i did even worse this time. i know i don’t test well in the morning, but this is ridiculous.

is anyone out there a super anal driver who wants to help me practice to make sure i don’t fail a third time? i don’t think i’ll be rescheduling again.

this is way too much stress for a hobby.

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

where will i be to ring in 2006? perhaps the world will end before then.

gifts are not exactly my thing. i mean, i give them well enough i think. i’ve had some pretty epic gift ideas in the past and pulled them off in ways that i like to think have been successful. christmas 2001 may have been the epitome of that in terms of preparation and execution (as my amazon lifetime order history almost painfully reminds me) but that’s not the point. the point is that i don’t really receive gifts well.

i don’t really understand what the reason is, or when i really stopped but for some reason when people get me gifts all i can seem to honestly muster is a shrug. of course that has led to some definitely negative reactions and i now consciously make an effort to be pleased and excited when i get presents.

that’s not to say that i don’t appreciate gifts, i truly do. over time my memory of the giver becomes ineseparably tied to these things and i can’t use them without thinking of those who gave them to me. i treasure quite a few of the things i’ve been given and they have been fantastic presents. but i’m hard to shop for, i admit it. i’m not exactly a guy for knicknacks in general, tending instead towards functionality over form. to compound that, i tend to just buy the things i want and rarely have many things in the gift zone. you know, the “i want that, but not badly enough to spend my own money on it” zone.

still, i can probably come up with a few things that i’ve been thinking of buying but haven’t myself. if anybody would like to buy me a new car i probably wouldn’t object overmuch. i also am not against a new house.