Year 2000 Review, Part 1

Good evening once again to everyone! I write to y'all today as I reminisce
about the past year for myself, and all the memorable times I have had.
Anyways...tonight I proudly present the official "Chris Czaplicki Year 2000
in Review" - Part 1. This portion will cover the first six months of last
year. I will give short commentary at the end.

January 2000
------------
Ah yes...Y2K is here finally!!! Blow ur party whistles and scream like a
raging gorilla because it's a new millenium (wait a second -- no it's NOT).
But still we were all glad that all the fear of the Y2K bug was finally
slowing down...even though I still had to go thru looking at a bathtub
filled w/water, 3 boxes full of canned food (which we still haven't used up
yet :)...and countless jugs of h2o that would be able to quench the thirst
of a million thirsty camels (or horses, grizzly bears or overweight snow
leopards for that matter). Anyways, life was good and the new year had
started out with a bang!

To add to the craze even more, I had received a message from Geoff that he
had just been engaged to Vickie!!! Congrats, Geoff...glad to see that
everything is still going strong thru the year -- hope it continues on that
path!

Then reality set it a little...that is - when I received my first credit
card bills. It really wasn't that big of a deal at first, but it was the
beginning of a very long road for myself...I mean -- you know what happens
when you get a credit card; you spend a lot!!! And I did. Over the year
2000 I put over $12,000 in charges on my card. UGH. Luckily, I was able to
pay them off in full until the fall. But we'll discuss that in my next
e-mail, ok? Good!

I also continued taking classes at Tri-C in January, at the Unified
Technology Campus downtown. The classes were for budding computer techs,
and suffice to say I was well beyond the normal aptitude level of most (if
not all) of the students. It was still fairly interesting, 'cause there
were a lot of cool ppl in my class (all adults -- I was the youngest
there -- HAY -- people that were actually MATURE!). Anyways, I breezed thru
all the classes while attending approximately 30-40% of the time.

January also saw the continuing success of MTG-Palace.COM - My site which
sold Magic: the Gathering singles. This was a very good money-maker, and
business was booming (well, at least in a sense). Anyways, I got my domain
up and running...and I met this cool kid from Canada that helped my build my
website. His name was Trevor...he was 15 and had some cool ideas, so I let
him have fun and in turn he built a really good site for me. Everything was
going great at MTG-Palace for the time being. Organization was good...lots
of happy customers, and I was enjoying the extra income it was providing.

ZaFesting was still around it's peak. Things were really rockin' in the Za
Shack every weekend, as myself and a few of the Padua Seniors (Alex, Nally,
Mazzola) had tons of fun 'n' excitement escaping to another reality in the
form of shredding each other w/Rocket Launcers, shotguns, Razor Jacks and of
course...the GES BioRifle! It was so cool. Then Nally thought it would be
cool to build his own DOOM level. So in turn he created Padua.WAD -- a
level which was identical to Padua's floorplan, which special weaponry such
as the "Detention Launcher", Fish gun of course the patented "Pikachu 9000".
Yay. Double Yay. That was only a year ago!!! Wow, how much things have
changed!

And that was January. Never a dull moment...at least it seems that way now.
Life seemed just absolutely wonderful, and it was for the most part. Now on
to Febtober.

February, 2000
--------------
The first thing that comes to mind when you say the month February is that
my birthday lies inside!!! And the same held true in 2000. That's right
everyone -- On February 11, I was born exactly 19 years before. I have been
living on this earth for a long time now, it seems. I remember when I was
5! Geez how things are sooo much different. Even from when I was 16! But
that was so cool...because with every birthday comes a big humungous
PARTY!!! And this year was no different. Yes...ZaFesting was in
full-swing, and so was Unreal Tournament! Yes my friends, remember the
times when Alex was Mr. SuperCamper -- and I like to jump around with a
loaded rocket launcher? Yep -- I definitely can recall!

