Just Another Day

Hee! Cuz you know sometimes words have two meanings.

Yep. One more day to get through. Congratulations to everyone who participated!!

And Happy New Year to everyone of you!! Yay for arbitrary dates!!

And don't worry, Annika, I plan on making another entry later at night.

All your questions shall be answered

The best thing about doing the bloq, is I get two days for the price of one.

Or something.

Is your head screwed on right?
I wasn't sure how to answer that, so I asked the 8-ball. It said:
REPLY HAZY TRY AGAIN
so I guess it wasn't sure, either. Huh.

What question(s) make you scratch your head in puzzlement?
Most of them. Or, the question(s) of the day our news does. It's not the questions are puzzling. It's more the why of them at all. (That, and the results more often than not either depress or frighten me.)

How do you get ahead in life?
*Giggles maniacially*

"Here comes Gwenyth's head...in a box."
That's not a question. Also. Eww.
Also, also. Heeee! Dismembered heads are comic gold!

What is your impression of talking heads?
Oddly enough, "And She Was" played on the radio on the way home tonight.
As for my impression of the other type of talking heads - [blahblahfuckingblah]

Do you prefer giving or receiving head?
Yes. (Duh.)

"But now we're standing face to face
Isn't this world a crazy place?"
Yeah. Crazysexycool. Or something. (Does it show that I'm rushing through these?)

Who said, "That was the worst head I ever got!"?
That would be ..uh. Geez. What was her name again? I know Juliette Lewis played her. And it was in the movie Natural Born Killers. But her character's name is slipping past me. Damn it.

What is your head full of?
Ideas? Cheese? Cotton? Brains and stuff? Nothing?
Probably some sort of combination of that.

and finally...

Off with your head!
That's not a *head lops off*

AND....
Stealing this from Lisa, who stole it from Tina, who stole it from someone, who no doubt stole it from someone else. It's like some sort of disease. Yuck.

1.What did you do in 2003 that you'd never done before?
Um. Hmm. Everything? I mean, really, everything you ever do is something you've never done before.
Like my typing the letter "g" right there? I've done it before (and will no doubt do it many times again), but it wasn't the same because time had changed.
I'm not sure I'm making sense.

2. Did you keep your New Years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't remember what my New Year's resolutions for '03 were. Maybe to write every day? Like I had done for the past 5-ish years. And, no, I didn't keep it.
Oddly, I don't have any for this year. But I think that '04 is gonna still be a remarkable year.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Nope. Unless they did and I didn't notice.
I'm often quite oblivious to things.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No. So it goes.
Er. Unless you want to get all metaphysical. In which case the person you were died a few minutes ago, replaced by the person you are now. If that's how we're talking, then, yes. Millions of deaths occurred all year long.
So it goes.

5. What countries did you visit?
Only parts of the United States. Las Vegas, mostly.

6. What date from 2003 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Er.October 13th was the launch date of the Fucking News.
June 10th was the date that I finished reading Ishmael.

7. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Starting that novel in November that I didn't finish?

8. What was your biggest failure?
See above.

9. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Yes. Hee.

10. What was the best thing you bought?
Extra time? I don't know. Material items are a) few and far between in our household and 2) not all that important. I guess the Nintendo 64. Which may have been bought last year. In which case, I guess I'll say Majorca's Mask.
OH! Wait! I mean the alternator belt in California! Otherwise, we'd still be stuck in Rancho Cucumber.

11. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
I don't know. What an odd question.

12. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Hrm. That's an easier question to answer. But only because I watch the Fucking News. There's a lesson to be learned there...

13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Well, if you took out two of the 'reallys', I'd say Angel. Or Buffy ending.
Take out one of the 'reallys' and I guess I'd say the trip to Disneyland and seeing the WDers in California.

14. What song will always remind you of 2003?
I don't think there is one.

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?
Yes. Heee!

b) thinner or fatter?
Yes! (I love this!)

c) richer or poorer?
YES!! HA!

16. How will you be spending Christmas?
See? Again with the commercialism. "Spending" and "Christmas". [sigh]

17. Did you fall in love in 2003?
Of course. I fall in love with Steph on a semi-regular basis.

18. How many one-night stands?
I'm going with Lisa's answer. [eyebrow]

19. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
THere are some truly strange questions in this. But the answer is no.

