Wednesday, July 16, 2008 10:08 PM
Last night I went down to St. Louis with Bob, Pepper Water, Beau, and Dirty Dave to see Toxic Holocaust, Municipal Waste, Darkest Hour, and AT THE GATES at Pop's in Sauget. It was very cool - a few hundred people and screaming "Slaughter of the Soul" and "Under a Serpent Sun" were awesome. It was a long day for me since I had to be at work at 8 and didn't get home till 3:30, but I had a blast.
Got an A in HIS 107, beefing up my GPA while getting 3 credit hours out of the way. Nice.
Metamora Martial Arts got two awards from Black Belt's Hall of Fame - we're in the HoF for Best Children's Program and Best Humanitarian Act. It's really cool to say that our program is Hall of Fame worthy, and that I've been doing the children's program since the start. Really, really amazing feeling to be a part of that. Somehow, the skeptic in me still believes that despite NATIONAL RECOGNITION, our program will still get crapped on by the majority in this town who don't seem to support us.
As for the rest of the summer, I've got two MMA DVDs I want to complete and keep working.
Saturday, June 21, 12:05 AM
I just got back from Total Nonstop Action LIVE in Bloomington, and it was amazing. I've been to over a dozen wrestling shows and this one was just as eventful and spectacular as all of the WWE or WCW shows I've been to. I've only missed two professional wrestling shows in central Illinois since 1998!
Jeremy Borash welcomed us to the show and told us we'd have a special surprise for the end of the night, teasing it all throughout the show, and giving various backstage passes away. I tried like crazy to get one waving my t-shirt around like that dude in the Impact Zone every Thursday, but to no avail.
The opening contest pitted Johnny Devine against a man who's hot, spicy, and tastes great - Curry Man! The Japanese sensation was extremely over with the crowd as the first one out and put on a good match with Devine, coming up with the victory.
Next, the TNA Knockouts competed as Roxxi and Traci defeated The Beautiful People, Angelina Love and Velvet Sky. Afterwards, the BP beat down the faces as ODB came out to a gargantuan pop and made the save, bringing out her trademark flask and having a drink.
Eric Young vs. Kip James was the comedy match of the night. Young and Kip played to the crowd very well, with Kip getting a mixed reaction but getting a big pop for the "Suck it!" taunt. As Kip's back was turned, EY went under the ring for awhile and the Super Eric music played, scoring the victory after a few moves. The crowd ate it up.
Robert Roode came out to a big round of boos before JB introduced "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles! AJ hit his trademark moves, including the Pele and finally the Styles Clash for the victory. I'm not a huge Robert Roode fan but he played an awesome heel during this match.
After 20 minutes of intermission, Petey Williams defeated Consequences Creed and Kaz to retain the X-Division title. I haven't watched Impact for awhile due to other committments on Thursdays, and hadn't realized Petey now had his hair and beard dyed like Steiner's. Williams played a good heel by not being involved for the opening minutes of the match and taunting fans at ringside, or getting the upper hand and then scurrying when one of the faces got momentum. Williams hit the Canadian Destroyer on Creed for the victory after nailing Kaz shoulder-first into the ring post. At some point after this match, Robert Roode came within about 10 feet of where we were under a hall back to the locker room and watched almost all of the rest of the show. Behind him was Velvet Sky, and I'm not sure if there was anybody else back there with them. I wanted to ask for autographs but figured doing so would result in attention being taken away from the performers in the ring. Kip James was also watching from the backstage / curtained off area.
After intermission, James Storm and Jackie came out. Storm cut and awesome promo detailing why Bloomington sucks, saying the best part about being there was doing the show so he could leave. Tremendous heel heat for that. Storm said he didn't know if there was anybody who could challenge him, when Shark Boy came out and took the mic, cutting a promo on Storm. The match had some decent action before Storm pinned him for the 3. Afterwards, Storm left as Shark Boy gave Jackie the Chummer. Shark Boy left so Storm came back, then decided to leave Jackie to be attended for by someone else.
