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Josh for the holidays   
07:13pm 14/12/2004
  Ok here's the deal about my brother situation. Josh just called a few minutes ago. He is in Albany New York.

Today I took him to Lexington to an airport. I then drove home a lone. Mom and dad weren't happy about it and our sister didn't even know about it.

Josh called me when he was in Detroit Michigan when I was still coming home.

This is the first time Josh and I have ever been seperated. Until a few minutes ago my whole family was huddled in the living room waiting for him to call.

He called from a taxi. He is on his way to a friend's house.

I've never flown, and now Josh has. It feels strange not to be with him. Josh told me that cities look ugly from above -they look like concrete forests, but he did tell me that they look better during night time.

I hope he has a good time and stays safe. I will worry a lot. He will be gone three weeks..which means he won't be home for christmas.

It's going to be strange, but we'll talk on the phone everyday. He has a cell phone with him, and I'm sure he'll be online too.

Oh yeah I was mad at him for going. It wasn't only that but how he did it. He was afraid of upsetting mom and dad (yeah we're 22 but our parents are very protective of us and that mainly has to do with us being very shy as kids). Anyhow Josh told mom and dad about his plans two weeks ago. But since then no one talked about it (thats how our family deals with stuff). So he springs it back up on everyone the day before the trip.

I had to drive back from the air port all by myself. I've drove to Lexington before, but not by myself. I of course got lost a few times and had to stop for directions, but I made it alright.

I'm glad Josh is alright too. Yeah he aggrevates me at times and I know I aggrevate him at times, but we're twins. That's just how it goes.

And I can't wait until he's back home

Mike		  
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09:39pm 13/12/2004
  I am so mad at my brother! I mean at the same time I admire him and his goals and aspirations and all that, but yet he still ticks me off. I'll likely write more about this tomorrow.

Mike		  
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final exam week is now over   
11:08am 09/12/2004
  I took my last final today as an undergraduate. It was in Public Speaking, and I hope I did well. I don't think I made my time. It was a special occasion speech and only had to be 2-4 minutes! Our professor was really great and left the easiest and shortest speech for the final.

I did an eulogy. It was of my dog (who is not dead -but I didn't tell them that). I tried to make it funny so it woudln't be depressing and I think it worked.

Today I almost had an accident going to school. It's raining and I was driving too fast I guess (55 in a 35) and I completely lost control and the car was all over the road. It was at a place where several years earlier my cousin wrecked and was killed.

I didn't panic. I did not want to go over the hill. I didn't slam on my breaks. I just let off the gas and tried to straighten up. I almost went over into the other lane (which a car was coming down and I nearly hit it) but I didn't.

I was all by myself too. Josh had stayed home since he didn't have a test today. So I called him after and told him about it.

But thankful that I'm ok. I've never been in an accident before. I did come up on an accident today. A pick up was all smashed up.

Coming back home there was a mud slide right below where I live. It covered a whole lane. Nasty weather out there...

Well now its time to change clothes and relax.

I am going to go to school tomorrow with Josh. I need to talk to one of my professors.

Mike		  
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Holds head in shame   
07:55pm 06/12/2004
  Should I be ashamed that I've listend to Shania Twains "Party for Two" (featuring Billy Currington) a gazillion times? I don't think I'll ever get the song out of my head now..

Mike		  
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dinosaur eggs!   
11:31am 06/12/2004
  Today I take my first final. It's Cultural Geography. It has been a really cool class. I definitely learned a lot in this one. I've always liked looking at maps, and I already knew where a lot of places were but now I know a lot more about these places.

Josh and I are going to get National Geographic magazine. I always liked looking at the magazine, and I like to check out their website for some news.

I was reading at article just a few moments ago about some fossilized pterasaur eggs that were found (some in China and one in Argentina I believe). That is really cool!

Josh and I were really interested in dinosaurs when we were younger. We would buy books about them and we had all kinds of dinosaur toys.

When we were like in the first grade we wanted to be paleontologists when we grew up. We could spell some big dinosaur names before we could spell words like "because" hehe ..

As much as I like being an adult, there were a lot of good things about being young. When you are young you believe you can do and be anything, but as you age you realize that's not how it goes.

And now back to the studying...		  
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the day from heck   
03:55pm 04/12/2004
  Yesterday was one of those days. It really was. It started bad and went from there.

Josh woke me up early yesterday. Our sister's best friend had called our house. Her brother had died that morning unexpectantly. They suspect a massive heart attack. He was 37 years old.

