SpawnPoint

If you have not noticed, I have not been on CSS for over two weeks, which is the longest I have been away for quite some time. Computer issues do have a lot to do with it, but so does my work schedule:

One of my jobs busy season is upon us, and I still am holding down the other. I did a little math that covered the last 5 days:

In 72 hours..I worked 40 of them
In the previous 48 hours, I worked 21 of them
During one span, I worked 10 hours at one job, then went to the other and worked until 3am, then had to go back to my first job at 630am, so I didn't sleep. 
During the 72 hour span there was a period where I was awake for 42 straight hours.

Grand total: 5 days, I worked 61 hours. Not too much for a full time employee, but for someone with two part-time jobs running on 42 sleepless hours...not so fun.

Anywho expect a prompt return of me, as soon as my computer issues have been resloved...and I get some much needed rest.

If you guys haven't noticed, I haven't been on as much recently. I guess you can say I have been a bit of a "ghost" (pun intended) only appearing briefly and having to leave quickly. I figured I would give a little explanation as to whats going on.

Well, I work at two jobs right now. One job has random hours and random shifts. I usually only worked Saturdays there, but they recently lost their only full-time employee. It is down to two of us that have the availability to work random shifts in the middle of the week. 

My other job just lost two employees because they decided it was a good idea to do some illegal activities inside during a busy shift. That means I am the only person that can work the middle of the week night shift, because I am the only one that knows how to and does it well. On top of those, I am needed Fridays and most Sundays. Last week I worked a total of 9 shifts, sometimes going right from class to one job, then going straight to the next job.

Oh yeah, I go to college full-time.

Just when I thought I could take a little break, I ended up getting into an accident on my way to work last week. Nothing big, just rear-ended a guy who decided to stop halfway in the street when he didn't merge. And now he is giving the insurance company and myself grief, claiming there were 4 people in his car (himself and 3 kids) when I only saw one and the police officer only saw the one driver (the police report can back me up). Anyway, I had my truck looked at and it will cost a pretty penny to get it fixed, as well as soon-to-be skyrocketing insurance rates. With that in mind, I can't take much of a financial break.

Anywho, we hired a few people, and I really hope to regain a least a portion of my life back once I'm done training them.

If you haven't heard, and can't figure out from the title, I got my wisdom teeth removed this morning. Seeing as there are a fair amount of younger players on Spawnpoint, I figured I would explain and enlighten those who will be getting them removed eventually.

First off, I am 19 and yes it is a bit late to get them removed. I had expected to just suck it up and let them grow, but the upper teeth were impacted (came in at an angle) and they decided to remove all 4 of them at once.

I was never concerned about the procedure. My brother and sister got them removed, and I don't have any problems with blood or needles. For those of you that are/will be concerned, it was nothing. The only pain I felt prior to the procedure was a small pinch when they inserted the thing that holds the IV. After that, they put some local anesthesia in the IV, and I slowly began to feel the effects. After a minute, I vaguely remember them them putting tubes into my nose, which was probably sleeping gas and oxygen. Then I heard someone ask me to put something in my mouth, and no it is not what you sicker people think. After, I don't remember a thing.

It seemed like only seconds before I was awake and being helped into a recovery room. In reality, it was only about 15 minutes, which is much shorter than I expected. I left the recovery room after about 2 minutes, and headed home with a mouth full of gauze.

I was told to eat as much as I could when I got home, and that is the best advice I can give. Your mouth will be full of novacaine, so you won't feel much, but later in the day you will feel it. So fill up your stomach, and get some med's in your system.

Some advice I can give, buy some movies; you will be in your room most of the day and you will need something to watch. Buy a lot of kleenex, my mouth is full of spit most of the time, and it is hard to actually spit. Ice your face as much as you can, because it will help the swelling go down. And finally, eat and drink as much as you can, when you can.

If you haven't noticed, my online time has been greatly decreased due to a hectic work schedule, combined with a hectic class schedule.

