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| Jul. 14th, 2009 @ 10:54 am Figuring out my new home... | |||
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| Ultimately, and it's no surprise that once I graduate, I will move to wherever my job takes me. I'll also add that I probably won't be looking too hard in Charlotte or surrounding cities. Lately I've been looking at cities across America. Looking at stats, climate (which is more important to me now than long ago), crime, public transportation, and all that good stuff. Chicago is still a prime option, especially considering it has twice the population of Charlotte (actually quite a bit more than that) but less crime overall. West coast cities have my attention, primarily portland, seattle, and olympia. Out of those 3 my current preference falls on Olympia. Than there is Cedar Rapids Iowa. Aside from being flooded last year it seems like an awesome place to live. Boise City Idaho looks pretty dandy. Corvallis, Oregon Wenatchee, Washington Connecticut has a few decent cities that fulfill all the things I'm looking for. Just looking and thinking... Obviously no place is 'better' than another but different places have different things for different people, and I'm trying to find one that might best suite me and what I'm hoping for. And, of course, every city above has a major university in it that offers a masters in counseling and/or psychology (which is not hard to come across) so i have that end met already. And, regardless, it'll be at least a whole year before I can seriously consider anywhere and it'll be almost like applying for college all over again except with job applications. | |||
| Jul. 13th, 2009 @ 05:32 am creeping myself out.... | |||
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| Going caffeine free again, and this time it's permanent it seems (which means no tea which has been my killer as of this night). I am as awake right now, at 5am, as I was at 3, 2, and even midnight. I tried to sleep early but all I did was unintentionally stay up all night in the darkness. Holy shit though. My closet kept swinging open, and it's dark in there with an undone roll of wrapping paper that flutters cause of my fan. That got me once or twice, whenever I realized "God i'm awake, what time is it?". Then it got creepier when I heard a very very slight rumbling.... It sounded like something was moving across the floor in the attic near my bed... then, with my eyes closed, there was a flash of light. obviously I was up in an instant looking around at "WTF" had just happened... this was 2 minutes ago.. it is now pouring down rain outside with lots of lightning. Didn't see that coming. Yesterday was pretty (very) hot and kind of pretty. But, on a positive note, it's raining. If I could swim on Mondays than I couldn't now and if I was going to mow the lawn I can't now. I love rain, we need rain, let the rain pour. I bet if I try to sleep now I'll do awesome. thanks rain. | |||
| Jul. 12th, 2009 @ 09:03 pm My parents visited me at work today... | |||
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| I'm a very lucky person. I've stated this again and again and it is the one truth I can claim about my life since it completely relies on my positive outlook of all situations. Since I'll be at UNCC until next Spring I think I'm going to do all 4 levels of sign language. All 4, as in I'll be a 'fluent' in it. From there I can easily become an interpreter with a few ethics classes. Regardless, it's a very good skill to have in any job I go into. .... I'll only do this if I do as good at sign language 2 as I did at Sign language 1. 'fluent' because sign language is always changing, just as all languages are, so even if I learn 2000 signs that allow me to convey every message I'd ever need I'll never learn every sign ever made. ( College talk at work ) All this swimming is paying off. My collar bone looks awesome. SLEEP TIME! I gotta mow the lawn tomorrow since the pool is closed. | |||
| Jul. 11th, 2009 @ 11:20 am Naked Journalism | |||