20. What was the best book you read?
Tie between the works of Daniel Quinn (Ishmael, The Story of B, My Ishmael, and Beyond Civilization) and Derrik Jensen's A Language Older Than Words

21. What was your greatest musical discovery?
The Decemberists. I guess.

22. What did you want and get?
Um.

23. What did you want and not get?
Um...

24. What was your favorite film(s) of this year?
Er. I guess Finding Nemo and Brother Bear. The trailers for Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King were pretty good, too.

25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2003?
[laughing head]

26. What kept you sane?
Willpower.

27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2003:
People are more important than rules.

28. Quote a song that sums up your year:
David Bowie: "Time may change me, but I can't change time."
or, more broadly: "I'm afraid of Americans"


Whew! Just made it!

Bloqhead.

Now I think of this idea. [doh]

Here' a bloq. If you'd like to save the Haloscan servers some overload, just cut and paste and answer it in your own blog. That way, you've also got an entry for yourself. It's a win-win!


<b>Is your head screwed on right?</b>

<b>What question(s) make you scratch your head in puzzlement?</b>

<b>How do you get ahead in life?</b>

<b>"Here comes Gwenyth's head...in a box."</b>

<b>What is your impression of talking heads?</b>

<b>Do you prefer giving or receiving head?</b>

<b>"But now we're standing face to face
Isn't this world a crazy place?"</b>

<b>Who said, "That was the worst head I ever got!"?</b>

<b>What is your head full of?</b>

and finally...

<b>Off with your head!</b>

YES!!

Hurray!! This makes me happy.
Or, as Mr. Burns would say,
"Excellent."

A real entry will be forthcoming.

Does HTML work in titles?

Testing.

This totally counts as yesterday's entry. Midnight and the rules of be damned!

I didn't skip a day. I missed one. And I have a darn good excuse. It's because I'm a fine upstanding young man (I think that'll do...)

On the way home from work tonight, I witnessed a car accident. I had to give my statement to the police. Thus the lateness of the posting.

That's the short story. Detail time!

We dont' have to go back this far, but I want to blog about this because it's interesting, and if the accident hadn't taken place, it would have been my sole focus of today's writing.

At 11pm, my relief came into the station and asked if I knew Jason Simpson, or why his stuff was sitting in the parking lot. I did not know Jason Simpson, or why his stuff was in our parking lot. I also did not know what he was talking about. So he explained that apparently Jason Simpson (who, it turns out, does work with us. He's a salespig. Which explains why I have never met him.) Apparently Jason Simpson pissed someone off. And this person decided to get revenge by leaving Jason's stuff in the parking lot of work.

Sure enough, in the parking lot was a desk, a dog house, a box of clothes, and quite a few other things. On the desk, in large block letters in white paint was stencilled the words:
PROPERTY OF JASON (ten pin) SIMPSON
Atop the desk was a large cardboard placard that read:

"Rent owed by ex-roommate: $450"
"Carpet cleaning due to ex-roommate's failure to house-train puppy: $750"
"Delivery of ex-roommate's belongings: $45"
"Pulling the knife out of my back: Priceless"

Apparently revenge is a dish best served cold. And in a parking lot.

So, yeah. That was what I left work with. It was amusing, but only because it wasn't happening to me.

After that, I proceed to drive home like normal. Except that a teenager who was originally behind me (he whipped around me because I was driving too slow) swerved, jumped a median into oncoming traffic, and smacked head-on into another vehicle. I slowed, said, "Holy shit." and then stopped at the upcoming light. I debated whether to keep driving home, or to turn back.

I turned around, pulled into a nearby parking lot, and jogged over to the scene of the accident. I asked if everyone was okay. (They were)
Once the police showed up, I told them what I had witnessed. They took my name and phone number, and thanked me for sticking around. See? I'm a model citizen. Pfft.

It was rather cold outside. I should have waited in my car. I'm leaving out a lot of details, (like the thought I had when I saw the accident: "Was that deliberate??" - probably due to the fact of revenge I had witnessed at work moments before) but it's late, and all of us have headaches.

At least I have tomorrow off work. Thank something for small miracles.

One downish, one to go...ish.

Projects are time consuming!

