Yeah, I’m not an arrogant asshole in the least bit but that’s how I feel every morning I wake up. I wish I could stop this feeling but I don’t know how, why or what I’m supposed to do.

I love music and if I could pull it off, I would drop out of college (for the second time), quit my job, and focus on music. Something about it feeds my soul and I feel I can learn just about any instrument. I might not be the best but hey, as long as I’m not making ears bleed (lol) I see no problem with it.

Drums. I had never played drums before. I bought a drum set on a whim and here I am playing closely with some of my favorite artists. I’ve been playing bass guitar off and on since 2002 and I love it. Guitar? Eh..well.. I have a couple and I’m not like “Eddie Van Halen” crazy awesome at it but I’m definitely ranking up there as someone who is at least decent. I have sooo many lyrics that I have written in my head and always fail to put down but singing isn’t really a strong point of mine anyway.

Oh well. Time for bed I suppose. Can’t wait for work tomorrow…lol yay.

Now, this semester kicked off with “THE ESSENTIALS TO ACCOUNTING”. It’s not number crunching to be honest so there really isn’t any math involved, at least on an intense note. It’s more or less the basics of accounting and understanding accounting. There are a bunch of reports and stuff that we have to prepare and it’s really not that hard … except for the fact that we’ve all been getting ‘pointed’ to death. There are no examples or at least any decent examples of the reports we are supposed to prepare every week. The calculations that show you how to get such and such answer are few and far between and I’ve found that buying the book was pretty much a complete waste. I’m pretty much using Google or whatever other search engine to find how to compute this and that as well as to be able to find some examples of how the forms are supposed to look and what they are to contain.
Granted the book sucks and the professor, while really nice and knowledgeable, isn’t very helpful. She’ll refer you to a page in the book that you’ve already read 15 times and that’s pretty much my experience with her. So this student keeps emailing the entire class every Sunday, around 7pm EST and is BEGGING for help.  “I can’t afford to fail this class! HALP PLOX!”. You know the drill. Anyway, I usually don’t answer those kinds of people except for the kid in my first Java class. I emailed him good.

“It’s ok! I’m here to help! Now, here’s what you do: START ACTUALLY DOING YOUR WORK YOU MORON! DON’T WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE! There you go! I helped!”

Now, I emailed this kid and yes, I was a little nicer. Here’s the email:

Oh man….you’re coming down to the line here…

You’re going to have to read the directions very carefully. You pretty much have to calculate some of the stuff for yourself as it only gives you part of the information. You have to look at the examples in the book and then perform the calculations based off the information you have in order to figure out what you need. It’s waaaay too hard for me to explain at this point.

I don’t know how you typically work on your homework and not to come off as a jackass but you’ve gotta start way earlier on it so you can ask questions within the discussion thread and so we (and I) have more time to help you if you are having a problem. If you can at least get something together, you’ll at least get some points. I’m working on this next’s week homework already because of the same thing.

Now quit reading this crappy email, pull out your book and do your best to look at the examples and at this particular problem.

I don’t think that was too bad but seriously – I’m a procrastinator. Hell, I even procrastinate procrastinating. How many of you run into this? I mean, if the kid would start working on it and asking for help earlier, the professor would be able to help him, we’d be able to help him but he’s pretty much screwed at this point. If you don’t get it and have to turn it in for a grade in 5 hrs, you’re pretty much screwed.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Suggestions?

I know, I know…the poor bastard…

My buddy is cool and we’d be good room mates but he’s already got a place with room mates. The couple I could move in, IMHO, is too unstable. If they were to break up while living with me, I wouldn’t want to be there. It would be too hard.

I’d kill to live in Dublin though. It’s a great little community…rent is just high. I COULD live in this great place near work. I could totally afford it but it would be about half of my current pay check. Bigger than where I am now and actually a little cheaper considering what all I would get living there – awesome amenities. They apparently have a rent to own program in terms of a washer and dryer which would be sweet. Otherwise, I’m going to have to buy my own which again, I could afford the $50 a month payment or whatever but it would still kinda suck. So let’s see…cheaper rent (by $100!!!), bigger place, close as hell to work? Yeah…I might be moving there.