Josh and I got ready for school. We were early for once and I dropped Josh off and went to Wal Mart to get ink and computer paper.

When I get out.. the car won't start. I had a phone but no one to call. I didn't know any numbers.

My mom teaches at a christian school and I thought I'd walk to her. I was at the Wal Mart in Pikeville and driving to the Christian school from there is like a hop, skip, and a jump. Walking.. not so much.

I'm definitely out of shape, but the school is up this holler and not only that but it goes up and the school is on the hill.

So when I finally reached the holler I thuoght I could run, but I couldn't sustain that very long.

But I got there and I got mom's car.

I had two hours to get to my next class. I didn't make it. I got held up in traffic for two hours because a very bad traffic accident there at the cut-thru.

Later that day we went to our friend's house. Most of that family are smokers, and by the time we all got home we were so sick (because of our allergies).

That night I fell alseep talking on the phone. I was so tired.

It was definitely not a good day.		  
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updating this ol' journal   
03:13pm 30/11/2004
  I go too long without updating.

I got my grade on my last speech. I got a 91. I'm happy about it. In our class we are having this awards thing. So next class period I get to present another student with an award and I get to accept an award. We already know what they are so we can prepare a small speech. I got voted by my class for Most Improved Overall.

It fits and I its true.

It's been a rainy rainy cold day out today.

Things have been stressful lately and I have a feeling its going to get worse. Next week is finals. I'm excited.		  
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cars, muggers, homeless person?   
01:13pm 19/11/2004
  Today I had some free time so I decided to walk around town. But instead of going my usual places, I decided to walk around the residential areas. It was really interesting. I know there are a lot of poor here, my family has always been poor. But I live more out in the country since I live up a holler and all. It was interesting to look at poverty from a more urban view (well as urban as you can in a small city like ours). I would loved to have known what jobs or occupations the people have who live in the low income housing.

Anyway...

Last week a girl from our school was mugged. She was mugged right on the street in front of the school (the school is on a hill). Well a few days before that Josh and I had a weird experience. I don't think I wrote about it yet.

But we were in our car in the parking lot. We had our doors open and we were talking. All of a sudden josh closes his door and tells me to close mine. He says something about a man. Well I looked around and saw the man begin to leave. This old man was standing at the back of our car looking in.

But when josh closed the car dars he began to leave. Another student was walking in the parking lot. She came over to our car and asked us what it was all about. She saw the man looking in our car. He was extremely close to the back of our car.

I had seen the man before.. always in the school parking lot looking at the cars.

Well the school published a small story in the weekly newsletter about the girl who got mugged, and the description of the guy sounds a lot like the guy who was looking into the back of our car a few days before.


Since all of this i have not seen the old man in the parking lot.

I wonder if we came close to being mugged.. and I would find that insulting to be a guy and get mugged. I really would. Especially since there are two of us. It was strange how close the guy was to our car.. and that he was looking in our car while josh and i were in the front seats and with our doors open.

We can only speculate if it was the same guy who mugged the girl. But I thought it was all interesting.

Another thing I found interesting was how the students were talking about what happened. They chalked it all up to the more low income housing in the area...

Mike		  
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weekend update   
09:26pm 15/11/2004
  Sunday, Josh and I finally got to see The Grudge. We liked the movie. But the experience was ruined because of these girls who set behind us. They giggled through the whole movie (well when they were actually watching it). These girls was constantly coming in and out. They were sneaking into another movie Saw. So when they'd come back their friends would have to recap them on what they missed. At every scene that should have been scary or at least suspensful they were laughing. They were so loud.

Usually I don't mind a little chatter in the theatre. I figure it goes with the experience. But this time it was just too much. But no one said a thing. One time the girls got Shooshed by someone, but that was it.

Right now I can't wait to watch Elektra when it comes out. I think it comes out in either January or Feb.

Josh and I had planned on going to Diwali on Saturday, but the rest of our family went out that day and left us blocked in. We had cars all around our car, and no way to get out. So we had to stay home. We missed Diwali. That was no fun.


Mike		  
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college graduate!?   
09:24pm 15/11/2004
  I can't believe that soon I will be a college graduate. Whoa. I'm like almost a grown up now. Now its out in the real world.. but I still plan on going to grad school. But there's a whole lot of stress right there.

