Back in PA

Here's to the first post on here in 2.5yrs

Not much to update, just been living at home watching my brother and sister while my parents are in Aruba. Last week I got a bunch of vaccinations for my trip, Yellow fever, Japanese Encephalitis, Tetanus Booster, Hepatitis A, & Menningitis.

I really don't think I needed all these, but their job at the travel clinic is to scare the shit out of you...especially yellow fever and japanese encephalitis (JE)...millions even billions of people live in regions where these diseases are endemic without problems...only a few cases of JE a year. But the thought of Yellow fever liquifying my internal organs or Japanese Encephalitis eating away at my brain and causing a slow death made me agree to the shots. Yellow Fever might be the most painful shot i've ever had, not a big needle just burned like hell. Plus I spent about 3hrs waiting in various rooms for the shots...watched almost the entire movie Face Off with commercials while waiting in one of them. long day.

I'm not really into guns, but a pair of these angry dragons from Face Off raining a golden shower of bullets might be the most badass thing ever:

Had a good weekend a lot of drinking and bumping into old friends in Harrisburg. Starting to get a little bored just sitting around here all day though, can't wait to start the trip. Have been watching a lot of movies on Netflix, saw The Departed which was great, about as good as the original Chinese movie it's based on. I had heard they were making a hollywood remake of Infernal Affairs but didn't realize this was it until I started watching. Some of the scenes are almost exactly the same as Infernal Affairs just in Boston instead of Hong Kong. Watched Babel which was pretty good, but about 20minutes too long. The whole story is pretty rediculous when you think about it and it left one huge thread at the end unresolved, but the cinematography is great and there is some great acting. Saw the Hostel which was really gruesome, but overall not a bad movie. People had panned it as horrible, but I thought it was decent.

Today was a rough day though, took a killing in the stock market and lost about $1k. I knew I should have liquidated everything yesterday. The few stocks that I own right now I'm planning on holding for a long time anyway + they pay huge dividends, so it doesn't bother me too much. Also, luckily I sold off 1/3 of my stocks last week and I just cashed out my GE S&SP (401k) yesterday! Saved me about $1k more that I would have lost today.

In times like these, when there's no shoulder around to cry on, it's helpful to remember...