Typically, I work one job on Saturdays at a banquet hall. But as the holiday season approaches, they have been getting more and more business, so I have had to work there more and more. We only have a few employees, so basically if you have any available time to work, you have to, otherwise the function will not go well. A few weeks back, I worked a 16 hour shift, from 10am to 2am. Thankfully, we all got a raise, and the job is fun when it isn't stressful. On the other side, I will be working New Years.

I also have another job, working at a movie theatre. I only work about 25 hours a week there, but it eats up most of my nights. The only downside is that it is open every day of the year, without holiday pay. I worked thanksgiving, which wasn't a big deal because I was able to eat plently of turkey and work at night. I looked at the time off book to request christmas parties off, and I noticed that the day before, day of, and day after christmas has already been requested by most employees, so it looks like I will be working those days. This isn't a big deal with me, because as long as I can get the days that I need off for family parties, which aren't on those days, then I will be fine.

And yes, a lot of people go to the movies on Christmas.

And yes, as soon as it snows I will have a third job. I live up on a hill with three other older neighbors, and I recently purchased a truck with a plow on it. When it snows, I will be plowing the entire hill, earning roughly $75. The only downside to this, is that the snow is unpredictable. I can see my schedule as follows: up at 5am to plow; at class for 745am; going back home to plow again; going to work. It sure will be fun (sarcasm)

Ghost- student, banquet server, movie theater worker, snow plower. Say that 5 times fast.

Last night was a very stressful night for PHXX. We had an OGL match scheduled for 9pm on de_dust2 and a CAL match that our scheduler foolishly scheduled on the same night at 10pm (<---- I'm the CAL scheduler)

We were all stressed, and unsure if we would have enough for both scrims. Thankfully, we had ample people show up for both, so that was one stress to cross off the list.

For the first scrim, the team was Reject, Tribit, Evil, Colt, and myself It was a good scrim, but we ended up beating the team 23-3 (OGL does 13 round halfs)

The second was the big one, CAL match on de_inferno. The team was Reject, Tribit, Wolf, Dr!fter, and myself. It was tricky, but we worked together perfectly to destroy the team, 29-1. Eventually you could tell the other team gave up because they were buying auto-snipers (a site never seen in any leagues) but we still took them down. You know we all did great when I was on the bottom of the team list on terrorist side, with a score of 12-3.

So it was a great night all around for PHXX, and I hope we can continue our dominance in OGL, CAL, and eventually the Spawnpoint Ladders :)

This is an opinion of mine and has no technical accuracies. I am refering to the stuff that doesnt need water at all, but comes in little bottles and is used on a regular basis.

Everyone has seen it. It is in our schools, our hospitals, our resturants, and our houses, but is it really as good as many think? Of course I am talking about the anti-bacterial liquid. Not the kind of soap that you use to wash up, but the stuff that I see people carrying around with them everywhere. Many think that this is ingenious, and will lead to a healthier life. However, myself and a few of my friends think completely the opposite.

Before I go into details I want to let you know that I am a clean person, just don't look at my room. I wash my hands before I eat, and if I am dirty, or if I have to handle food at one of my jobs. However, I refuse to use the quick solution of using the anti-bacterial wash. "Why?" you may ask, "It kills 99.9% of germs" That is true, it does a dandy job of getting rid of germs. But my reasoning lies in the germ itself.

It is a scientific fact  that the germ is adaptable. The germ will enter the body and make you sick. Your body then works to get rid of the germ, and become immune to it. You know have built up an immunity to that specific germ, and the chances of you getting sick from it again in the near future are less likely. But the germ is not done yet, it will mutate. The germ mutates to a form unrecognizable to the body, and then will get you sick again. Again, your body must fight this new form of the germ. And the process continues and the germ keeps finding ways to slip in and get past your immune system.

What does this all have to do with anti-bacterial wash? Well it may not happen now, but the germs will find a way to adapt to the wash. This germ will be stronger than your regular germ, and attack the immune system that has been weakend by the anti-bacterial wash. I believe that it will take nothing short of an acid bath or flames to stop this germ.

Before you get crazy, I want to tell you that I am not crazy. I do not live in a bubble, I do not wash my hands 50 times a day, I live a normal life and only bring up this topic as a conversation piece and figured I would post it here.


Your thoughts?....