Scott Steiner came through for the main event of the evening and cut a hilarious promo as only Scott Steiner can. Steiner said as he was traveling, he knew when to stop in Bloomington because of the smell. It had me and my friend laughing hysterically. He compared Bloomington's school, Illinois State University, to his University of Michigan and said UoM was better, which got a big round of boos. Samoa Joe came out to the biggest pop of the night and beat Steiner in a good back and forth match which saw Petey Williams return and help out Steiner. Joe won with the Muscle Buster to retain the TNA World title.
As Joe posed in the ring with fans for $20 after the event, TNA talent came out and signed autographs for (almost) everybody. I say almost because, shouting to get Johnny Devine's attention after getting a picture in the ring with Joe, I waved my t-shirt at him and he shook his head no as he looked me in the eyes. I shouted at AJ and he didn't even dignify it with a response, signing the next closest object. If you guys are heading out to future shows, bring something solid the talent can write on so you don't get passed over by the guys. Luckily, my shirt was signed by Rudy Charles and Jeremy Borash as a consolation prize, even though Borash initially skipped over me before making his way back.
All in all, amazing show by TNA. None of the matches were "piss break" matches or anything and the crowd was really involved. The US Cellular Coliseum holds 4,000 maximum, but the arena was marked off with a big curtain and I'd estimate anywhere from 1,000-2,000 fans showed up.
Click the Photos link for the gallery.
Monday, June 16, 2008 10:46 PM
It's the summer and I'm having no problems staying busy. This past week I started school again and have gotten into a great routine of working out and getting a bunch of stuff done in the morning. It works out real well for me.
Relay for Life was intense, as usual. I was able to escape without getting burnt too badly, and what the burn I started on continued the next day working for Scot in Knox.
Karate started again and it felt like such a drought that we didn't have it. I'm looking forward to leading up our crew in the Old Settlers parade once again on Saturday. Then after that we have Undoo Renshu, and I can't wait to go to Missouri. I've added a photo gallery on the karate site and put a link to it on my Photos page.
Since the last update I've also been commissioned to work on a new website. I don't have any info on content but have a few graphics drafted up. I'm amped to work on a site for somebody else.
Thursday, June 5, 2008 7:32 PM
As I write this I'm listening to Alice in Chains' "Nutshell." Since I want to get some more stuff done tonight, I'll try to wrap up the last couple weeks in a nutshell.
Bob and I were supposed to wrestle after we got home from Webb's last night, but Mother Nature made sure that wasn't going to happen and we had to cancel the match. We'd been hyping it up for probably two weeks, so we'll have to get on it again soon.
With a bunch of time on my hands, I've been able to pick up reading again. I read way too much last semester and couldn't find any time to get in a good book (minus the two I read for MM250), so I've been reading like crazy since my birthday. I started Mind Over Muscle by Jigoro Kano, but put it on hold since it isn't necessarily something you have to keep you reading in order not to forgot. I hauled to finish "A Lion's Tale" by Chris Jericho, the best wrestling autobiography I've read since Mick Foley came out with "Have a Nice Day." I thoroughly enjoyed the passion Jericho displayed all throughout the book and hope he continues writing another book. This one left off with his entrance as Y2J in the then-WWF. Finally, with a coupon from Border's, I bought Hunter S. Thompson's "The Rum Diary." I loved "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and while this one isn't as entertaining, it's still proving to be a good read. Depending on the workload for my summer class that starts Monday, I'm looking forward to plowing through a lot of books this summer.
IGA finally started giving more hours and I was moved up a step to cashier on Monday. It's about damn time. I can only hope I get a sizeable raise.
The doc finally solved some of my medical questions I've had for awhile. He made no mention of carpal tunnel, which I swore I had. Instead, he believes I tore some ligament at one point and wants me to have an MRI. The ache in my hip is likely due to a muscle strain, and the skin discolorcation is in all likelihood vitiligo, for which I'll go see a dermatologist. Woo.