But definitely the biggest thing of the month...and quite possibly the most
distinguishing event of the year was the start of my internship downtown.
The story was simple. I saw a job ad at school Thursday...sent a resume
Friday...went for an interview the following Monday and started work
Wednesday!!! Couldn't have gone any better for myself. And the 6 months I
was down there were absolutely amazing -- got to experience the "Real World"
for the very first time...very overwhelming at first, but definitely a great
experience overall. There really isn't that much more I can say, except for
the fact that I now had 2 jobs, so I was working quite a lot (50 hours/wk
average), but I was pulling in quite a bit of cash now. Which was very
good, except that it gave me the opportunity to spend even more money, which
isn't a fun habit to break!

February was also a month in which I had taken many a journey to Valex
Computer store. Geez...all the gas and time it took to run out there every
week and buy more and more and more computer schtuff. But it wasn't exactly
the most pleasant experience, I guess...but I really don't regret any of it.
Kinda tough to explain, actually. Ok, not really -- I'll go ahead:
Ordering online is so much more painless and cheaper!!! At Valex you had to
wait for 2 hours just to get service (usually on their big couch in the
store), that is -- if they were even open! And half the time you didn't
even receive what you wanted, because they didn't have anything in stock,
really. Oh well, I learned the hard way.

I had joined Padua once again as a 5th year Senior in the 4th annual
Buzzerpalooza Quiz Team tournament at Case Western. This time, I was part
of a Chimera team -- and beat the Homeschoolers!!!!!!! OH YES YOU DON'T
KNOW HOW GREAT OF A FEELING IT WAS! I really really wish those days were
still around. I had such a great time that day...even though Alex and I sat
in the waiting area playing smb2lev2.mid on the piano for like, an hour :)
But everything was just great. Some kind of wonderful, at least. Got to
see Allison and Mr. Cohen once again, as well as some old faces from
different schools (sorry, no bearded lady this time :(

There were a couple really annoying things that happened, though. First, my
car was being really stupid. Or at least, the performance was sub-par. I'm
talking about the malfunctioning fuel pump, which caused me to stall in the
intersection of State-Brookpark, as well as the onramp of I-480. You see,
my Camaro was sick. It would not accelerate, and the top speed reached 30
MPH, for the first 15 minutes of operation. That was VERY frustrating.
GRRR. But I got it fixed, and I wanted to take a roadtrip soon...which I
did. To the middle of nowhere, as usual (not to be confused with the first
Hanson album, which I am glad to say I DO NOT OWN). But that's that. Then
there was Alex's fun attempts at his own DOOM level, Tourney2.wad. Sorry
that it didn't work out, Alex. I know for a fact that must've been sorta
frustrating for ya. And in a sense, the DOOM era ended around that time.
Dangit.

March, 2000
-----------
March came in like a lion, and went out like a lamb. Or at least a very
saddened, broken one. It all started out absolutely great when spring break
had arrived for the college crew. March 3rd was the famed return of
GAG-LI-AR-DI fest, in which we furthered our skillz in Age of Empires 2.
Correctus. ZaFesting with everyone was once again in session, and it was
beginning to get warmer too! I was doing very well with work, and every day
seemed like a brand new adventure. Wow, seems like just an absolutely great
time, doesn't it?

Then spring break ended, but St. Patrick's Day was just around the corner.
Care to party? I sure did. Cyber-style! And that was the story of my life
in March, for the most part. I got a paycheck every week...and was ready to
spend every penny of it on some new toy or gizmo. A CD-Burner was the
gadget of choice for March, and so I now had the opportunity to make lots
and lots and lots of copies of games and muzak. Well...not especially,
since there really wasn't much time in my busified life to do so.