I've been doing research, and discovered that it's going to be a lot more work than I had originally intended it to be for the thing I'm really excited about. But I'm still comitted to it! And in more happier news, I'm pretty much done with the other project. If some people would just get back to me. [looks in oslowe's direction]

Sorry for the vagueness, btw, but I want these things to be surprises. And to most of you, they will be. Stephanie, of course, knows both. And soon, everyone else will know, and I can stop being vague (at least in regard to these. [grin]). Project 1 is due to be "released" on the first.

The other one (the one that I'm actually looking forward to; also the one that is more work) has a debut date of Jan. 10th.

Coming Soon! Hee.

In other news, I have the house all to myself right now. I'd sing Bob Seger tunes in my underwear, but I've already done that to death. So instead I'm washing dishes, downloading music, and missing Steph and the girls.

XmasX

It's difficult to think clearly when you're hungry.

The year is almost over. Usually around this time, the media goes hog wild with "Year in Review" things. I'd attempt to do the same, but for the most part 2003 was just not worth revisiting. Not that it was bad, but sometimes once is enough. '03 was one of those years.

But '04 is gonna kick ass. Or arse. Take your pick.

Man, I am lazy.

The ticker for the news stated that an earthquake in Bam, Iran had killed a bunch of people. I like that city's name. Bam! Also, the ticker stated that the earthquake had a mangitude of 6.5.
Mangitude!!

I would have corrected the typo at work (I've done it before) but sadly, the misspelling was sent to us from the national source and therefore I couldn't change it. But that's okay because "mangitude" is funny.

I'm hungry. Guess I better go buy some food so we can survive to the end of the year, huh?

Holy Shit, It's Christmas!

For what it's worth, I'm extremely glad that I failed.

Joining the present (heh!), if Vegas were a colder place, today would have been a white Xmas. It rained quite a bit today. In fact, both stations wound up going off the air (not sure whether the rain had anything to do with it or not, but regardless, we were knocked off the air for a bit today. Happy Holidays, indeed!).

When I got home tonight, Stephanie had a plate with turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, and salad waiting for me. That was really really great. It tasted wonderful, and I'm so glad that I've got her in my life.

Now, I'm going to have pie. Apple pie!! My favorite kind! This day is just full of miracles!

Naughty

Heh. I'm posting from work.

It's Xmas Eve. I deserve a break, no?

Blogger looks all strange, though. Either they've changed the format, or this computer is set up differently. Or both.

I'll more than likely blog again when I get home, but if I don't, I simply wanted to say:

Merry Humbug

and

God Damn Us, Everyone!

"Ah, the life of a frog. That's the life for me."

Bonus points to anyone who IDs the quote.

It's amazing how quickly one's mood can change. [sigh]

Feck.

When the hell does the new Harry Potter movie open, anyway? I want some escapist fun, damnit.

Also I want a cheeseburger. Or something to eat. Blah.

What would we do, baby, without us?

Sha-na-na-naaa!

Jupe is, without a doubt, the coolest person online.

Everyone else reading this has to settle for second. Sorry.

In other news, we finished Xmas shopping today! Just like bettie did! We are now officially broke. Like pennies to our name broke. But, hey, Xmas is saved! Just like it always is on the TV. See? TV never lies to you. It just sometimes stretches the truth.

I'm getting all excited about my project. I hope that this doesn't mean that I'll end up not doing it, and simply have it in my head for the next 300 years, like all my other projects. *cough*Perthstory*cough.

I don't think I will this time around, but my brain is a mysterious, strange, and hostile land. Like Finland.

Speaking of Finland, there were so many things that I wanted to purchase for you Internet Weirdos. Damn my lack of money. Damn it to hell!! Oh well. It's the thought that counts, right? And if that's true, then you guys are very fortunate indeed.

Also today - we got lotsa cards in the mail. That was totally fucking cool. See? Again, Xmas is saved at the last possible minute. TV proves itself over and over again.

I don't know where the sunbeams end and the starlight begins.

It's all a mystery.

It took a while, but I finally (finally!) got into the Xmas spirit ...more or less.

We went driving around to look at Xmas lights. Harper fell asleep.