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| My corporate office is trying to fire me due to 'stats' regardless of my high 'sales' which I figured were the sole purpose of working retail. Luckily I have an awesome staff that says if he leaves, we leave. We'll see how long that stays up but I really need to find a new job. ...or get my stats up... but, psh, I'm no salesman. I just like people quite a bit. Getting back on my diet today and Strict! I took my moms advice and tried crunching 2 of the meals into one and eating a bit heavier for that one but honestly I felt sluggish when I did that. I am much better off eating 4-5 small meals than 2-3 small and 1 big. Denny's opened up near concord mills. Though I shouldn't eat there again, they're fucking awesome. I have not been to one in like 10 years. I bought final Fantasy IV yesterday for the Nintendo DS to solve my need to play an 'New but Old RPG' considering I never actually BEAT 4, that game was hard. To my surprise and to my delight the game is fully voice acted quite decently, the graphics are... interesting, but good. A few new things to battle, a few new or different skills (like they changed Cecil's 'darkness' ability/attack)... overall it's very impressive and I highly recommend it for everyone, especially those who've never played 4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKmuaU2W I can't wait till they release 5 and 6 the same way. 5 has always been my favorite but i'll be the first to admit it had a terribly weak story. Hopefully a remake would fix the presentation of it. What I really don't get though is why these 3d remakes of the old FF game are not on PSP considering they don't utilize the bottom screen at all. I bought National Hebrew hot dogs this week, because hot dogs are an efficient meal. I'm still unsure if I like them. They are definitely different but I can't say better or worse than the previous ones I had for sure. I think the fact that they answer to a higher authority worries me slightly too. | |||
| Jul. 8th, 2009 @ 10:35 pm valkyria chronicles | |||
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I just started playing this game. I remember trying the demo and being overwhelmed by the difficulty of it but I'm gonna give it a chance with a rental and see how far I push into it. As the previous lets you know it's Europe and Russia set in Anime land fighting during the second world war of their time over materials. You basically play as Poland, a neutral who is about to get crushed, and you play as a band of soldiers who are doing what they can. It's neat. The preview has some crazy guy with a magic sword but all i've seen so far is guns, tanks, and pretty real stuff. It's fun. A very fun take on a stratagy game and very well made i have to say. It's not your traditional, like Disgaea or final Fantasy tactics, it's more action based- kindof- enemies shoot at you during your turn and you shoot at them during their turn.. it's wierd that way... Lets see.. every turn, dependent on the level of your captain, you have a few command points. every command point lets you take control of 1 character. Each time you do this a character gets to expend their AP by running around, shooting off their weapon once, and taking cover or whatever they want to do. You can use multiple CP on the same character per turn but their AP lowers every time due to exhaustion. It looks like you can equip up to 2 weapons on any character (may be more-and it seems one is a firearm and the other ends up being a grenade or something like that) and until you're in 'aim' mode enemies will fire on you as long as they are facing your direction and you're within range. It's a neat system... almost like Future Tactics from back in the day but I have to say it plays much better. I know it's a game that's often raved about for PS3 that I've never picked up so I figured it was worth a shot... so far I'm impressed. | |||
| Jul. 8th, 2009 @ 10:12 am Today | |||
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| Today is not so different from tomorrow except today i have to go talk to people and get forms filled out and signed. Whoooo. It was hard enough to do it during the school year, this will be borderline impossible in the summer. Also today i have to work from 2-close but tomorrow I think I'll be either playing Final fantasy XII and still trying to beat it, playing the hell out of blazblue, or starting a new/old RPG like wild arms 2 or Final fantasy 6. We'll see. Sign language is exciting. It also gives me that leniency I was originally expecting this year. At the moment I need a 17 and 18 credit hour semester to graduate. W/ sign language, originally and now, I can either take a 18 credit hour semester now and a 13 credit hour one later, or 15 and 16, or whatever. I think I'll sign up for 18 regardless both times, that way I can do bad just in case- haha. but no excuse next semester, I get first dibs on everything for once. I planning to finally get Yoga or Volleyball. Dominique is Really really good at Blazblue (and from what I've seen most fighting games). Don't let her fool you. I've been reading Cable and Deadpool. That's a pretty cool/interesting comic. Cable is just about as funny as Deadpool but in a very different way... http://www.cpcc.edu/addesign/contin Check out that program. I came across it while getting some info I needed for my class. 5 courses, ultimate goal is to publish a comic essentially- it even goes into online publishing. love cpcc for that stuff. | |||
