I could be very wrong, but I would assume that the number of people that drive drunk every year greatly outweighs the number of people that avoid paying their taxes every year. Because of his fame, the prosecutors wanted to make an example out of Mr. Snipes and I don’t know about you, but I think they have made their point. I personally would much rather be caught driving drunk several times, on a suspended license, and only serve twenty-two days in jail, than avoid paying my taxes and end up in the slammer for three years. Of course, I’m not planning on doing either, but I would rather see celebrities receive ‘the maximum term requested by prosecutors’ for something that has the potential to destroy human life, rather than denying our country more war-monies.

A quick note: I condone neither drunk driving, tax evasion, war nor Paris Hilton.

All I want for Valentine’s Day is a new Teen Girl Squad.

I ate entirely too much candy today.

That is all.

.entry img {
border: 1px solid #888;
float: left;
margin: 5px 10px 5px 0;
}

Comment out the “float: left” like this:

.entry img {
border: 1px solid #888;
/*float: left;*/
margin: 5px 10px 5px 0;
}

Then you will be able to center images in the visual editor by clicking on an image and then the ‘align center’ button. Now, I will be the first to admit that there might be a better way of going about this, but what you see above worked for me, and will hopefully continue to work and not break something else. If anyone has a better solution / workaround, please let me know.

The above code is to make an image centered in the post, with text above and below the image. If you’re trying to center an image and wrap text around it, I cannot help you and I have not tested the above to see if that will work (wrapping text all the way around an image, is just silly in my opinion).

“So this is the new year, and I don’t feel any different.”

Does anyone have crazy resolutions for this year, beside the cliched “lose a billion pounds” or “take up yoga”? I’ve resolved to make an effort to practice my guitar more, write another novel this year (this might wait ’till NaNoWriMo), write another screenplay either independently or with a partner, read more, and blog more.

I should probably add ‘clean my room’, ‘play more video games’, ‘win the lottery’, ‘drink more water’, ‘take more pictures’, ‘become a better programmer’ and ‘go to bed earlier’ to the above list.

I wrote this post with Windows Live Writer, and so far, I’m liking it quite a bit. For novel writing, I would recommend checking out yWriter4, and for screenplays, celtx. The next novel that I write, will probably be written using yWriter, unless I come across a better alternative that is also free.

I’d find and link some articles here, if I wasn’t horribly tired and in the middle of studying for an exam that I have tomorrow / today.

UPDATE:

I decided to stop being lazy, and went in search of a link.

In other news, you should be happy to know that I can now solve a Rubik’s cube in approximately seven minutes.

The obvious choice for most people would be to simply go to a four-year university and continue working on my BA. Most of the credits I have will transfer in, and it would probably only take another two years to obtain. This option is fine, and has been what I had planned on for quite some time. However, what comes after that? Do I get a job much like the one I have, either at my current employer or somewhere else? Sure I’d probably be a programmer or network admin instead of a pc technician (and earning a higher wage), but the job is more or less the same. Not the same tasks, mind you, as those job titles differ quite a bit; I refer to the same atmosphere, the same working environment, the same, “This is broke, go fix it” pattern that plagues the IT service industry.

I want change, and I want it to be drastic.

Last night, I discovered the Hallmark Institute of Photography and became extremely interested. I’ve only been taking pictures for a couple years now, and I would like to think that I am doing pretty good for the little amount of professional instruction I have had, but I could be much, much better. Now would probably be a good time to show you some examples of stuff I have done, and for that, I point you to my deviantArt profile (which I should also make a permanent link on here, somewhere) http://benmasters.deviantart.com. I like taking pictures, really I do. The question here is, “Do I like photography so much that I could seriously see myself making it a full-time profession.” “Not in Jackson,” is my first response, but the more serious answer to this is, “yes.”

The problem I have, lies with the myriad of interests that swarm around in my head and constantly battle for my attention and time. Yes, I am interested in photography and can see myself making it a full-time career. But I can also see myself writing professionally, making movies (or being involved in the process somehow), or heaven forbid, working in a cubicle, fixing the latest glitch that has popped up on the network, or fixing some piece of code that causes the program to crash whenever the user launches their media player of choice. The scary thing is that I don’t hate everything IT related as much as it might seem here. I am fascinated by a great deal of technology on a daily basis and I yearn to understand the inner workings of it. Indeed, the IT hobbies in my head win my attention and time every now and again; I believe I have just been doing it too long, and am in need of a change.

I want to create something. Something that matters, something that improves the world of the individual using it, viewing it, consuming it or doing otherwise with whatever it is intended to do. I want whatever I create to have a bigger impact than Jackson, MI.