I’ve otherwise been checking out some places in Worthington. That’s another great community and while it would be an equal distance to work, rent would be up to $300 cheaper for an apartment of this same size with a laundry room on site and a few even pay for water/waste/trash. I’m about to Googlemap some of these beotches so I can see the exact location.

The one in Dublin I know is JUST outside of the city which is cool regardless because of the area. It would be how everything is for me now with everything being right there…just this time I’ll be working around the corner. We’re talking like $650 a month.

The apartments in Worthington I don’t think will be as nice however, they are considerably cheaper, still a nice area. These run from $420 for a 1 bedroom apartment that is the same size as my current apartment to a 3 bedroom in that same complex at $492…with a laundry room on site and they pay for water/waste/trash!

Hmmm….comment and help me out here lol. I don’t know what to do.

In other news, I bought a drum set a few weeks ago and I must say, I’ve definitely caught on pretty quickly. I blame Rock Band and the fact that I’ve wanted one since I was like 5yrs old. It’s easier than I thought too. The great thing is that it’s electronic so I don’t have to buy new drum heads or anything like that. I do, however, badly want to buy a real drum throne unlike what I’m currently using (it works great though, just not as comfortable) and I have the ability to add on an additional bass drum pad w/pedal…that would make playing some of the heavier stuff I want to play, a lot easier. My knee has been a pain but I’ve been able to control the pain with Ibuprofin fortunately. I had to take a couple nights off due to pain but otherwise, I try to play every night if I can.

Had a great time the other night at the A&R Bar with my boys from One Pretty Minute. I was able to get some great pictures of them and of course, bask in their awesomeness. Just an overall great band with an invigorating and hilarious stage performance. Was invited to the after party at Andy’s house and I must say, it’s great to be able to sit with people like that. They are seriously some of the nicest, most laid-back and hilarious people I’ve probably ever met. I’ve gotta thank Mike Neider personally since he’s the one who inadvertently introduced me to them. I’ve since gone to their Halloween party, seen them play out multiple times and even have worked on their website for them. Might I also add I’m the sole owner of their only CD. Granted I burned it for myself but none of them have done that as far as I know. I’m hoping to sit in on the production of their first real album as I’ve always wanted to see how it’s done.

I think that’s about it….can’t think of too much more going on right now…It would definitely make it easier for you if I actually updated this confounded thing once in a while instead of a mass blog like this haha. Too bad. Thanks for reading everyone and next time, I’ll hopefully have my new iPad, be dissolved, have completed my stinkin’ accounting class and have 2 more websites under my belt…..stay tuned….same bat time, same bat station…. Ahem…..

I definitely need to start playing music again, starting with running to the local music store to buy some new bass strings…Lord knows I need like 2 sets for both 4-string basses as I can imagine they are both bad now.

I think I need to bowl more. There’s nothing like ‘rollin’. Actually went bowling the other night with Seth and Miranda and it was a lot of fun…even though I’m not very good.

I need to get back on track with my magazine too. What I need to do is change the format so that it’s more self-sufficient and more laid back so I don’t have to put so much time into it. Sound like a plan?
Here’s to hoping for a better year, decade and to a 5% raise at work lol.

I’ve got about 2 years of school left and just completed two hellacious programming classes that focused on Java programming. It wouldn’t have been too bad if the professors actually decided that teaching would be a good idea. Apparently not. Regardless, I got an A in the first class and a B for the second class. The last class I said forget it and took the B by completing only half the final. I’m in an accounting class now that should be easier than it is, granted this is only the first week. This will be the first class that I’ll actually need to read the book. There is just too much terminology that can be to closely defined and while I know a great deal about accounting in terms of what everything is, it’s hard for me to piece together how they work when combined. Oh well, I’ll figure it out.