Things get busier again starting with tomorrow's Relay for Life, then working for Scot on Saturday, before a nice Sunday break (hopefully) and then going back to school for a month on Monday and karate starting up again Tuesday night.
Sunday, May 25, 2008 10:54 PM
The past few days have been pretty ridiculous for a number of reasons. For one, there was the parcel that Swingram picked up and eventually delivered to one of Germantown's fine neighborhoods. Behind the wheel was possibly one of the worst drivers ever known to man, and to avoid embarassment, I shall call him Jan Casteelo. Also along with us for that intense night was Bob, Dirty Dave, Beau, and eventually Sarah. Team Slayer's Relay for Life garage sale was also mildly successful, and what an awesome day it was yesterday.
On Saturday I went to Thomas' graduation party for 8th grade. Man, 8th grade. I remember walking through the gym with Andi Viviano in May '03 when we graduated 8th grade. Unlike high school, I don't miss grade school a bit. I was sick of everybody who was there and sick of being made fun of. I did have some fun times though - from the three out of four times I placed in the spelling be (and being the only to place first twice in a row) to some of the teachers I forged relationships with that still last to this day. My first grade teacher still says hi to me. And I got thinking even more, that Thomas did in grade school what I did with high school - get a black belt. I think it's awesome and told my mom tonight he's got a bright high school career ahead of him.
And this afternoon I went to the high school ceremony with Jon. It's already been a year since we were there, since me and Beau were making fun of everybody graduating with us? Yes, it has been a year since I'd seen some people I thought (and sometimes hoped) I'd never see again. Freshman year of college flew by. Sometimes I still pause and think I have to write the CRP (what I called "crap"...mature, I know) papers for soc and I still can't believe I don't have to write summaries for MM250. It was hellacious at times and I can't believe it's done. More than that, even more friends are moving away at the end of summer. I didn't see a whole lot anyway, but still. But the big news is that Bradley is gaining a lot of smart people next year, and Veronica's even going to be in my major. I didn't know that till yesterday, so I hope I can take some classes with her down the line.
Quite the retrospective looking back on the last 366 days (it was a leap year, remember?) and see what everybody's done.
May 21, 2008
I'm 19, done with freshman year of college, and ready to work more...butttt I'm still only getting 10 hours a week. Sucks. I'm taking a summer course at Bradley so I can take one less class in the fall.
I haven't really updated anything on the site in awhile. I got another big program done but I might just do away with that aspect of the site because only one of the three programs works the full way through.
My 19th birthday on Monday was fun for what it was, but it was nothing exciting. But then again, it was facing stiff competition from 17 and 18. I sat around all day since it was crappy out (hell, I would've even if it was a nice day like today). I went to karate and then went to Monical's before opening presents. Natalie came over for about a half an hour, which was awesome.
I'm looking forward to the summer. It's been a week since I had my last final (came out with a 3.6 GPA, btw), and I feel like I'm more busy now than when school was in. I'll be taking a class for a month starting June 9, hitting up all the dates below, with WWE coming on August 30 to do a live event with the RAW brand, and hopefully working more to make more of that moolah.
May 8, 2008
The Summer of Adam is almost officially here! I've laid out a roadmap of sweet stuff I want to take part in this coming summer.
June 15 - Hatebreed - Bloomington
June 20 - TNA Wrestling Live - Bloomington
July 15 - Municipal Waste / At the Gates - St. Louis
August 10 - Huey Lews and the News - Springfield
August 19 - Judas Priest and Motorhead - Chicago
Must hit all of these.
April 25, 2008
It's Friday and it's storming. Interesting.
So ever since I started college last fall I've been thinking of figuring out what I wanted to do with my life -- you know, make a career goal. The more and more I've been around the Multimedia program, the more and more I seem to notice that the MM staff put a decent amount of emphasis on art. A good number of people in that program are also really good artists. I've never been a good artist, so for awhile I felt like MM wasn't the right major for me, even though I still know a decent amount and don't really want to do anything else with my life.