The first step, is to finish my associates degree. This is a personal goal that is going to be met, because it should have been met a while ago and it will give me at least a little something to fall back on should my hopes and dreams be crushed by some act of God.

“Why not finish up your BA and then pursue your dreams,” you might ask, and that is a very good question, and something that may actually happen. One reason is time. I’m not getting any younger and I would like to start doing something creative with my time. Reason number two is partly what this entire post is about; why would I complete my BA in something that I don’t want to do? The only reason I would complete my BA, is so I could get a higher paying job. Money is nice and all, and I would really like to have an endless supply of it; but unfortunately, money does not motivate me. I am only interested in having enough money to support the things that I need it for. Owning a house in every civilized nation, and having a garage with twenty exotic cars in it, is not something that appeals to me. The third reason is the security blanket factor. By having a BA that I can fall back on, should this all not pan out, I believe I would be less motivated to succeed. The associates degree is just to keep me from making minimum wage.

So, by this time next year, this will become much more relevant, as I will be faced with the question presented in the first paragraph of this post, and forced to make a decision. I have a year to think about it, plan, and have life throw a few more curves at me that could very likely make this all irrelevant. In the meantime, if anyone would like to throw several thousand dollars my way (like $50,000) so I can pay for Hallmark and sleep in a bed at night, leave me a comment, and I’ll send you my address. I guarantee that I will take at least one beautiful picture in your honor.

Did I mention that I’d also like to go to AFI?

In other news, I bought a Rubik’s Cube last Thursday. I had the sudden urge to learn how to solve one, and I have five of the seven steps (or patterns) memorized. In a week or so, you should be able to throw me a cube in any state, and I should be able to solve it within a few minutes. I’m not trying to become a speedcuber or anything like that (although it sure is fun to watch), but as long as I can solve it within a few minutes, that’ll be good enough for me.

I also bought my ticket to Japan yesterday and as a result, my bank account has decreased by $1,241.38; wewt for expensive plane trips!

For those of you who wish to listen to a very low-quality stream (complete with emphysemic audience members) go here.

I’ve been around classical music for the majority of my life; my father has listened to it for as long as I can remember. I’ve heard bits and pieces of different classical works over the years as they have been used in various commercials, movies and songs by other contemporary artists. I’ve heard samples of the different movements of the Ninth, edited down for the short attention spans that us modern-day folk have. I am twenty-two years old, and without the aid of wikipedia, I could not give you the names of many composers or any of their famous works. If you played a well-known piece for me, I am likely to recognize it, but not know its name or composer. Beethoven was not meant to be ‘sampled’, Beethoven was not meant to be abridged; I feel cheated. Why was this not forced upon me as a student in high school? Why was this not required listening, even in my band class?

I believe one of the reasons to be the aforementioned short attention spans that we have. We have become used to the idea that any ‘song’ or source of audio meant for entertainment and enjoyment, should be roughly three-point-five minutes in length and played non-stop on the local radio station. Who decided this? Did musical artists one day decide that they didn’t want to stretch their creative abilities further than that limit, were they forced by record producers to keep their music under a certain length in order to provide disc jockeys with enough time for commercials? I know this comparison is not very fair, as the two styles of music I am comparing are vastly different, and intended for entirely different audiences.  I also do realize that not everyone likes classical music, as musical taste differs from person to person, but I wonder if the reason not many people like classical music, is because they haven’ been properly exposed to it.  People may say that they do not like classical music because the majority of it is instrumental; fortunately for them, the Ninth has lyrics Also, most movie soundtracks (or at least the ones that have soundtracks that are not based on the summer’s pop hits) have instrumental scores, but you never really think about them, because they are in the background; they are the invisible actor / actress.

There is still a great deal of contemporary music that I listen to and love; I am not hating on (all of) the newer stuff. However, all of this old music that I have never heard before, or heard in its original and intended way, intrigues the hell out of me. Another thing that interests me, is the longevity that the Ninth Symphony has had. What exactly does it take to create a work of art that can stand the test of time so well? Only a few pieces of art have been able to do so. Where do these succeed where so many others fail?

I hadn’t really intended this to turn into such a crazy rant, however I have now resolved to purchase some classical music. I shall start with the Ninth Symphony, if not all nine. Then I will work on branching out to other composers.

When I set eyes on this post again, I will probably notice several disjointed thoughts, spelling / grammar errors, amongst other atrocities to logic, reason and the English language. Please forgive me. I may add to / edit this post, or continue adding ideas in the comments.  Someone should create a WordPress plugin that can lock me out of my blog late at night…that is when the ranting demons seize control of my hands and make me type awful things.

I would like to thank Geoff. Without him forcing me to watch A Clockwork Orange, this post would not have been possible.