Also today, Steph wrapped the presents for the girls and placed them under the tree, while I took them to the park. It looks "paltry", but at least there's something under there now. Saren and Harper have spent a lot of today ...investigating the gifts. Heh. Some things, I think, are just ingrained into human brains. Trying to figure out Xmas packages is one of them.

Another thing that helped me get out of my Grinchy attitude is the Little Steven Underground Garage, which is running it's Xmas episode this week. My favorite song so far has to be the one that was by the Butties. It was Joy to the World, but it was sung (more or less) to the tune of a Beatles song. You'd have to hear it to appreciate it, but it was quite neat. There've been other great songs on the show tonight to, but that one resonated strongest for whatever reason.

Tonight we were going to pick up a pizza from Papa John's, but they closed their lobby at 8pm. (It was 8:30 when I drove down there) Eight PM?? What the hell? What are they, like 70 years old?

I think Harper may be drunk right now.

A very important question that I must determine the answer for - do zombies sleep?
One would think that they wouldn't really need to. You know, being dead and all. Hey. Maybe that's why they're so sluggish. They're really just dead tired. Any thoughts on the matter will be greatly appreciated.

Um. What else?

Couplet was on TV tonight. I watched part of it, despite Steph's complaints. ("We don't watch Angel over again!!") It didn't make any more sense this time around, either. And it made me miss both Connor and Groo. (Man, they dropped him like a cold potato. Or like they dropped Lilah's mother's storyline. [sigh])

It's nearing the end of the day, and my wife needs to blog, so that'll do it.

mayhem scares me.

No real entry today. Luckily, I have my PMQ to fall back on. Thank god for that P@ guy and his inane questions!



See my profile? There are numbers up there. They're the number of PMs I've had in my inbox at the end of each month this year. They add up to 811. December's results, are, of course, missing right now.
So. The question is - how many PMs do you think I'll have in my inbox at the end of the year?
I have no idea. Current inbox count is 43.

Seen any good movies lately?
Er. The last movie I saw in the theater was Brother Bear. Decent enough.

"Can I get some time alone?"
And I feel fine! This was from REM's It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine).

Blugh. I hate this question, but... Do you have any New Year's Resolutions? Any plans or goals for 2004?
I plan to commit an unplanned murder.

Possibly I'll change my blog layout, too.

And, yeah, I've got some other internety things up my sleeve for '04.

"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make."
That's not a question.
It's also not being questioned. Or something. I don't know.

and finally...

In a word, 2003 was...
three-hundred-sixty-five-ish.

This is my United States of Whatever

This entry should be longer than it will be, but to quote a song, "Whatevah!"

There is a person I work with who asks me on a semi-regular basis (more or less as a joke) "So, P@, what have you done for your country today?"

I should point out that this guy is an ex-Marine, and was more than likely asked this himself while he was doing service.

I used to come up with witty (and truthful!) responses. "Ate my Cheerios." or "Well, I didn't blow anything up!" Things like that. The last couple of times he's asked, though, I've responded with the truth. "Nothing. Proud of it, too."

JFK said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

And I say, countries don't deserve people to do things for them. A country is not a real thing. It exists in our imaginations only.
A neat little couple of sentences to prove my point.

P@ types.
America types.

Stephanie wants a Pepsi.
The United States wants a Pepsi.

Saddam Hussein is a killer.
Iraq is a killer.

The countries are compossed of people who commit the verbs. The nations themselves can not. You can not do anything for your country. Your country can not do anything for you. You can do things for the people who live around you, and the people who live around you can do things for you. But the USA is not a person, despite our efforts to anthropomorphisize (that looks wrong) countries.

And here's the other thing. If we're going to treat arbitrary areas of geography as individuals, then we need to go all the way. America the country will have the respect that it thinks it deserves when it treats it's people with respect. It's a two way street.

Bah. I wish I could express myself better. Whatever.

Follow the leader

This won't turn out the way I wanted it to. They never do.

Oh well. May as well jump right in. If I keep criticizing myself before I get it done, I'll never get it done.

I wonder how George W. Bush will be depicted in history books. Pre-September 11th, Bush was thought of as a buffoon. Someone who mangled the English language often, and looked more or less like one of Santa's elves...that had been kicked in the head. He was viewed as a puppet, and Dick (Cheney) was often seen as the brains behind the operation.

