daines'n around

Interesting tidbits:

• 27 is a perfect cube.
• 27 is the atomic number of cobalt
• 27 is the age the following famous people died:
  • Robert Johnson (1938)
  • Brian Jones (1969)
  • Janis Joplin (1970)
  • Jimi Hendrix (1970)
  • Jim Morrison (1971)
  • Pete Ham (1975)
  • Chris Bell (1978)
  • D. Boon (1985)
  • Kurt Cobain (1994)
• Law and Order is centered around the 27th precinct
• Brigham Young had 27 wives
• According to Alfred Weysen, twenty seven is a lunar symbol, indicating the light in darkness. It is the symbol of the divine light.
• 27 percent of the Earth's crust is silicon.
• 27 is how old my father was when he got married.

This is the first and last time I'll turn 27. It'll make 2008 that much more interesting.
I'm goign to make of list of my 27 favorite things about 2008 as they happen.

This winter had the most snow I've ever experienced. It seemed to snow the entire month of January. The snow provided a perfect excuse for my two dear friends to give me a fantastic birthday present. They came to Utah and shared in snowboarding, sight-seeing and tomfoolery. It was wonderful to reunite again after so many years.

We're adults now, which is difficult to swallow sometimes. I have a 401k. Mariah is a little over a year away from being a lawyer. Coral also lives on her own in Orange County.

I hope we can keep up visits during the years to come and we can participate in each other's growing old.

I have time to play video games again. More than play, I have the time and patience to enjoy them again. Throughout college I worked two jobs and went to school full time. Any relaxing time I had was spent sleeping, studying or being social.

Working in a full time salaried position provides a surprisingly unique opportunity for me to develop hobbies -- or lose old ones. I've taken up riding my bicycle, tinkering online, watching as many movies as I can and more. One purchase I made right at the end of 2007 was a reward for myself.

A PLAYSTATION 3. One coworker wondered why I would do such a thing, I wrote a 500 word essay on why I would dare make such a purpose -- the gist of which being that I could so I did.

It started out with Guitar Hero III. It took me back to old days of playing in bands and having fun. I missed out on much of the social interactions with the first two iterations of the game, and didn't pass up this chance. I beat the game quickly. I don't remember beating games very often when I used to play. Who really has the patience to finish a game all the way any how?

But I had it now -- the patience. Age has given me more patience, and determination to do the asinine timed puzzle with murderous consequences and pinpoint accuracy. Dodge bullets? Yes! Storm terrorists that have taken over Las Vegas, I love doing that in my spare time.

And the escaping. Video games provide an even bigger escape than movies and music. While movies and music allow your brain to be massaged and relax in an actively observant state, video games engage the senses. They challenge your brain, eyes and fingers in unison.

That is of course until you play multiplayer versions of some first-person shooter game online and some 12-year-old elite sniper curses about your mom while dancing on your grenade-riddled corpse. When that happens you laugh and quit because, really, who needs more things to feel down about?

I'm eating my Wheaties. Hear that Mr. potty mouth? I'll be ready to kick your trash one day. The silly artificial intelligence just doesn't quite have your pwning abilities for me to practice dying with more style in single player competition.

If only I could move my fingers faster.