Last week I was looking through the Bradley 07-08 course guide, cruising for information. I don't think, for me, Multimedia is the only clear solid path to walk down. It seems pretty vast, and there are only 12 hours of specialization...I just felt like I needed something else. Since teaching is like double-majoring (although, honestly, I haven't ruled the possibility of going back to school someday to teach this type of stuff to high schoolers -- teaching near the same wing as Swingram would be pretty fun), that was out. Business involves too much math. And I'm not really into anything else. So I checked out the Communication college to see what was in there. Hmm, a minor in journalism? Well, one of these courses could count twice with MM, and I've had a background in almost all of this material at one point or another in high school. I went to Ed to seek counseling on this and he immediately shook his head no. I was confused. Why the hell is he shaking his head no? Well, as we've talked about in class, the newspaper industries are struggling to survive. I told Ed about my cousin Cori, who is working on software at the Indianapolis Star to have content easily translate between print, web, and mobile. Finally Ed started thinking about it some more and said he'd never had somebody ask him about minoring in journalism as a Multimedia major. He warmed up to the idea and started talking to me about graduate school, encouraging me to keep my grades up so I could head to a good journalism school to help bring more of the multimedia side into journalism. He warned me about a lot of the negatives but thought about a lot of positives it could bring. So on Tuesday, I see the guy who advises journalism minors to see what he thinks, and then if that goes well I'll fill out a minor slip.
It makes perfect sense, in my mind. I remember being in grade school, and one of the first big projects I started doing was a "Kids Stuff Magazine" for my 2nd grade class. It wasn't much - just me writing stupid articles about nothing, but it was a start. Later, I tried learning how to code HTML from a book, but I can't teach myself much, so I gave up until high school. As a freshman, I went to a newspaper meeting and got confused on whatever software I was using so I never went back. But, I've always had an interest in writing. For a year or two in high school, I wrote fantasy wrestling results for .400 and for my own message board. Even today, I'm writing news updates for the MMA website. I really think this will be a good fit for me because I've always been a good writer, I've always had an interest in writing, and I've had an interest in computers since (again) the second grade, that I can remember.
April 14, 2008
So I felt the need to blog tonight based on my math class today. Now I'm no genius at math, but somehow am still able to do some calculations in programming classes and managed to get As in high school. When I applied I felt -- as I still do today -- that I had enough math to make it through college. I also thought I had enough general knowledge. Apparently some other people aren't as fortunate.
My math teacher was going over a problem that concerned the unit of the year. The girl who asked the question goes, "Well, this question is hard because I don't know how many weeks are in a year." Then, another genius goes, "There's 56 weeks in a year."
I can't wait for next semester when three out of my four classes are for my major.
April 2, 2008
So there's a very real possibility of getting 4 As this semester. There's also a very real possibility of still ending up with Bs, based on how MM 250's exams turn out. For all the time I put into reading the concepts' articles, taking two tests worth half our grade on the same day doesn't seem too logical to me. But hey, it happens.
Help me raise my goal of $200 for Relay for Life. Also, I'm growing my beard out until then in the hopes of DOUBLING MY GOAL to $400! If I get it, I'll shave it ENTIRELY OFF! Click the link above to make your donation NOW!!