They say when it rains...it pours. Well, if there was ever a saying to
compare my life with at the time, this would be it. Or at least that's the
way I see it. Yes, I have to mention the rink at least 'once' in every
e-mail and my opportunity is finally here once again. But this time, it's
not good news for myself. The date was March 31st, a Friday night -- the
last open skate of the season at the rink. Anyways, as the story
goes...after skating we all were sorta excited about everything, and we all
kinda lost it, myself included. Yes, that was the day that I accidentally
hit a girl in the eye with a snowball. I threw it pretty hard, too.
Needless to say she went to the hospital, the parents were infuriated and I
was totally broken. And there's really no doubt why I felt that way...I was
not only fearing the almost certain loss of a valued job (moreless a way of
life), but also the loss of innocence that I had held for such a long time.
I felt terrible. I just remember seeing the girl (her name is Jessica)
crying as I helplessly stood there trying to provide any compassion that I
could. It took me a VERY LONG time to get over the entire ordeal. How
long??? I might want to say 'September' but it was very likely TODAY. Why
today??? Well, as the story goes -- Jessica came up to the rink tonight for
open skate...for the first time since the incident. I saw her, she smiled
at me and told me "no more snowballs" half-jokingly. But even though I felt
a little uneasy (and really didn't know what to say), it felt so good
knowing that we were finally at peace with the entire situation.

So that was March in a nutshell. Pretty much same ol' same ol' with a twist
at the end. And even though this twist was a negative one, at least
everything turned out just fine and dandy in the end.

APRIL, 2000
-----------
After the devastating ending of March came the promises of April. Reality
from the evening before had not totally set in on April Fools Day, in which
it was time for yet, another ZaFest!!! Yay. But not really, since I was
really in for some tough times in the next couple of weeks regarding my job
status at the rink. Eventually, everything was worked out and I had only
received a "stern warning" after reviewing my work history, etc. So I
continued working...and working...and working. And earning quite a lot of
cold, hard cash in the process. I didn't have any big bills or financial
obligations, and I spent very freely. I once wrote "money is growing on a
huge happy tree for me". I could hit myself over the head with a spiked
tree branch for saying that now. But that was reality then, I guess. And
there were a lot of things I looked forward to, such as the summer.

Computer gaming still went on strong, and I proposed to make things even
stronger. And so evolved the "Cyberpalace gamers league". A website that
would be dedicated to computer gaming, and everything related. I had
selected my corporate hierarchy, as well as the roles which everyone could
fill. Cyberpalace was a "brain trust". All of the directors were in fact,
"geniuses" so obviously that term was appropriate. I was very excited, and
even registered the CYBERPALACE.CC web domain. I thought things would take
off, but unfortunately, due to lack of interest, nothing much really
happened. Maybe I was too busy working my a$$ off. Or maybe we were just
happy as it was without the business portion. Oh well, there were other
opportunities.

Another exciting event (or thing, actually) was the initial construction of
the ZA File Server. Not too much to start off...ZA Server 1.0 was actually
nothing more than a 486 with 4 540MB Hard drives. It worked out fairly
well, since it was able to store small things, such as drivers, personal
files (e-mail) and other miscellaneous things that could be shared across
the network at anytime. Which was really fun at the time.

Easter was fun. Once again everyone was home, so it was another great
opportunity to gather all the pals 'round Da Shack for some entertainment.
And so we did, and the show went on as usual.

Unfortunately, at the same time my sister became very sick once again. And
when she's in the hospital, my parents aren't exactly the greatest when it
comes to handling situations. Oh well, I guess I have to live with it.
Grrr. Arrgh. I just wish my sister could just have the opportunity to
enjoy life without having to worry about getting sick all the time. If
only...

MAY, 2000
---------
The month of May continued just as April had left off. Except some things
were getting sort of ridiculous now. I was working 65 hours/week at one
point, and I was getting totally burnt out and unable to really do too much
else. But things were starting to turn around in that department. The rink
season was over (finally) and gave way to new horizons working senior grass
cutting. Which wasn't very exciting, but at least I was down to working a
consistent 40 hrs/wk. Although this didn't last long either. It was
apparent that the city job wasn't worth the pay, and I was beginning to
really despise getting up early every day with little reward or
satisfaction. By the end of the month, I had quite the grass-cutting job
all together.