Of course, now, he's viewed as someone that has helped run the country (into the ground!) more or less successfully. He still mangles his speeches, and he still (to me, at least) looks like he's taken a few too many boots to the head, but the majority of the focus on him is no longer on his goofiness. Immeadiately after the eleventh of September, 2001, Bush somehow 'proved' himself. He demonstrated that he had 'leadership abilities'. Since then, though, he's managed to destroy what credibility he had by defining the new century with his oh-so-popular War on Terror.

Gah. I'm doing this wrong!

I need Bethy. She's the history woman. She'd be able to answer things for me clearly.

Okay. I'll simply do stream-of-conciousness, and if it turns out well, then yay. If not, well...

What makes a leader "good"? Looking back at US Presidents, there doesn't seem to be a "good" leader after JFK. And I don't even know that Kennedy was a good leader. He was popular. Is that the same thing? Is that all it boils down to? At least in regard to the public? Because (I'm guessing) that Hitler was not very popular, but people followed him. As vile and misguided as his views were, you can't deny the fact that he had charisma. Or something that made folks say, "Hey, that Hitler dude is pretty all right."

It seems, too, that so many of our presidents in history are just ...there. Nobody remembers Polk. Or Taft. Or Garfield. Or that one guy. You know, that one guy. Is this because they were bad leaders? Or is it because there was nothing going on in history that allowed them to demonstrate their "leadership abilities"? If 9/11 had never happened, would George W. Bush have wound up being another one of "those guys", destined for oblivion? Or, put another way, is Lincoln only considered a great president because he had the Civil War going on in the background?
Digression
In High School a friend of mine and I were joking around one day. He was saying how he knew everything, and to quiz him. "Okay," I said, "Who was the 16th president?"
"Abraham Lincoln." he replied.
"Who was the 17th?" I asked.
"The guy after him."

Good times. [/Digression]

Here's the thing. I don't think we need leaders.

I believe every single person reading this would go about their lives just fine, if aliens were to come and wisk away Bush, and all of the White House. And Congress. And other countries appointed leaders as well. In fact, your lives might be better as a result.

Imagine. No arbitrary "leaders" writing laws telling you what is right and what is wrong. You'd be able to live the way that you wanted to.

"But there would be societal chaos! There would be anarchy! People would riot in the streets!"

Pshaw.

People ultimately do what they think is right, regardless of what any laws tell them. Rioting in the streets may happen ...gah. I'm not in the mood to argue this. Let's just say that those that believe that it's our 'leaders' that are keeping the majority of people "in line" have a vastly different viewpoint than I do, and leave it at that.

Also interesting to note - anyone that wants to lead (usually said "rule") the world is considered evil. It's all right to be the leader of a city, or a state, or even a country, but not a planet? Huh.

Well, rereading this, I was right about one thing. It didn't turn out as planned. Hopefully, though, it'll spark some interesting conversation..

What's a meta for?

I amuse myself to no end. Good thing, too, because the world really does lack funny.

So this was going to be a metapost. You know, all about itself. Or the act of blogging. And comment leaving and whatnot. I guess it still is, sorta. [shrug] Metaness is mysterious.

I've been thinking of changing my template. I like the test P@tern, but I think I may want something different. Ya know? I'm unsure of what, though. I have some ideas, but we'll see if any of them scream out "Change me to this!" Stay tuned.

Before blogging, I visited a complete stranger's blog (it was hooray.blogspot.com) and scrolled through the guy's posts from the past week or so, and was kinda sad that he had no comments. Comments are always a good thing. Except when they're not. But usually they're very good. Reaffirming. Or somesuch.

The bad thing (on my part) is that I don't leave enough comments on other people's blogs. Half the time I dont' because I simply don't have anything to say. The other half is because I feel like whatever I would say would be trite and stupid. I should just get over that irrationality and leave the comments. People like comments, even if they are mindless. Right?

I was going to issue a challenge here - find a stranger's blog (the main blogger page has the most recently updated ones, for example) and leave a comment on their latest entry. But, then, I haven't even partaken (partook?) in said challenge, so how can I issue it?

I'm hungry.

Half.

There are 15 days left in the year! Holy shit!

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

Today, among many many other things:

My sister's birthday.
Mozart's birthday.
9 years ago, I shaved my head.