| Jul. 7th, 2009 @ 01:13 pm sign language | |||
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| Finally got a reply from UNCC on this, a nice straightforward answer. I can take sign language within my final 30 credit hours at CPCC because it is not offered at UNCC. I can take sign language at CPCC while attending UNCC full time. J. Wilson, my old teacher, has a spot every MWF 10-11. I'll lose my awesome Japanese film class but I can replace it with the Orson wells class he also teaches right after that. Whoo... I think. I still have to get everything sorted out at UNCC tomorrow but as of now I am registered for American sign language at CPCC. This one is almost full too so no chance it'll be dropped. Luckily most of my stuff this semester is American studies and psych... otherwise 22 credit hours would sound really really really scary. though i will be finding a decent replacement for my 1940's comic strip class... i don't believe it'll be as fun as it sounds. | |||
| Jul. 6th, 2009 @ 11:35 am Baked Macaroni and Cheese | |||
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| Baked some Macaroni and Cheese last night. still not perfect but I'm definitely getting better. I also learned how to make fried macaroni and cheese with the left overs but I'm lacking the ingredients this week. I have not updated since the 3rd so I'll fill you in on the 4th. I bought a small grill and some charcoal and I had a small BBQ with potatoes, steaks, and those Angus hot dogs I raved out previously. It was pretty delicious. Pretty fun. Good times. I also watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with Dominique and I must say that it has me interested in the bigger story. I also played a lot of BlazBlue. And... that's that. No swimming today (and unfortunately the whole weekend I ended up avoiding it cause of my work schedule and whatnot) cause the pool is closed but I'm hoping tomorrow I get right back on it. I bought regular milk this week because I ran out of milk last night for my macaroni and cheese and the only place open was Harris Teeter. Harris Teeter fucking robs you. so I ended up getting a gallon of regular milk for 2.50 instead of spending almost 5 bucks for a carton of lactose-free milk that wasn't even organic or anything. Even Walmart robs you for that stuff. Bloom/Food Lion are great cause their own brand of lactose free milk is the same price as the regular milk- so you still get less for the same money, but you're not paying More for less. Anyway, i believe as long as I keep my milk consumption in check I should be cool... but, i guess this is one of those 'tests'... though, honestly, after all the macaroni and cheese I've had the last night and just now... I...uh... yeah... this'll be a rough day. haha | |||
| Jul. 3rd, 2009 @ 03:17 pm I bet you can guess what I Want to post about... | |||
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| I didn't go swimming today. Boohoo. that's 2 days in a row. Yesterday the pool was closed and today I just became busy. I bought some almond milk to try before I waste money on almonds and try to make some. Holy shit it's strong. too strong for me. I might not be getting into that stuff any time soon. I went to 'Mimi's Cafe' with my parents (apparently my dad was given a gift card for fixing someone's computer). Luckily I went with them instead of trying it myself considering the cheapest thing on the menu was 7 dollars, and every other lunch item was between 9 and 15 9 dollars got me a Delicious blackened salmon salad thing... It was perfectly portioned and the salad it was laid next to was fantastic. I want to learn how to make 'blackened' items, I've always been a fan of chicken served this way. I probably won't be going there again though... I can't even imagine how much a dinner would cost there. ... I actually just got back from mimi's. i spent 35 dollars on food yesterday. That's my new goal. 1 dollar per meal, 5 meals a day, 7 days a week. I'm going to try a kashi cereal this week (heaviest thing they had) and i'm pretty set with/ok with regular lactose free milk. It's as much, if not a few cents more, than a gallon of regular milk, but since I'm not buying the organic stuff or a soy based one it's still cheap enough and reasonable for 7 days of cereal or however I end up using it. I also bought hot dogs, Ballpark brand Angus Beef hot dogs. Holy Shit they're delicious. I prefer spicy mustard. I won't be purchasing King of Fighters 12 when it comes out (out of cost issues) but I have been keeping up with it... They're going to allow clans to be formed and they're gonna have clan battle features. KOF has always been a tag team game so what they'll probably do is let people play 3 on 3 and all control 1 character instead of a set. That sounds interesting. Soul calibur 4 lagged like a beast (the.. once or twice I played it online- but it was confirmed by friends and the internet that the lag was a serious issue) but Blazblue, with exception of 1 fight, has no lag issues At all. which is fantastic considering how fast of a game it is. It's neat to see how these games are evolving. I wouldn't have even considered playing a high-speed fighting game online as feasible 5 years ago. | |||