Mike		  
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keeping up appearances   
02:50pm 02/11/2004
  I got to thinking about appearances today. I got a B on my last speech. My professor gave me a 9 again on apperance. I know a 9 is good, but I can't help to wonder how I could get a 10 on that. It makes me wonder why I get a 9 in the first place. I always wear a button up shirt when I do a speech and I always wear khaki (sp) paints. Maybe I should tuck my shirt in or something.

I also saw one of those annoyingly pretty-preppy types today wearing a Kerry Edwards t-shirt. This also made me think about looks.

Who looks pretty, handsome, or attractive is very subjective. Though people tend to tell us that there are universals when it comes to attractiveness. People with facial symmetry are attractive. I remember watching some documetary on attractivness. It made me feel really bad about how I look.

I don't have facial symmetry. Some of us just don't. Most stereotypically pretty people do. They also have "balance" and all this other stuff that "supposed" to make thier faces so attractive to others (or to just about everyone).

There are also other features that make people attractive to others, like characteristics that signal women can have children etc (wide hips or something).

It seems that even though who we find attractive is very subjective, most of us do recognize that some people are just prettier than the rest of us (models, actors, etc) Of course we have this idea because we are bombarded with it in our media. It's so strange too considering we get this very fake image, considering all the technology used to make these people look the way they appear on magazine covers, etc, but yet we still buy into the ideal beauty... even considering the harmful consequences of such an ideas.

I also feel that though there is a lot of pressure put on women to look a certain way, that us guys also feel pressure. We like to look good too. We like to feel that others find us attractive. Of course if we don't look our best, we might not recieve the same kind of degredation that women might recieve or percieve to recieve. But that doesn't mean we don't feel the degredation or ridicule.

As a guy I always feel inferior around guys who are muscular. I feel dumpy. I feel like I ought to be lifting weights. So I feel a pressure to be something that I feel like I just can't obtain -or definitely not right now. Should have began working out years ago.

Well thats enough of my ramblings for now

Mike		  
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Election day   
01:21pm 01/11/2004
  Tomorrow is Election Day!

I've tried to get all my friends to go and vote. Some will and others just won't. But I think we all ought to go and vote. If you haven't registered its too late, but if you are a registered voter then go out and vote. I think it's fun to vote.

Today the college democrats have their stuff going on. The other day the College Republicans had a big rally. It was cool to watch. They were really pumped up and excited.

I've noticed something too. The college Republicans, over all, seem to be the really preppy pretty people. No, its true. While the college democrats look ..well on the geeky side.

I know I'm generalizing, but hey its what I noticed when it came to appearances. It sounds like something Ann Coulter (sp) would say but Oh well...

Some of the college republican club people tried to give me a Bush/Cheney sticker.

Tonight the college is going to show both Farenheit 9/11 and Stolen Honor. I doubt if Josh or I will stay to watch. I'm not really interested in either of those propoganda movies. I might see Farenheit 9/11 sometime later since a friend of mine has it.

My brother in law is a die hard Bush supporter. He kinda insulted the rest of us because he feels that anyone who supports Kerry doesn't have a moral conscious. Well it turned out that his parents and brother are going to vote Kerry. I guess he feels he is the only one doing the Right Thing. hehe

It's fun to see people passionate about things like politics. My dad likes to argue with his son-in-law a lot. My dad is die hard democrat.

Besides small differences, there isn't very much difference between our two parties. There isn't any big radical differences between a democrat or a republican.

I think the most ridiculous ads in our area have been between Ray Jones and Chris Ratliff. These guys are running for State Senate here in KY. They ran these tv ads implying that the other was gay. Politicians can make themselves look really silly. I thought the most amusing thing was when the one candidate replied with an ad talking about how him and his wife were going to teach their kids christian values. The ad shows the candidate with what appears to be his kids. But the guy doesn't even have kids! hehe..

But he had to show the public that he wasn't a homosexual like the other candidate was trying to say. Of course he had to reply and question the other candidates sexuality and there it all went..

Politics can be so ludicrous at times. It's always funny to me when people yell at adults for acting like children. This is a form of ridicule to get people to behave in a certain way. But the truth is that adults seem to be just as "childish" as children. And this can be observed in politics for sure. Or anywhere people form groups and compete for power.

Well thats enough of my ramblings.

Mike		  
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updating my journal cause I can   
01:15pm 01/11/2004
  Josh, Mom, and I were sick this weekend. Mom being the sickest. She's going to the doctor today. She needed it. We had fun anyhow when we tried playing some more of X-men Legends. It was fun. Mom played as Rogue and as Storm.