I'm toying with the idea of making an audio entry. Apparently audblog is having a free trial (one post). It can be up to four minutes long. The problem? I haven't a clue what to say to all you people. (Other than the obvious - "Can you hear me now?")

My feet are freezing. I think I will go consume some Lucky Charms. They're magically delicious.

Hmm. I feel almost like I want to blog some more. Maybe - maybe - I'll blog again later today. Three times in one day!! That would be like Xmas in December!

The one that doesn't count.

Or, "Putting the 'grr' in blogger."

I'm posting a more or less "non"post in order to see if it will convince Blogger to actually display the post I made for yesterday. Lousy blogger.

Edit: No, it apparently didn't work. Guess I'll have to wait til morning to figure this out.

Two. Two serious posts. Mwahaha!!

[/Count]
Both will have to wait, though. One being the Leadership post that I've (unfortunately) hyped up, and is bound to disappoint. The other is one that more or less just sprang to mind earlier yesterday night, and was going to be written today, but my wife was in a silly whack-a-mole type mood and it was a bit contagious...ish. (Heh. I feel stupid. And contagious....here we are now, entertain us.)

My blog window didn't load completely, so my preview-screen is one line. It's odd to not be able to reread what I've written as I go along. But I'm still plodding along. Because like I always say, "Life is like a box of chocolates."
No, wait. I always say "Screw you, Mothra!"

Er. Well, no, that's not what I always say either. I guess I don't have a catchphrase.
Must work on that.

Speaking of accomplishments - today we went to Applebee's for Harper's celebratory dinner, re: pottyness. Yay! Plus, they weren't on fire! Double yay!

Ooh! Also! We bought Xmas presents for my sister's little ones. Who, you know, aren't really little anymore, but are still smaller than I am. In age, at least.

Still need to buy gifts for our girls, along with some generic ten dollar (or less) present for a coworker...

In addition, we bought stamps and will be mailing the holiday cards out to folks tomorrow, most likely.

On top of all that, we even managed to restock the fridge. Hot dog! I mean, what are you gonna do - starve? [/catchphrase]

Tiresome thoughts. Or, "You have what you want! Give de peeple ahir!"

So, driving around, I see hundreds or thousands of vehicles, each one with tires (of course).

That in and of itself is pretty darn amazing. Tires, I mean. The fact that a two ton piece of metal is able to move, being carried by nothing other than four pieces of rubber filled with air...sounds almost science fictiony.

But tires wear down. The treads on your car's wheels eventually thins, and they need to be replaced.

Which begs the question...where are the tire treads going? Are we breathing in used tire particles? Yuck.

Speaking of tires - what about all that air that is trapped inside them? The amount of breathable oxygen on the planet must be finite. I wonder what percentage of it is being held hostage within tires. I think I'll go through the neighborhood and begin freeing the air. (ie, deflating people's tires) Sure, people may be pissed off when they can't drive places, but I think they'll thank me when I point out to them that they'll be able to actually breathe as a result.

Or, you know, my next post may be done from jail.

On a semirelated note - the amount of people on the planet (6 billion and growing) is a hell of a lot higher than it was ...um, well, any time in the past, really. We all know that that's a bad thing, but something that is probably very commonly overlooked is the fact that all of these extra people, on top of taking up extra space, and eating extra food, are also taking up extra air.

I propose we go the Spaceballs route, and that air become a commodity. That'll solve lots of things. Plus, we'll have the chance to meet Yogurt. That guy was comedic gold.

Decembervision

We watched Ghostbusters today. And now Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is currently on.

Oddly enough, I was thinking that in another 10 years or so, that Ghostbusters could possibly be remade (although I doubt it ever will be) and that WWatCF never should be, but there is a rumor floating around that Tim Burton will. While I like Burton, I simply don't think that Willy Wonka should be played by anyone other than Gene Wilder. His performance was simply unimprovable. (I don't think that's even a word, but, meh.)

Also on today were A Charlie Brown Christmas which Saren didn't want to watch (Steph told me) because she had seen it before.

December always has lots of Xmas specials, and they're always scheduled against each other. Tonight, at 8pm there was the aforementioned Charlie Brown special, It's A Wonderful Life, The Santa Clause, The Wizard of Oz (not quite a holiday movie, but [shrug]), and some Price Is Right special deal with Bob Barker (the Key!!) turning 80. How is one supposed to watch all those things at once?