| Jul. 2nd, 2009 @ 10:03 pm BLAZBLUE | |||
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| I watched Knowing yesterday. I like movies that 'go there' and that movie surely did. Otherwise it was just 'ok'. I loved the concept but ultimately they took a bazaar route, that ultimately worked for me, but came off as really really stupid during the duration of the film. ..ok ok, i have nothing else to say. That was just an excuse to write more about blazblue. New Monkey Island! ( Blazblue babble ) | |||
| Jul. 2nd, 2009 @ 09:25 am Blazblue | |||
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| To my surprise and I hate to admit my 'Initial' disappointment Blazblue is a whole new game from Guilty Gear. I say initial disappointment because I started playing and thinking "God this sucks" but then I realized... I honestly have to relearn how to play this. Everything controls differently, certain button combinations now do things you really don't want it to do .... gee, it's very different. But, honestly, it's great. I played online a bit... only beat 1 person but he was 10 levels above me so I got to level 4. The characters are nicely balanced.... except... well, I don't want to say this, but this end boss (who I've only fought online) comes off as slightly cheap.... don't know.... guess I'll figure out more later. I might just not be good enough (yet) to escape a few dozen swords appearing around my body slashing through me in Combo format. Great new defense system, a much more defensive game, and all the characters play significantly different from one another. A few of them reminds me of characters from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.... as in, a lot of them actually have you controlling two entities at once. Another wierd thing... In terms of Speed I believe most GG fighters could beat the hell out of the blazblue fighters. In terms of Power I believe the blazblue fighters have a serious one-up. conclusion- to my complete surprise BlazBlue is not Guilty Gear. haha. Sounds silly but I honestly expected it to be a carbon copy. It is different but I still do sincerely like it. I'm learning and I'm definitely getting better already. and, to my surprise, the American voice acting is Not terrible. Edit I could probably post all day about blazblue but I'll just update this entry. I did the story mode with 2 characters to 100 percent. First of all- Carl Clover is a fucking badass but god he's something else to play as http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTBn0Cm1 I also beat the story mode in it's entirety as Bang who's an over-excited ninja. he was fun too. I also managed to beat a lvl 14 online with him so he may soon be one of my favorites. Second- Story mode is good. There are multiple choices and endings the story can develop for every character. All the stories piece together one much larger story going on. It's neat. Of course it is the most over the top fictional universe ever, just as guilty gear's was, but that's what makes it so genius. | |||
| Jul. 1st, 2009 @ 12:55 pm BLAZBLUE | |||
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| I'll enlighten you all later with a game play response- I can't play it yet. but, I got it. Not worth 5 dollars more in shipping in order to get the art 'book' (thick as a comic book) but it's still nice to look at all the character designs and all the parts to them. Unfortunately it doesn't go into level design at all which disappoints me. I'm listening to the first disc of the soundtrack (20 songs on it alone) and it's exactly what you'd expect. Orchestra Rock Music. I'm happy with it. I know I'll be happy with the game. I can't wait to play and to play online and to play with people and.. oh yeah, go through the story mode. which is apparently pretty good... The art book does have 1 very interesting page. It shows all the characters with the main character (the Sol badguy looking one) Regna in the middle. There are series of arrows all around the page to signify relationships and motive for pursuing other people. It's sortof cool. With a complicated web of relationships plus apparently the pretty detailed story mode (every character has 3 different story arcs they can go through) this might be a nice little universe to indulge in for a while. ... no confirmation yet, but I wonder if there will be any uncrackable (that's what it auto-spelled for 'unlockables' haha) for Guilty gear fans.. like a level or two or.. dare I say... a character. Luckily, too, this is not a game like Street Fighter where you're limited to the ground so no one can pull a cheap Ken on the net. I can't wait to get online with this game and just go nuts. Whoo! more later. | |||
