Tag Archives: school

Being Caved In… [Personal]

The school year has been a rough start as some of you can tell by the lack of updates… I have battled a lot of spamming comments and luckily one of my comment plug-ins fixed that issue. This year seemed easy, but I need to pull together my support network and really crunch down on studying. Studying has been pretty intense and I am not in regret from it. Sometimes the greatest heroes started off as academic grade soldiers… From this, I have forced myself to feel like I am doing academic battle like a warrior of the battlefield by having a “school uniform” of sorts. It feels good as I almost get amped to do battle but with books instead of swords!

However, on the home front… It’s still a rocky battle. I don’t expect acceptance from family anymore as that is almost a lost cause. I understand that I am not the eldest son they hoped for, but even with that, I still love them. I am doing my best in things, but at the same time… I wish they realized that I try not to ask for their help because I hate burdening them with things. Something like food, supplies, assistance with car repairs are all things that I keep silent to myself. I do it because I feel that my family has enough burdens on them with regard to the matter that I was bailed out of trouble from them. Some reason, I see myself becoming an outcast by my own accord…

These hardships often make me feel like I am being caved in by human realms… but at the same right… It’s a battle we all go through with growing up. I know that with all things, we seek guidance from above and once we get it… it all makes sense. I may be in a cave of troubles… but in time… I will find the exit and I pray that when I reach the exit I will find a night sky lit up by fireflies.

Dragon at the LZ

So I am here at Commerce waiting at the dorm office which I have affectionately called the landing zone (LZ, for the tactical folks). The suspense of the clock ticking and me listening to music on my iPhone with my MotoROKR S305 to try numbing it all. I hope to taste freedom and begin anew. I have a new deck of cards to use and a new blade to meet the academic challenges. This year is different though as I has a gun I didn’t account for… My morale and support network of friends and fans. This should make for a little better battle. I plan to enjoy the day and relax after my sanctum is arranged again.

Grievances against Texas A&M Commerce on Housing

Well, I forgot to write about this a few weeks ago… but I figured it would be appropriate today. Let me catch you all up to speed on how things got to my grievances.

A few weeks ago, I had gotten an e-mail basically saying to the tune of “Yeah, if you’re in Whitley Hall… You’re being forcibly evicted and you have 2 choices: The low extreme (West Halls) or the high extreme (New Pride). Happy hunting!” This would inevitably piss off all 11 floors of my dorm hall’s residents because our happy medium of balanced cost and decent living. The school’s supposed reason: “We would like to use Whitley Hall as an introductory hall to provide our first year freshman a chance to have a great dormitory experience!

First grievance, the dormitory choices are VERY SLIM!!! West Halls are not well kept-up and on a dark night, I wouldn’t feel quite safe even walking out 30 feet to my own car. On top of that… I believe certain buildings from West Halls will be going to some of the fraternity or sorority groups, so this also kills some of the possible housing slots. (If anyone can verify this, please comment and I will give credit to you. – Zero)  New Pride, space is just flat out limited. I have heard from students who are with me in Whitley Hall made mention of “I was on the waiting list to get in and I didn’t…” Some how, the only “compromise” that Whitley Hall residents get is on Friday, we apparently get first pick on New Pride Hall. I don’t know how that will turn out to be honest… Lastly, Prairie Crossing is no longer an open option, off-campus apartment living choice close to the campus because Texas A&M Commerce has bought out the complex and here’s what they have done to that… Most of the rooms will go Honor’s College students and the remaining rooms will be available to any other student under the condition that rooms are to go to students ranked by classification and GPA. Most of the alternative apartments are a good distance away from school… I personally would hate having to “live” in Greenville make a 30 minute commute to school 5 days a week.

Second grievance, some of my friends at Berry Hall are being forced out too… The worst part, they get NO priority choices. Berry Hall is a purely freshman only hall and worst yet… the date for freshman students to register for dorm choices is April 16th. It isn’t as big as Whitley, but yet in my mind… it’s just unfair to them too.

Third grievance is with respect to the last few events… This sudden decision has alienated the student population at Whitley (and no doubt, Berry) Hall.  Any financial increases in tuition and programs, it is required they get the approval of the faculty and student body. The school has asked for a few budgetary raises, but those have failed. They also finished the New Sam Rayburn Student Center with what seems like 40+ Samsung 20+” LCD TV’s all over and a poorly designed cafeteria. Their “experiment” to go to a 4 day school in what seemed like an assumption to reduce electrical energy wasted has been a failure as the Fall 2009 Semester will be a standard 5 day academic week. So what other loophole could the school exploit? A student by the name of Brian had said something close to “Housing is one loophole the school can use, because they can blanket it with any flowery reason while basically quietly hike dorm rates too.” His thought makes sense as the common layman would probably think the forcible eviction is a “good” thing because essentially an upgrade to New Pride Hall rooms. It isn’t until the other factors are accounted for that the ugly truth shows up.

