I started this blog so I can post more stuff about the inner-workings of my mind, and it’s just been gathering dust! The reason why is because I keep putting it off, and also because of school. As of December 10, I will be finished for the semester, so I plan on writing more! Maybe I’ll even get my damn story started (one can only hope).

I have a post coming up soon about used video games, so look forward to that.

-Really-stressed-out Elk

This past weekend was a pretty swell one. I got to go to a kick-ass party with some of my friends and my two brothers. I think they enjoyed it as well. The next day, I decide to go drive around town with my brothers to get a lanyard or chain for my flash drive (because I almost lost it before). At the local mall, I got a set of  50 chains which never even got to fit into the damn drive. Eventually, my dad made me a lanyard (because he’s crafty). Also at the mall, I went to pick up Animal Collective’s album ‘Merriweather Post Pavillion’ because there were a couple of songs I liked from there. Turns out I really love the album! After that, I drove into a second-hand store to check out any books people might have thrown away donated, and found two I had been looking for: Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow and Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America. Granted, none of these I’ll be reading anytime soon as I have a list of other books I plan to read (more on that later).

Then, my wonderful weekend decided to jump off a cliff into some jagged rocks. I got an e-mail from a club where I was to be heading to a Venetian Snares and Wisp concert saying they canceled the stop to Phoenix. Eventually, I found out it was the club’s fault as they wouldn’t accomodate the stage for a proper performance.

To Club Mardi Gras in Scottsdale, Arizona: Fuck you.

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So I was invited to try out Google’s new “revolutionary” communication platform codename: Wave. At first, I was indifferent, but then I started begging for an invite because I had to be one of those cool geeks who can flaunt his invite in the air to those inferior to me. After the invitation, I started to understand the purpose of Wave; it’s a communication tool good for conferences and such. I guess, in the end, it’s not a big a deal as I would’ve hoped for. Maybe I just wanted a Google Voice invite instead?

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As of October 26, I finished JD Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. I loved the novel and don’t understand why so many of my friends didn’t like it. I loved the writing behind it and the development of Holden Caulfield. That marks book #3 in my series of books to finish before 2010. In my list, there are five books of which I told myself I would finish as a means of reading more (I had to read Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle for a history report last semester, didn’t finish until three months after, then read Franz Kafka’s The Trial. Before that, nothing much in reading). The list is as follows:

• George Orwell – Nineteen Eighty-Four (May – September)
• Kurt Vonnegut – Slaughterhouse-Five (Sept. 18 – 30)
• JD Salinger – The Catcher in the Rye (Oct. 1 – 26)
• Margaret Atwood – The Handmaid’s Tale (Starting today)
• Joseph Heller – Catch-22

I think I’ve been reading very good books; have not been disappointed with any of my selections and recommendations (or maybe I’m just very tolerant). More on my previous books in another blog post, though.

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I love Twitter. It has many good uses. I joined Twitter August 2008, just a few months before the big Twitter explosion. I didn’t officially start using it until October of that year to post random crap to remind myself of. Then it became an addiction in January where I would post crap like every hour on the hour. Somehow, I convinced most of my friends to join Twitter, especially when one of them cut off his phone bill and needed a means to communicate. Now, I’m sure I’m not as hooked on the website as much as I was back then, but now some people use it way too much and to post some seriously crap.

Twitter has become this tool for stupid people to post random crap, spam, and Gostse in mini-URL form. Every time I read the Trending Topics, most of the people just post gibberish and troll. Sometimes, I just wish I could quit Twitter for a more sophisticated form of micro-blogging…but nothing much is out there for the time being.

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My set-up for this blog isn’t really going anywhere but ranting. I promise to come up with more ideas soon.

-Freezing Elk

(It should not be 50F in Arizona this time of the year!)

In the hopes of catching the attention of bored readers, I might as well tell you where you are. This is The First Circle. What goes on here are cynicism, misanthropist rantings, and critical opinions of reality. While I write terrible opinions about people and events here, I also post random stuff I do while I am bored. This includes story concepts (I write stories), mp3′s of any songs I compose (although I’m no Mozart), and random sketches (pencil art, really).

Really, anything is possible here in The First Circle. I’ve had ideas about many different topics I could discuss here with you, the incredibly bored reader. Seeing as I am a geek, I might  post geeky stories about video games and technology (I’m a Mac and a PC, bitches!).

In writing this blog, I hope to change some negative aspects of my life like timidness, procrastination, and probably even my brash stereotyping of people. In already telling you my pen name (Elk isn’t my real name, but wouldn’t it be cool if it was?), I should tell you a little about myself.

Born in California in 1991, I was raised between a small town in Los Angeles County and the cities of Phoenix-metropolitan in Arizona. As of this year, I have officially lived in AZ longer than CA (and I would like to keep it that way). I won’t tell you much about my family seeing as it’s none of your concern. Currently have some of the greatest friends in the world to hang out with. That being the case, almost none of them know I have this blog. My interests? I like geek things, like video games, technology, science fiction (preferably dystopia), and the Internet. I am also a big fan of Japan and its culture. Maybe one day, I will be able to go there and write my blog as I ride the shinkansen (look it up, >:-\ ). I am currently studying in a community college somewhere in the mountains, where my major is in Journalism (my minor is in Computer Science). Oh, and I love music; all kinds. I’m not the kind of person who is asked, “What kind of music do you listen to,” while I answer, “Oh, you know, all kinds,” in the hopes of not giving anything specific or else I’ll be bastardized for my love of one genre. I really, honestly, do listen to all kinds of music. Well, not all kinds. I really, really do hate rap music that makes no sense at all and in using repetition (I’m talking to you, Soulja Bitch Boy). I also can’t stand modern country music, where it has become nothing but either crude descriptions of redneck life or patriotism to the point of harsh nationalistic thinking!

*calms down, takes deep breath*

Sorry about that, I should save my ranting for another post.

What do I like in particular? Alternative and rock music. Bands? Huge Radiohead fan, although I have been listening to a lot of Oasis and White Stripes. Actually, my knowledge of rock music can be summarized in this XKCD comic.

How’s that for an introduction? Hope you become less bored while reading this. If I do keep this blog, then I’ll make sure to keep writing and eventually upgrade it as time goes by.

With love,

-Elk

[p.s. +100 points to anyone who gets the allusion to the blog title.]

1: For the past few months, my internet connection has been unstable; at random times, I would no longer have service. The cuts last from a few seconds to hours. Cox Communications doesn’t have a clue as to what’s going on. They even give us a new modem, which solved the problem…for a few days.

Case in point: My internet sucks.

2. Finished Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four; fascinating book, but a lot of my ideas for the novel suddenly “appeared” in the novel (which kind of made me mad). Also finished Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, which is now my favorite novel ever. His writing was amazing and funny; I also loved his description of the Tralfamadores.

3. Edamame is still in progress. It might be in progress for a long time, but I still think about adding parts to it. One thing is for sure; I plan on there being very grim scenes and a lot of dying is to take part. (I’m very sadistic…)
So it goes.