Cyberspatialniche
Bryan & Patrick\’s Thoughts, Online Since 1999My first week
Posted on August 21, 2004Hi friends,
Wow! One week has passed since I moved to the city of Baltimore. I guess some of you are wondering what my experience of moving to a new state and all that other fun stuff that is involved with adjusting to a new environment.
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So What’s with the Ducks?
Posted on May 10, 2004Several people have asked about the ducks I captured on my mophoblog (that’s mobile phone blog). The ducks were resting quite comfortably at the Pirate’s Cove mini-golf course on International Drive, somewhere around the 7th hole, on Saturday night where a few friends and I played minigolf. I used to have pet ducks that I raised from chicks to full adults, so seeing these cute little guys just compelled me to steal their souls and post them up here for your blurry enjoyment.
Earlier that day, I had the pleasure of attending my brother Jeff’s graduation from community college. I must confess that their graduation was vastly more enjoyable than my own or Patrick’s recent ceremony. The president of Valencia Community College actually smiled and seemed to care about each student shaking his hand, unlike UCF’s President Hitt who stood there like an interactive memorial to the undead administrators of some zombie university.
To celebrate Jeff’s graduation, my mother and father seperately came up and took us out to eat. I always enjoy members of my family coming up to visit as it reminds me of my mostly happy childhood and the roots of the unusual zeitgeist I have today. Another unexpected surprise was my father bringing Patrick his graduation present, which leads us to yet another exciting chapter in the journey – the Pool that Wasn’t.
Before that chapter starts, I need to wrap this one up. Patrick spent Saturday with his family for mother’s day, while I wound up going out with friends later that night. Hence the minigolf and the ducks.
End of Semester
Posted on April 29, 2004The spring semester at UCF is at an end now that all finals have been complete and grades submitted. This completes my fourth semester teaching Introduction to Music Technology for the music and digital media departments, an odd and precarious place to exist in to be sure. This is, of course, because neither Music nor Digital Media have too much funding and are constantly under the threat of budget-cuts. Still, after the Florida state legislature discovered a big pot of money they hadn’t realized they posessed, it looks promising that there will be enough funding to pay for me in the fall. That, and both my sections are full!
I’ve enjoyed opening the eyes of some 200 students to all things electronic and musical. Its just awesome to be able to expose students to the wonders of the Theremin, the complexity of Aphex Twin, and the musical alchemy of the world of DJ’s. The students also seem to have enjoyed seeing their own MIDI sequences and remixes come to life, though some have been simply mortified at their own creations. An interesting study in personality results (details someday perhaps).
For the summer, though, my role as a teacher has ended and my role a student begun again. I will be attending my very last class at UCF this coming semester, a graduate course in Computational Complexity (the math and analysis of computation). With that and a few pending administrative details, I should graduate with my MS in Computer Science at the end of the summer. After nine long years of on-again, off-again school, I will be finished! For now, anyway.
In other, non-school-related news, we watched Gothika last night. I enjoyed the Ottman score and the cinematography immensely more than the acting and story. Said story reminded me of various “Millenium” episodes crossed with some John Saul novels, an unpleasant and unsatisfying offspring to be sure.
Today’s random suggestion – try making greeting cards yourself instead of purchasing them. Not only will it save you a bit of flow, but it also allows you to be creative and fully customize your card for any occasion!
Well, the great experiment failed. I learned from it that
- Diet Coke tastes terrible
- I will always be addicted to Coke
Having said that, I can now drink Diet Coke if there’s absolutely nothing else to drink. Ultimately, though I’d rather drink water, which has 0 calories and 0 nasty aftertaste (well, maybe not UCF water).
I have, however, started working out at the gym at work. This in conjunction with some DDR for cardio, I think I’ll start to shed the pounds in no time. 
On a completely unrelated note, I am so frustrated these days with our nation’s unhealthy relationship with sex. How can we be so at ease with wanton death and violence, but freak out with something as natural as a naken man on film?
Bernardo Bertolucci’s most recent film The Dreamer will be released later this year with an NC-17 rating. Because of graphic violence? No. Because of realistic depictions of death and destruction? No. The Dreamers will be released with the taboo NC-17 because of nudity and sexual content. We’d rather show movies in this country about the end of the world, complete with blood, guts, and gore before we dare present nudity on the big screen.
The Great Experiment
Posted on January 16, 2004Well, the great experiment failed. I learned from it that
- Diet Coke tastes terrible
- I will always be addicted to Coke
Having said that, I can now drink Diet Coke if there’s absolutely nothing else to drink. Ultimately, though I’d rather drink water, which has 0 calories and 0 nasty aftertaste (well, maybe not UCF water).
I have, however, started working out at the gym at work. This in conjunction with some DDR for cardio, I think I’ll start to shed the pounds in no time.
On a completely unrelated note, I am so frustrated these days with our nation’s unhealthy relationship with sex. How can we be so at ease with wanton death and violence, but freak out with something as natural as a naken man on film?
Bernardo Bertolucci’s most recent film The Dreamer will be released later this year with an NC-17 rating. Because of graphic violence? No. Because of realistic depictions of death and destruction? No. The Dreamers will be released with the taboo NC-17 because of nudity and sexual content. We’d rather show movies in this country about the end of the world, complete with blood, guts, and gore before we dare present nudity on the big screen.
Last night, Phi Mu Alpha held its 7th annual Masquerade Ball at the UCF Rehearsal Hall. Making their official debut were the queens of the our own “Moulin Rouge” – Erik “Anita Richards (Dick)”, Tony “Velveeta Louise”, Aaron “Trixie”, and Patrick “Faggity Ann”. Also making her debut was Patrick’s sister Monica as the terrible temptress “Alatata Fagina”. Check out the girls in action below!
 The Girls of Moulin Rouge |
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 Ann workin’ it |
 the Queens |
 Heather and Jeff |
 the incorrigible Faggity Ann |
 the sassy Velveeta Louise |
 the feisty Alatata Fagina |
 Anita Richards |
 Anita in ACTION! |
 the brave Dildo Baggins |
 Beth and Laurie, 1st year students at Hogwarts |
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In less than three days, I will be the proud owner of not just one but TWO bachelors degrees. Saturday marks the end of the beginning of my academic career as I will be graduating from the College of Engineering and Computer Science and the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Central Florida with a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science and a Bachelors of Science in Liberal Studies…whew, and it only took me 5 long years to do it. About time, no?
I’d just like to thank my parents, my partner Patrick, and my entire set of family and friends for supporting me in this long and tenuous journey. So what next, you ask? I’ll be starting on my Masters Degree in Computer Science at UCF in later this month while teaching as a graduate teaching assistant. Look forward to finding out more about my research and teaching career in the not-so-distant future right here on my site.
So what’s that odd image up above? A few months ago, I first became aware of www.straightacting.com. This site provides an on-line quiz which attempts to quantify how “straight” or “gay” you are. Based on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being extremely straight and 10 being a total queen, I found this quiz to be woefully inadequate and incomplete in the range of responses that you can give. Oh well…I scored a 6, indicating that I’m just over the brink of being detectably gay. I guess I can live with that assessment, even though I disagree with how the site scores responses. Give it a try and let me know how you did.
In other news, Jeff is fully moved in as of this past weekend. He replaces our newly graduated room-mate Matt who’s moving on in his career in the armed forces. Jeff brings one additional member to our household, his pet sugar-glider Pepe. Check him out below. I’ll be posting those gay day pictures soon…keep watching the site for further updates!
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