| Jun. 30th, 2009 @ 10:28 pm Why is the internet so slow? | |||
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| I've been thinking lately "No matter where I go the internet is slow" and then I realized, er... remembered that I'm still downloading All of Dragonball, Dragonball Z, and Dragonball GT on bitorrent... and have been for months. work was cool, tomorrow should be cooler... gee.... um.... sorry for this twitter-style post.. i'll post something worth your time tomorrow. | |||
| Jun. 30th, 2009 @ 10:20 am Waiting... | |||
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| Sucks to know you'll get something in 2 days. in 2 days I'll get Blazblue Calamity Trigger. UPS just confirmed and whatnot... I can't wait. I'm pretty patient but... whatever. SWIMMING TIME! *edit* And to advance my new swimming routine one more level I'm trying to incorporate Yoga style breathing regiments into the swimming itself. This makes it feel that much more satisfying but also it makes it about twice as tiring. that delicious grilled salmon dinner was postponed and instead I found myself surrounded by spaghetti, meatballs, shrimp-something, and salad. It was still a good meal but there is no way I didn't exceed 500 calories with the half plate I covered in that stuff. plus my dad, being wierd as he is, brought me, and just me, those tall cans of Arizona green tea. Popped one open for me on the table and that's what I was left drinking. Since the stuff spoils like an hour after you open it and since I don't believe in wasting food no matter what I was stuck drinking those 210 calories along with my meal. Since the pool is closed monday there is no way I used up the calories I consumed. But, back on it today, of course. I started playing Deadspace again yesterday. God I forgot how good that game was. Take the film Event Horizon, the story is VERY similar to it, except instead of having it be about someone exploring how a bunch of people went mad and nothing actually happening in the course of the film put your main character there only a few hours after shit went bonkers. It reminds me of a fusion of Bioshock and the film Event Horizon. It has all the audio logs and the perfect environments that all tell stories like Bioshock but a story that takes place in space and involves people accidentally discovering something terrible like event horizon. ( A trailer ) | |||
| Jun. 29th, 2009 @ 04:58 pm (no subject) | |||
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| I was listening to Excellent Radio for the first time and a song came on. The DJ said the song was by "Princes". I believe it so at least. slight chance it was the song name but I believe it was not. It is what I'd call 'electronic rap', but after looking it up that's what Black Eyed Peas are referred to as and it's nothing like that. Heavily synthesized sound, there was a female voice (I believe as part of the chorus), and a rapper. I have looked everywhere and spelled it every way possible yet I'm having no luck finding this group. I might have to wait till next Saturday night to call the DJ of that station to ask her since she seems to only DJ one night a week. any help will be appreciated. | |||
| Jun. 29th, 2009 @ 04:15 pm Overly Critical | |||
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| Just got back from transformers 2. I had one serious problem with it and that was the movie trying to throw in a joke during every serious moment. Otherwise though I did enjoy it. I like the direction they're putting the story contrary to the old shows. Though in the long term Transformers developed a pretty decent little universe the original series was something to look back on and sigh about. It's definitely a well made movie and more than anything, and most importantly, fun to watch. Metacritic and Rotten Tomato both have it at about 30% with the user rating being closer to 70%. Fuck critics. If you couldn't enjoy the first transformers than you won't like this one but if you did than you need to watch this movie. It almost beat Dark Knight in it's release weekend sales. go figure Dominique