Finally… With the uprising of students disappointed that Texas A&M Commerce would basically underhandedly make a decision with out the student body voting on STUDENT HOUSING they have decided to hold a “conference”. This Conference today takes place at the student center at 3:30pm. I unfortunately can’t go because I have school work to catch up on…

However… I encourage any students who read this to spread word and attend. Be you at Whitley or wherever, show up and make a stand that student housing should be a policy that has STUDENTS voting on how things should be, not just some decision that was just blanketed over e-mail. Feel free to link my site and share my opinions amongst yourselves!

Full Reload, Modifications, and New Articles to Come…

So school has been kicking my tail… I am sure that is evidenced by me not posting as much here… Don’t get me wrong, I like it save for two classes. I fight onward and march to insanity some days even. The few things that keep me in sanity are World of Warcraft and my best friend. The real test of sanity begins soon… As I take Maymester, Summer I and Summer II course just to catch me up to being a Junior and break down course to get further into my major. Taking 2 math courses and 2 science course by Fall 2009 will really be a feat of strength.

As far as “modifications” go… My school is reverting back to a 5-day school week, to that I say… THANK GOD! I was suffering through hell with the 4-day for my sleep cycles. As far as life goes… I am gonna have to rake up plenty of cash and maybe seek partial subsistance for the summer. Gaming-wise… I am looking for more “epic” gear to enhance my enjoyment of playing FPS, RTS, and RPG games. I love my Logitech G9 Laser mouse which I will be reviewing in a while on here.

Lately, I have been feverently helping Rei’s guild (aka “The Team”) “The Order of Corrupted Souls” with being a Senior Officer. I love the responsibility and I feel great actually KNOWING my team members in my team as humans rather than faceless individuals over the internet. Being in real contact with people like Rei, Jon, “Weaver”, Spencer, and Vergil is actually a fun exchange of interaction, especially over the Ventrilo server. I have been debating on chipping a good chunk of cash to a guild member fund raising raffle. The prize pack would be something like the following…

Potential Prize Pack Items for “The Order of Corrupted Souls” Initial Raffle

  • A Logitech Gamer Mouse… Either a Logitech G9 Laser mouse, the G5 wired mouse or a G7 wireless mouse
  • A Logitech Premium Notebook Headset
  • A Razer Destructor Mouse Pad
  • A Logitech G13 Game Pad

The goal of the raffle (and possibly future raffles) would be to help pay for Ventrilo fees, get more stuff for the “Order of Corrupted Souls” Loot Chest, and whatever Rei deems appropriate. Another reason I would like to propose the idea is to increase guild member participation. Of course… anyone who chips in would defaultly get 1 entry and from there the ticket prices would be to best discretion. The biggest thing most of all would be if Rei approves of it and if the other members of our guild would approve of such an idea. I could easily see this idea being great should our guild get big or if we do an alliance with a “Sister” guild.

As far as new articles… I have finally finished my cologne article, just it is pending some editing from my editors. Hopefully, Ivy or Eighty will take a gander and help me out… I will probably work on some gamer related articles too. Especially as it is my only means to keep sane anymore these days. Unfortunately… Rest will be only for the weak as I do have Maymester, Summer I, II, and III to contend with at the Community College to deal critical blows to my course work and HOPEFULLY advance myself in what I can take. I just hope I can change stuff should I do something like lessen the decline of my sanity.

Keep watching and I hope to have some really spiffy stuff for you all to read soon!

New Semester, New Food

So… The new student center is quite a riot. The Dining Room has been a huge change from last semester and I am glad to see that my tuition has gone to improve student morale through our stomachs. Some things have been recycled, like the waffle irons and toasters and even some things like the utensil holders. For the most part, there has been good changes. The “Grill” area has become a much more effective machine at shooting out burgers quickly and deliciously. The sandwich/deli area has become a meal-plan subsidized Subway of sorts. The pizza area now has a bonafide wood-fired pizza oven, rather than that conveyer belt oven.

This has made food taste better and good food always promotes good moods. Though the staff is not perfect, cause the new cafeteria does have its foibles. The pizza oven is not quite 100% mastered, ’cause there are sometimes where the pizza is bang-on perfect and it would give Red Brick Pizza a run for the money… While there are days that the quality is lacking in substance.

There’s also a return to my cafeteria buddies, folks like Drew, Penguin Commander, et al. Over my holiday break, I will admit, I missed them! However, there are some folks I have missed on linking up with… It’s good to be back with my lunch and dinner buddies. It helps ease the passing of the dull days when you have a companion to talk and vent to.

Thanks Texas A&M Commerce for putting some of our tuition to good use. Now… if you could do something fun like either make use of the new LCD HD-TV’s in the New Sam Rayburn Student Center or create an SAE Formula team… then I would be wickedly proud of the school I attend.