Well I finally got the Orange Box. I went to circuit city where I only payed $39.81. Right now it says that it has to verify my purchase, which could take up to 4 hours. I find this to be a little weird because I checked steampowered.com and they said that it may have to process my credit card. Thing is, I bought it in a store, not online. I  just want to get playing, I actually woke up semi-early to get this thing.

Well, I have came to an executive decision that I am going to get Team Fortress 2 when it comes out on October 10th. The only question I have is does anyone know if  I have to get the Orange Box? I do not really want the Orange Box, all I want is Team Fortress, does anyone know if I can just get Team Fortress? Can I get it at a store or do I have to buy it online?

This morning in between classes, I decided to play a little cs. I joined the UK Assault server, as it was full and I wanted to play humans. I don't usually play the UK servers because my ping is bad and because they could be cussing up a storm and I wouldn't know.

Anyway, I joined with a different name to see this one guy go around the swear filter, and I warned him about it. He then said something to  the point of seeing someones mother last night using some off-color language. Again, I warned him and stated it was his final warning. Sure enough, a few rounds later he said he got so excited one round that he....well...he did something in his pants (I won't repeat it) I then subsequentially kicked him for it.

He returns a huffy, saying that I was pathetic for kicking him. I then changed my name to [PHXX]Ghost and told him to feel free to report me to the abuse team. He then said something about the server logs, and continued to say that the kick was unjustified, saying that he did not go around the swear filter. I remained calm and said that he was warned twice for his language. He then said I was a communist, and said "what is this, russia?" To which half the server laughed, because the USSR no longer exists.

Well the complaining continued, and I began to get frustrated. I said that your arguing a mute point, because you broke the rules and I warned you twice about it before kicking. He still seemed to think that the logs would defend his case, and again I gave him the abuse email, and my real first name. The guy then went on to call me petty and all that jibber-jabber.

It was just frustrating to have someone argue with me, even though I was more than leinient.

Well after countless years of suffering from allergies, I decided to go and see an allergist today, and it was quite an experience.

If you are unaware of the test they do, they take this thing that has 10 sets of needles with a small amount of a different allergen on each needle. The press it up against your arm with various sets of needles, until it makes an imprint, but doesnt penetrate.

Anywho, they said I would have to wait 20 minutes before I would see a reaction. What they were looking for was a small bump under the allergen, which would show I was allergic to it. That, however, was not the case tonight. I had one mark that swelled up to abnormal size in 4 minutes, which was some sort or record. They have a scale on the paper the nurse was watching, with 3 sizes of bumps, and a rating from +1 to +3 for them. My lump was so big that it was off the scale, and therefore given the rating of +5.

Two nurses came in, concerned that I would have troubles breathing, and the doctor came in and kept saying that it was an abnormal lump. The nurse then rushed in and gave me an epinephren (epipen) shot in my thigh. I'm no wuss, and Ive had my share of shots, but in the thigh is the last place I wanted it. It doesnt hurt at all while they do the injection, but later in the day it kills whenever you walk.

After 15 minutes the bump didn't go down at all, and they were still concerned. My nose was plugged, but that wasn't out of the ordinary, and I could breathe fine out of my mouth. Still, they were concerned, and decided to give me a second epinephren, this time it was a double dose, in my other thigh. They said I would start shaking, and that I would have to wait to leave because I drove. My hands twitched off and on periodically. They put a turnikit around my right arm, (the most swollen one) to slow down the inflamation. For 2 hours I had to sit there with a nurse closely watching me, and another nurse and the doctor rushing in and out. You would have thought they saved my life with the epinephren, but to me it was just a waste.

After, I had to wait even longer until they said I was fine to leave. I felt fine the entire time, and my heartrate did not jump a beat (which suprised the nurses) but for some reason they thought I was lying and that I was just hiding my congestion and lung problems. For the record, I did not have any problems whatsoever there, but the nurse kept saying that she will know if I am lying because another nurse didn't leave my side.

Well, at the end, I found out I was very allergic to grass, a little to trees and dustmites, and even less to dog dander. So at the end of the day, I didn't learn anything knew, and get 2 bruises on my legs for my troubles.