and I went to see it in Imax. This was not the initial decision but we figured for 4 dollars more per ticket (9 dollars- it's 5 on weekdays otherwise) we'd be among of crowd of slightly older people. Well, it didn't turn out that way, but God Damnit they have some loud speakers in their Imax theaters at AMC so if anyone was saying anything I didn't hear them. Honestly Imax at AMC is to a regular theater as Bluray is to a regular DVD. Yeah, it's much crisper and cleaner looking but there is only so much the human eye can see. You'll notice a difference but it doesn't improve the quality enough to be worth extra money. Just like Blurays are not worth an extra 10 dollars. Jesus... reduce sodium ramen noodles really do taste different... Bleh... Well that's 4 oclock for ya'. Tonight is grilled salmon at my parent's house. I'm excited. I've never been a Salmon fan but I think my mom can make me one. | |||
| Jun. 29th, 2009 @ 10:26 am Final Fantasy XII | |||
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| ( Game talk ) pool is closed today. bleh. I also have a family dinner to go to later so that ruins my diet. Not 'ruins' but knocks it off a bit. but it's cool. I then promised to see Transformers 2 after that. I admit that I liked the first one contrary to how I expected I'd feel about it.. we'll see about the second one though, I'm not as excited for sure. | |||
| Jun. 28th, 2009 @ 03:49 pm (no subject) | |||
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| Billie Mays died... Anyway, I just finished watching "Bloodline" http://www.bloodline-themovie.com/ I liked it... it's a documentary.. It's worth watching, sharing, it's interesting. Davinci Code didn't touch on the idea that Jesus did not die on the cross, this movie really one-ups it and has a lot to defend it with. It's sort of a creepy movie, as such documentaries are, but it will keep you entertained with information and theories. I'm going to hang out with Korey in a few minutes. If you call me and I don't pick up it's because my phone is refusing to vibrate. don't know why but for right now, this instant, I have my ringer on. Just a heads up in case you need me, i'll call you back ASAP if you do call, Please leave a message. | |||
| Jun. 28th, 2009 @ 02:10 am (no subject) | |||
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| Excellent Radio is the best radio station I've ever listened to. http://www.ktoo.org/kxll/ too bad it's in Juneau, Alaska. Maybe that's where I need to be Hung out with Dominique's brother a bit today. He's determined to beat me in Guilty Gear, he requested to borrow it so he can get better, I can't wait till i hang out with him again (and i have Blazblue w/ me as well) | |||
| Jun. 27th, 2009 @ 09:41 am JESUS CHRIST | |||
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| ... To everyone's surprise (and my own) I'm still doing this diet. Go me. In high school I weighed closer to 170 and I managed to lift exactly double my body weight in my weight lifting class toward the end- 340 pounds. Probably part of the fact that I never looked different is why I didn't continue this, I never got 'buff' or 'fit' looking, i just became strong for that time. I probably couldn't lift over 200 if my life depended on it now and I weight 200 without working out, I still don't look different, but it must be more fat than muscle by this point. that's why 170 is my goal. It was the weight of my physical 'prime' and I want to re-achieve that while I'm young and hopefully surpass myself. I watched 12 Rounds yesterday. It was actually a pretty entertaining movie. You get to like a character or two regardless of how incredibly cliche it was. Honestly the best movies I've seen lately have been the crazy action films, only interesting differences is- In a big title like Taken it's about the crazy American with a gun who uses it (and kills everyone) for justice In 12 Rounds it's about a crazy american, in America, who finds ridiculous ways of not hurting anyone and abiding by the law to the very end... Though, in reality, hundreds of people would have died by his methods. If it encourages you to see 12 Rounds the beginning of the film has a chase scene- hero is on foot badguys in car in a small neighborhood. the hero uses a Boat to stop them. BlazBlue comes out this week, I'm pretty (very) excited. time to eat and go swimming! (with some reasonable time in between) *edit* Oh my sweet lord Jesus! I'm tired now. My goal today was to simply hold my breath from one end of the pool to the other. This proved to be very difficult for me. I sortof managed to do it once but my goal is to increase my new 'objective' is to increase my breathing time underwater so I can do it easily. | |||