Ric Flair is no longer an active performer after 36 years. That's twice as long as I've been alive. I haven't seen the match from WrestleMania yet but will furiously pre-order the DVD soon. The whole show sounded pretty good. But it's going to be real different not seeing Flair on my TV after inviting him into my home for over 10 years. Colin Vassallo remarked in Wrestling-Online Newsletter that there are just some moments you won't forget, and I'm going to remember seeing Flair's retirement ceremony for years to come. From the 4 Horsemen, to Jericho, Triple H, John Cena, and finally the ENTIRE WWE ROSTER coming out onstage and an entire arena saluting him...it was awesome. I've gotten to see Ric Flair wrestle live a couple times and even have an autograph from him as long as a handshake. That moment was surreal for me after seeing matches of him from the 80s and continuing to wow me on TV every week - meeting the Nature Boy was amazing. I hope someday I can be thought of in some realm as Ric Flair is thought of in wrestling. I want to be a limousine-ridin, jet-flyin, KISS-STEALIN, WHEELIN-DEALIN' SON OF A GUN! *drops an elbow on sports coat, hits the ropes, and drops a big knee* WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
March 23, 2008
For not going to school for 5 days, I really didn't get too much done. I completely forgot about a bio exam this week. I still have a lab due for CIS 215. And I need to take a look at this speech I'm giving on Wednesday that I wrote too weeks ago.
But, as Bender's Big Score wraps up, so does my spring break. I did do a lot though. Four days in a row of working our hard doesn't happen much these days, so that was nice. By Thursday morning my hip was hurting. I also did get a majority of MM 250 and MTH 101 homework done. And I decided to re-import and re-edit all my footage from Orlando, so I've gotten all the funny stuff done and the US Open video done (again). All that's left is the Sassy video. The Open video turned out better this time around, I think, so hopefully the same can be said for the Sassy one.
Friday night I saw Horton Hears a Who. I thought it sounded pretty stupid but I'm glad I went because it was a decent movie. Last night I went to a Rivermen game and some dude got pissed at me and Adam. Afterwards, a few thousand people gathered in another hall to watch some midget wrestling. I thought they'd just exploit and make fun of midgets, but these guys had actual matches. Didn't stay for the tag team match, though. :(
March 17, 2008
Wellllll it's spring break, finally. Looks like I'm going to get two A's for midterm which is better than it was a week ago.
The weekend was good. Friday night I went to BWW with Adam, Justin, Jackie, and Juli. I wasn't thrilled since I go there every Tuesday but I had fun once I got there. After that, I went to the other Justin's house where about a dozen people converged. Saturday was a goodbye party for Larry, one of our karate instructors. We played some basketball and then went to Peoria to see Never Back Down. It was okay, but I had some very low expectations, so it rose above some of those. It was almost like a Karate Kid for little kids today, even though Karate Kid should hold the test of time. After that we ate at Kobe Japanese Steakhouse, which was another better-than-expected event for the night. The cooks were cool and we had a fun time. After that, I went to Justin's for the second night and hung out until we went to Lenny's Comedy Cafe, where I'd won free tickets from the week before last. On the free tickets were Adam, Zack, Byram, Justin, Emily, Jon, me, Swingram, and Gabby and Jackie ended up paying. The comedians were okay...nothing like Jacob Sirof & Brian Posehn on 3/7.
Hard karate workout tonight, but I'm off to Justin's soon to watch my first ever RAW in HD. Spring break is this week which means a lot of chill time, but IGA has me working 7-12 Thursday morning (wtf?!) and I still have a lot of homework to get ahead on. I'll update with a new CIS 215 lab soon.
March 9, 2008
So I've been busy lately, especially this week. Thankfully I've pulled my bio grade up to a B, so my only remaining C is in math and it's likely I'll not be able to pull it up to a B. But, I suck at math, so my project could be horribly wrong.
Yesterday I went with a group to Moline for a tournament. Four of us competed and brought back five first place trophies, but the real goal was to mingle and spread word of our tournament April 5. I think we got the job done after people saw that we were doing so well.
Pics should be coming any time of me meeting three WWE Hall of Famers last week. Justin still hasn't sent them to me. :(
Feburary 24, 2008
I've added a section on here where I'm putting my programming projects for this semester. I'll be honest, I'm mostly doing it for potential employers to show I do have some experience with programming.
I haven't done anything this weekend...partly by choice. Friday I stayed in and did some homework. Yesterday I wanted to do something but didn't have any ambition to make plans. Adam called since he had a night off but I just ended up not calling back. I watched some of the Jackass 24-hour takeover on MTV and some Legacy of Stone Cold Steve Austin DVD.