Work has been good. Since I’m 3hrs. away from my family, I decided to work Thanksgiving and made an extra $400 just from working that day. Took maybe 5 calls the whole time and got to learn more about my co-workers and supervisor. After I got out, I hung out for an hour as my supervisor wouldn’t allow me to spend Thanksgiving by myself. Off I went with him to hang out with his family is not only just awesome, but extremely generous. It was really nice. The funny thing was watching “Inglorious Basterds” with them. My supervisor’s brother-in-law had brought over some stuff to show off including a WWII Ka-Bar that was in perfect condition with whatever the Depot treats them with, still on it. He also had a pair of boots that would have been used prior to WWII and closer to the WWI era. The awesome thing about this? They were owned by a distant relative of mine. I believe his name was Walter Gillespie. Yeah, Ka-Bars must be a family thing. I’ve got like 5

Christmas was nice. Came up the weekend before to spend time with Sarah’s family. I worked Monday and had the rest of the week off thank to left over PTO so back up I went for the rest of the week. Nothing really stands out aside from the massive amounts of Rock Band wherever I went. Drunken Rock Band is quite amazing. Oh, and if you have a Rock Band (1) guitar for the Wii and would like to part with it, let me know – I need one.

New Years was the same as last year…except this year had drunken Wii involved. Seth and his wife (and their friends) are hilarious and I enjoy hanging out with them. Dan…oh Dan…I kept bringing him beer after beer after beer to see how long it would take him to turn one down. He didn’t. Ever. I don’t think alcohol has much of an effect on him…I think he has an effect on alchohol.

My career, hobbies, just stuff in general.

I no longer work at OfficeMax and I’ve actually been working at Cardinal Health since late June. I love it here. Everyone is amazing. The job is awesome, and the pay/benefits are even better. I feel blessed actually.

I’m running a local magazine for Columbus, OH called The Outer Belt (www.theouterbelt.com) and it’s a lot of fun. It gets to be stressful when trying to find content sometimes  but otherwise it’s a lot of fun. I just wish I had someone else helping with the graphic design element as I’m definitely not all that great.

School is going well. I still have a ways to go but I’m doing good and just pacing myself. It’ll be great when I’m done except for that whole having to pay student loans back thing.

We got a dog a few months ago too. He’s a trip but I don’t think I want kids anytime soon. If a dog can be compared time and energy wise to what it would be like to raise a kid, yeah, I’m good on that. I’m too self-absorbed – at least right now anyway. He is hilarious though. We named him Yankee after the MOS I had when I was in the Army (92Y).

At this point, all I can think about is vacation. We’ve got a few weeks left and then we are going to the Outer Banks with some friends. It should be a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to sitting on my duff for a week away from everything, doing absolutely nothing.

Work is ok.

I’ve been busy renovating my website: www.ryangillespie.net
I just wanted something cool, nice to throw up. Didn’t take me too long – ok well, the longest part was picking out the fonts but otherwise this website stuff is easy.

In random news, my cat snores……like WHOA. Since I couldn’t fall immediately to sleep I figured it would be a good time to update teh blogzor and while I’m sitting here, my cat jumps up behind me on top of the couch, falls asleep and starts snoring. Bah. I think he’s trying to throw it in my face that he can sleep all the time – ass.

I had a couple of really cool customers come in and of course a couple of not so cool customers come in. One of my favorite customers came in today from a few months back when I was still at my other store. He’s got some kind of project he’s working on and wants me to help him develop it and work out the kinks. I might be meeting with him to look it over as early as this week sometime but his idea is very marketable, even with this economy. I’m doing some of my own research for this project now just for funsies out of interest. If this works, I’ll be a very rich man.

On the other hand, I could be going back to my old store. I’m not really sure if I want to though. It would be nice to go back since it’s in my backyard – literally. Otherwise, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I really like my team at my store and I think if I ever left there, it would be for a promotion or leaving the company for good. BAH. I’m torn. I’ve put a LOT into that store and couldn’t imagine going to another store and trying to clean it up….regardless of what their current staff says as it’s not very clean and organized….

Decisions, decisions, decisions…………………………………………………………..