Josh wasn't feeling well and didn't feel like playing and got himself killed and then I got killed and it was just Mom.

My Mom will play video games if we ask her to play. I know a guy whose mom (who has to be in her mid to late 60's) who reads Comic books. She reads X-men. I think she's a cool lady because she really liked Grant Morrison's stuff and she also likes Whedon's stuff.

I wanted to go to the movies this weekend and see The Grudge. I've heard both good things and bad things about the movie, but I still want to see it.

But Josh and I are saving our money to go to Diwali again this year. Diwali is a Hindu/Jain festivel. Its called the Festivel of Lights. It celebrates their new year. We went last year and it was really cool. Most of the Hindu folks in this area are doctors. Some are wealthy business persons.

I do not like Indian food. I found that out last year. Not only did I not like it but the day after.. I Found myself re-visiting my food if you know what I mean. It was not good.

I'm just not used to spicy foods like that.		  
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X-men Emergency.. or not..   
10:13pm 24/10/2004
  Josh and I went to Wal Mart yesterday and picked up X-men Legends. It's really fun. We haven't played anyone but Wolverine yet. We're slow. I know guys who got the game and the next day they beat it or others who beat it in less than a week.

But I never saw the fun in beating a game right away. Not that I would have that problem anyways, since I'm not good at video games. hehe.. But I would think I'd lose interest in a game if I beat it right off.

We didn't have a chance to play today. I got too much studying to do. But I'll be pretty sure to play some this week.

I have to get ready for a speech on Tues. in public speaking. Its an informative speech and I am doing mine on Islam.

Mike		  
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nose hair!   
09:54pm 24/10/2004
  Nose hair sucks.

Josh and I got a pair of tweezers and went on a nose hair plucking frenzy hehe.. we had to do it. Not because we have a ton of nose hair or for the appearance factor.. but nose hair makes my nose itch so bad.

Plucking wasn't any fun however.

Mike		  
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Hey Katie   
10:52am 16/10/2004
  Hi Katie!

This post is for you! I'm sorry I don't post on your journal. I've been so busy with school this semester!

Anyhow I wanted to say Hey and ask how you are enjoying (or not enjoying) High School hehe..

Mike		  
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Archaeology   
10:45am 16/10/2004
  Our trip was so fun. We went to the Henry Clay's Ashland yesterday in Lexington KY. We took a tour of the house and then saw a presentation on archaeology. Then we got to see some excavations. It was so cool to see actual archaeologists at work.

We would have done some work with them but it was so cold and rainy. THey were all muddy and wet. It was kinda disappointing not to get in there and dig but it was still so cool.

We went to the University of Kentucky's Archaeology Research building. We took a tour and then we got to help clean bones! That was so much fun.

All in all it was a great trip. Archaeology is really cool.

Mike		  
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busy life this semester   
10:07am 14/10/2004
  I got a D on my Geography Test. I was so embarrassed. I'm not used to get grades like this. What was worse was my professor wrote on my test "What Happened?!!!!!" lol

Oh well it happens. I had to sacrifice studying for geography to study for Humanities.

I need an A in Geography because I took it as a Sociology course, and so far I have a 4.0 in my Sociology major. But I don't know if its going to be possible to get an A in Geography now.

It's my last semester of college and my grades have been going up and down. Maybe I'm feeling burnt out or maybe I'm just busier than I am used to being. Either way i got to buck up and study.

Right now I got work to do but I procrastinate too much. I like to put things off til the last minute. The rationality for that is that if I don't think about it then I will feel less anxious about it. BUt putting things off to the last minute only increases the anxiety and the stress in the long run.

Will I ever learn?

Probably not. ;-)		  
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rain go away   
10:01am 14/10/2004
  I hope it does not rain tomorrow. Weather channel says it will. We are planning on going to the University of Kentucky Campus tomorrow and do some archeology with their class.

We're gonna do some digging (well unless the trip gets canceled over the rain). I think we should go even if it does rain.

All my classes are canceled tomorrow. I'm not going into the Center. I got the day off and I want to go on a short trip.

Mike		  
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!!!!   
09:58am 14/10/2004
  I got an A on my speech! I was floored. I was expecting so much lower than that. Whoa. Now I've got to come up with a topic for my informative speech...

Mike		  
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