. This is the correct answer!

Question #9, second answer should be:
They're obnoxious bastards and I'd slice them with a katana if I had the chance.

It's allbbstenniz's fault.

1. When I was younger, I had a phobia of dragonflies. As a matter of fact, my sister in her friend got me to believe that dragonflies hatched from liittle pods that grew on this cycad/palm tree (i never approached that tree for some time.)

2. On a cloudy day in mid-November 2001, I joined a roleplay called Great Cliffs Weyr, giving me my first online obsession (before then, I was content with only getting on a couple of hours a day since I didnt have much to do.)

I still roleplay there, five years later. Sigh. And the first character I ever had there (a dragonrider named K'ao) is still in use. >_>

3. During high school, I was a brainiac aggie who listened to Swedish Death metal and was once an ASB officer. Obviously, I never really fit into any one clique, but was seen hanging out with various different groups of people.

4. I made the front page of The Fresno Bee, a newspaper with a 1,000,000+ circulation (I think one of the 50 largest in the entire nation). During the week before the county Academic Decathlon competition, the newspaper had gotten my name from the Academic Decathlon committee responsible for the Jerry Dotson award (which is awarded to a Decathlete who has persevered through some adversity each year). They interviewed me about me, and I thought it was going to be in the life section. That Friday, I was home for the morning because it was a Foggy Day Plan D schedule (which means that it was so damn foggy that school started 4 hours late and all buses were called off). Dad, who had just picked up the newspaper, asked me where I thought the article would be. I said, "Meh, somewhere in the Life section, I guess." He then shows me the huge-ass picture of me on the front page that took up nearly half the page in length.

I did end up winning the Jerry Dotson award, and I got the highest score in my division: 5600something, with 5 gold medals (art, science, music, language & literature, economics)  2 silvers (mathematics and speech), and 1 bronze (essay) out of 9 subjects (the only subject i didnt get a medal in was Interview, and there aren't medals for super quiz, the 10th subject)

5. There is only one song I know of  which has the ability to make me cry (and only sometimes): "Metropolis Pt. 1" by Dream Theater.

6. Ive been diagnosed with Asperger's, Tourette's, ADD/ADHD, and OCD before.

And now it's your turn:
muzjikman1974
cesarsalad
dillyroo
eurobikermcdog</div>

A few things:


1) I'm gonna be on academic probation! Yay!

Well, really, I already failed a class, and Im probably gonna fail another. This is more or less thanks to me freaking out around midterms and not going to class for nearly 3 weeks. Guh.

Im making a scheduled routine for myself next quarter. And I'm going to eat better. And exercise.

2) Damn this obsession with Pernese roleplaying I've had since I was 13. And yet... I love it. I think I'm in about 8 Weyrs now, including a MUSH (called PernMUSH... the name's Woltrex. Character still in development >_>)

As far as that goes, though, college is raping my muse, so thus I haven't done much in the past week or so. >_<

3) TEH SCRABBLE! Well, I guess I should give a scrabble update since ALL OF MY FRIENDS ON HERE are tournament players.
My next tournament should be Reno in January. However, I'll be stuck in division 3 since I'm not above 1300. I'm very sad.
To make sure I don't get my rating raped by the fact that most of the division will be below me (half of the people registered right now for the division are <1100), im going to study 20000 bingos over winter break, among other things. Wish me luck.

4) EVERYONE SHOULD LISTEN TO SCAR SYMMETRY

"...Wait, resist the ones who feed upon your sorrow
Those who whisper lies to bring the veil in sight
Fate is not the guilt and failures of tomorrow
Fixed and carved in stone there's nothing of the kind..."

Scar Symmetry - Pitch Black Progress - Carved in Stone

"...Premonitions called my name
I once doubted them all when they came
Now I embrace it and I'll never be the same
Those who call me avatar knows not what they're looking for
They just feed their flames with miracles
Just so you know, if you bathe within my light
You diminish your own might
The illusionist in everyone..."

Scar Symmetry - Pitch Black Progress - The Illusionist

5) I PWN ALEX JAECH! LOL!

6) There is no #6.

7) That's all. Really. There's nothing more to see here... I swear...






































































HOLY MARDUK!!!!!!!!!!!!

RULES:
* Put your music player on Shuffle or Random.
* Write a couple of lines from the first 10 songs it plays. Don't be a dick and skip any.
* Sit back and let everyone guess.
* Once a song is guessed correctly, cross it out.
* Have FUN, damnit!

1. Take as needed for the pain, another grey morning dawns across an ashened sky...
2. Mine field is called the place I'm living in, Carefully watching each and every step I take.
3. I linger the doorway, all the alarm clock screaming monsters calling my name.. squeegman has the artist...
4. Coming around down the stairs wood cracks beneath my feet my hand slip across the rail dust collects on my fingertips..
5. Why have you forsaken me in your eyes, foraken me in your thoughts... cesarsalad 
6. I built it up now i take it apart climbed up real high now fall down real far
7. The boogeymen are coming, the boogeymen are coming...
8. Feed my will to feel this moment, urging me to cross the line.
9. And my wound it becomes so deep, turn of the light and let me pull the plug
10. You cannot really see me in the earthly dome, so avoid judging me, stay silent..


Order of difficulty (hardest to easiest): 2, 4, 10, 9, 1, 8, 6, 7, 3, 5

Ok, for some reason, i thought that some of my scrabble friends were into the Dragonriders of Pern series, so I end up going on a rant about poor Canth (which, since im sure nobody who reads this is INTO pern, is a main character's dragon). It went a little something like this:

I feel sorry for Canth, he never gets laid. And it's all thanks to that bitch whats-her-face who lets her queen (dragon... queen dragon) rise at the same time as Brekke's.

Oh, this caffeine-deprivation is killing me inside.