Tonight I decided to run about 2.5 miles and did some crunches. I'm sick of being in the house. But tomorrow I have a pretty full schedule with school, Amanda's test, and then we're going to eat at Geo's afterwards. Should be intense.
COM 103 exam tomorrow, MTH 101 exam Friday, BIO 122 exam next Monday.
February 22, 2008
I've been sick the past couple days with a cold. I think I'm about a week behind everybody else.
Last Friday night I stayed home and worked on a bunch of homework. Looks like I'm doing the same tonight, along with resting. On Saturday I went to a show at the Meeting House and had fun seeing some new bands and getting a sick bangover from Devil's Pie.
It's been a busy week trying to get some workouts in and working on stuff for the upcoming karate tournament in April. Lots of sweet stuff planned, so come check it out if you have the time.
Short update, but I've got to get some work done, and this update was a distraction from it.
February 13, 2008
For the one or two people that might read this, I've updated my pictures to start including actual photo albums now. Check 'em out.
February 10, 2008
When I get some free time, I need to add some new pictures to this. I had a busy week and got in about absolutely zero workout time. Monday I was busy getting new contacts, Tuesday night I met WWE Diva Maria at the Peoria Civic Center, school let out early at MTHS on Wednesday (while I traversed the slush coming home from Bradley) and we had demo practice on Thursday night. I wasn't looking forward to the demo because I was worried about how I'd do since during practice, I was always teaching. Thankfully, the demo went off without a hitch.
Monster Jam was Friday night. This is my 4th time going, and the third straight year. I've some some sweet pictures to add sometime.
Homework load has been big this week and especially today. I've been reading or doing school-related stuff mostly since noon, and it's now about 9:15. Bio exam tomorrow, lots of reading for new media theory, and I still hate math. Hopefully I'll update again before the end of the week.
February 3, 2008
Strange Wilderness wasn't as funny as I thought it would be. I was pretty let down, but I also wasn't much in a laughing mood because once I sat down in the theater I started having heartburn. Afterwards we went to Buffalo Wild Wings out by Grand Prairie. I don't mind the place, but I'm there almost every Tuesday and was banking on a Steak n Shake run. Oh well.
After 3 of the 5 went home at 10:30, me and Adam decided our night was still young. We stopped by a friend's house for 20 minutes or so and I got beat on Wii boxing :(. There's almost next time!
Then we went to Gabby's and had an one-way video chat with Byram on her new Macbook. Fun night.
February 2, 2008
American Gladiators video can't be published. :( Sorry.
Going to see Strange Wilderness tonight since I can't see Brock Lesnar's UFC debut against Frank Mir.
February 1, 2008
(Most of the content currently on this site is stuff from last semester's "Intro to Multimedia" class. I'm looking to update it soon enough, so be patient.)
It's been around six weeks since I put any kind of effort into updating this site. However, I've decided that since I've already paid for the domain and the hosting, I might as well use it more often as a blog or something.
Since I've updated last time, I wound up with a 3.4 GPA for my first semester at Bradley. My hellish first semester is over, and second semester looks like it will be a lot easier. I'm also going to shoot for straight A's since, based on my classes, it looks like I can do it. Last semester was a little more difficult, but this one is completely manageable.
The second season of American Gladiators has been announced, and naturally I'm filling out an application. I completed a video the other night and I only have two things left on the application to fill out before reading the rest of the legal stuff. I really need to find out whether or not I can put my video online. That was one of the reasons I wanted to update this site, and also because I'm applying for a position with a martial arts networking site called KICKgen. The description was vague, so I can't honestly explain what I'm applying for. But, it combines two of my favorite things and I'm looking forward to the possibility of a job that's in my field.
That's it for now. After a few years of not blogging I think I'll take it up again. The next update will be the official ruling on whether or not the AmGlad tryout video will be available online, and may even come today. It is a snow day, but I'd like to get some homework done so I can chill over the weekend.