Back at home, Cyberpalace had advanced considerably in a few short weeks.
Although the web page had never gained recognition, significant changes were
made to the Cyberpalace server. A permanent computer had been chosen to be
used as a file server, running Windows NT 4.0 At the time, my monitor stock
was low so I was forced to re-introduce the infamous Compaq color-blind
monitor :) And so life was good again. To top things off, I had hopes of
getting DSL service installed, but all my hopes came crashing down when
Ameritech decided to be stupid because they were totally backed up for
service, and they wanted to start charging me $40/mo. when they didn't even
know how long it would take to get the line up. Grrr again. Oh well, this
year will be different!

Not much else happened, but that was ok since summer was just a few short
weeks away. It had even started somewhat, since most of the colleges let
out during the month, and it was time to gather together once again to share
in all the great times.

JUNE, 2000
----------
If you remember anything about June, you'll definitely remember the
astounding increase in gas prices! That wasn't fun. But what else is new.
Now that school was out for everyone, and I was only working 25 hours/wk, it
was time to relax and take in the fun in the summer sun. Ok...maybe I
relaxed "too" much. Naaaah. I'm young...there's nothing wrong with takin'
it easy once in awhile. But not to the extent that I did...maybe. I was
starting to get all bent-outta-shape sorta, and it wasn't easy for myself to
do some things that maybe weren't as difficult before. So I decided to
start the "Get Chris Czaplicki in shape" campaign. OK -- it wasn't much of
a campaign. It involved myself riding my bike downtown and back one hot,
summer day. And I remember that day all-too well. The trip down there
wasn't that terribly bad, but on the way back I barely made it. Bear in
mind it was all uphill, and I wasn't really in the best-of-shape. So my
very tired and winded body struggled mightily to finally get back home.
That was tough. Maybe too tough. Whatever it was, I didn't do too much
biking or other exercise after that.

Back in January, I had mentioned that my MTG-Palace site was booming. Well
after a few months of steady decline fueled by a lack of motivation,
interest had all but dwindled to nothing. Still though, the new set
Prophecy had come out, and so I bought a case of cards, in which I received
some pretty amazing cards which kindled the fire of my interests. I put a
couple of my best FOIL cards on eBay, and they both sold for a hefty price,
so I was pretty happy about that. Otherwise, not too much happened, and I
was left with a binder full of unused cards and nowhere to go with them.

And as always, I got some more toys as well...ok - one very useful toy. And
that is my scanner. The ultimate HP Scanjet 3300 Cse. Ok, maybe not "the
ultimate" but it does the job, and for $100 it wasn't a bad deal. So I
scanned a few things, had fun and put it away for awhile. Even though I
don't use it much now, I think it will definitely be useful in the near
future with all my endeavors.

Padua's seniors graduated in June (congrats, again)...and so everyone was
able to have fun doing various things, such as holding and attending
graduation parties. Alex had a graduation party. It was fun. It was
exciting watching Alex and his dad play euchre. It was even funner playin'
b-ball with everyone (really wish I could do it more often). I had gone
swimming in the water. It was enjoyable. Even with all those warm pockets
where supposedly the "pee content" was above average. Yes, we all had phun.
There was a lot of chockablock action. There was a lot of high-flying
action. Nally introduced us to 'capture the flag'. Unfortunately, for
myself, I got injured -- which set off a huge daisy chain of other physical
problems that I will not discuss until July's analysis (you'll have to wait
until next week people).

So all in all, June could be summed up as "fun and inertia all in one".
Sure I was very, very lazy -- but I was enjoying life simultaneously. I
barely worked, and I definitely took advantage. Crazy, eh?


Ok, well, thats a wrap for the first half of 2K. From an outsider's point
of view, things were pretty "peach-ee" for myself, and I can agree that it
definitely was so. Still, the snowball incident cast a shadow over myself
for a very, very long time and I was never able to really get over the
entire matter. I dunno...I guess I'm pretty sensitive to that kinda
schtuff -- Ok I'm pretty sensitive all around.

The latter half of 2000 was interesting to say the least. A lot of good. A
lot of bad. A lot of ugly. Definitely not the same as the beginning of the
year. It was a huge roller-coaster ride. Wanna join and take a look back
at it? Then be sure to tune in next week at this locality. To have a
heaving helping of my ZA. (and hospitality even)

Cya L8R
-Chris