Saving a Demon and The Fall of the Ramparts

Of all things… Devil had an odd misfire issue. When I was replacing the spark plugs and the plug wires, I came about something odd… One of the metal firing contacts had corroded. Now, I need to figure why the service light is still on… I hope it’s not ’cause the misfire issue has killed my catalytic converter and possibly O2 sensors…

The school also will need $244 from me cause my student loans suck. I get the loan injection on 1/12 but I will have to scrounge up money somehow. Hopefully with a tolerable GPA, I will get more cash next school year.

My apologies for lacking a nice solid update as I have had some personal struggles come up I know I am highly overdue for my Men Science review. I have also decided to go ahead and work on an early Valentines special article too. I thank my closest friends and my loving girlfriend Ice for being so supportive in shouldering my personal problems.

As far as work… Let’s just say the ramparts are giving way and either leaders will fall or there will be mutiny among the crew. I have done my best and the sanity of the battleground will not hold.
(Updated from my Blackberry Curve)

Signing off until the Anniversary of ZeroXR 13mg

So… with exams starting tomorrow… I decided to hit “home” at Whitley hall early. Family was instigating a minor verbal scuffle, so naturally, I was fighting to escape ASAP and focus on a good mentality. In my demonic haste… I packed up all the stuff to stabilize my laptop’s life, but failed to pack up the power cord.

With the sad shape of my battery, I only have 3 hours of power over 3 days. From that, it nixes any gaming I may desire as well as randomly browsing 4chan/7chan/711chan/0chan for amusement. The only thing is… I am cut off from my loved ones who speak to me via instant message or e-mail. This probably depresses me the most of all things.

At the same time… It’s a sign from my divine beneficiaries that if I am to start off my week with the worst battle first, I will have to fight until the bitter end. There was apparently a blessing to any Chemistry 111 and 211 students from my professor that the grade from the final exam will also replace the lowest grade from the standard exams. So for me… I will fight onward to ensure a stable victory. I am not asking for an A in Chemistry as the last few things have diminished that very quickly… But to manage a C is the objective and a B to be a “bonus” objective.

History and Math I am not too worried about… I have done my work so I am alright there.

For my family, friends, and fans… If you wish to give me kind words: Send me a text message. If you need me to talk to you for encouragement, give me a call. My phone is now my life line until Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 1pm.

Also, December 10th is the first year of ZeroXR13mg and zeroxr.com’s existence. Any celebration should be reserved until 12/10/2008 after 1pm.

Thanks for the support for either my academic life or the life of this site… From here on out… I will lock down Suzaku and sign off from my laptop. I look forward to coming back live on Wednesday. For those of you taking exams with me… Good luck to you!

An Open Letter to The Linux Using Students of Texas A&M Commerce

Dear fellow students,

Some of you have chosen the past of most difficulty. Some of you have chosen to be free of Microsoft’s tyranny and to open your heart to the power of open source. To you, I commend you! However, I am willing to bet some in our ranks have been unable to enjoy such sweet splendor without much strife. I am referring more to the school network. Some of you may have had to compile the Cisco Network Manager and maybe failed in vain from incomplete dependencies…. Some of you who decided to be like me and run an Ubuntu variant to try importing one of their profiles in order to connect but you were met with the message of “VPN Secrets incomplete”.

I say to you… Fear not! I have managed to secure myself the information on the configuration from the Center of Technology and Information Services center from the McDowell administration building. If you are a student in need of getting connected online, I have done you a favor by compounding the complete configurations as a Cisco Network Profile. If you do, in-fact, need this file… Please send me an e-mail to info@zeroxr.com and I’ll be glad to pass it over! If you want me to help out… Please feel free to inquire and I’ll be glad to stop by!

Power to the people, free as beer! Those are the things to live by!

Regards,

Returning to the Lyceum and a Work Out Log Entry!

So I am back in school Monday for my first day of FULL schooling in almost 3 years at a big school and it’s quite a change from the hell that is “thirteenth grade” community college. I must say that the experience has been fun and quite a blast! To meet kind people who know nothing of your past has been spectacular! The campus is bustling with activity and and there is a very vital energy that invigorates the place.

However, my return is not without difficulty… Sure, I do live in the “crappy” dorm alone, but I did not have luck on my side as my dorm does not have a mini-fridge and family feels I can forego needing a microwave. So I have had to be resourceful with my meal plan and make do with it or use my dining cash every now and then for minor snacks when I am burnt out on my stash.

I also restarted my workouts to try to account for the matter that I have been burning intense calories running up and down 9 flights of stairs and walking to classes. Obviously, my legs are strained out so I had to pick another muscle group… Yesterday it was abdominals.

  • 100 reps of crunches
  • 100 reps of cross crunches
  • Done in sets of 20 with a 5 second break in between sets

My abs are burning, however, today… I need to look into doing upper body work. Push-ups, triangle push-ups, and the exhausting decline push ups will probably be the fare of the day after my short sprint to Wal-Mart for calculator batteries.

Expect a post later today with a “furnished” tour of my dorm room… so far, my fans Kimi and Sol have noted that my single room is quite spacious compared to others.