Magic. That's how.

Tomorrow they're running some movie where Captain Picard is Scrooge. Man, everyone winds up Scrooge eventually. Someday I bet Johnny Depp will be good ol' Ebenezzer. And when that day comes, I will know that I am old.

In conclusion, I want an Oompa-Loompa now!!

Champagne supernova

God, I want to get drunk.

pending

I've decided that I'm going to type up the entry, and then see what I should title it, based on the content. We'll see how that goes.

My feet are freezing. I've found that rubbing them on the carpet works.

I think that my email may be broken. I keep not getting things sent to me. Hmm.

Lunch tomorrow with my dad. It'll be weird to have him not be in the state anymore. I mean, he said that he'd be able to drive up for weekends and whatnot, but ...I don't know. Still strange.

I was thinking on the way home how incredible the internet is. I type a message, click a button, and instantly (instantly!!) someone on the other side of the world can read it. That's cool.

I read a book a while back that was by turns depressing and fascinating (I think it was my mind-set that added to the depressingness of the novel, though). It was called The Pixel Eye, and it was set about 10 years from now, in New York City. A private detective (er...D'Amato? I think that was his name) was investigating the disappearance of squirrels. (hee!) I won't go into all the details of it, but there were some pretty interesting ideas brought forth in there about brains. (Human and nonhumans)
Apparently, though, the D'Amato guy has been in several other books, so I may have to check those out.

I saw a trailer the other day for Big Fish, which looks pretty darn cool. Probably wait for rental, though.

I'm hungry.

It was all rainy today, so I was late to work. It's funny how Las Vegans really don't react well to changes in the weather.

Oh! As for the moving to Eugene - why we picked that particular city - well, there really isn't a reason. We chose Oregon because it's pretty, and there are lots of ...like-minded types up there, and it seems to be more or less affordable. And Eugene looked good from the Oregon cities we browsed through. Not too populous. Not too small. Relatively close to the ocean, and the mountains, and Portland.

Plus, we'd be able to call ourselves "Eugenics". [grin]

What should I blog about?

No, really.

I have my Leadership post to fall back on, but I think I'll save that for a day when I have more time to actually put thought into it. (I've got 15minutes left in the day...)

Jupe is supposed to send me an email about the Agricultural Revolution!, which may inspire a blog entry or two.

Otherwise, my life is boring and my brain is blank. So I'm calling on the P@riots to provide future blogging ideas.

This really should come as no surprise to anyone. I'm constantly having other people do my work and thinking for me. Yay for passing the buck!

"THANK YOU, RADIATOR!!"

While driving around the other day, our car's engine began to overheat. I believe we have a leak in the radiator (proof of this is found by looking at the puddle that is in our garage where the car sits for the majority of the time).

Anywhat, I filled it with water a few days back, but then today I was driving around and again, the engine's temperature began to rise dangerously into the red zone. I knew that to continue driving would be hazardous, so I found a gas station to pull into so that I could put more water into the radiator, and allow it to cool down.

I drove to the water hose that the gas station had, and parked the car. I pulled the hood tab, so that the hood would be openable once I got out. I then walked over to the hood and lifted. The hood, though, rose out of my control and my thumb got smacked while it was flying up. It hurt, but I didn't think anything of it at the time. Instead, I focused on the radiator. I could hear the water (what little remained) inside was boiling. I should have waited, but instead, I twisted off the cap (you know, the one that says, "Never remove when engine is hot."). Big mistake.

Instantly, water (that should have been extremely hot, but oddly, was merely lukewarm) splashed all over my clothes and, much more alarming, my throat - right along my jugular. Shocked, but realizing that I hadn't been burned as badly as I had feared, I got the water hose, and sprayed the radiator, the engine, and all the components therein, letting them cool down. I then filled the radiator with more water, and prepared to continue driving.

When I got back in the car, I looked in the mirror and saw that the water had indeed given me a pretty gnarly looking burn scar down my throat. Not only that, but the hood had broken my thumb. The joint had broken cleanly off, so that my thumb was now in two pieces, but still whole (the skin was still surrounding the free-floating piece...which, even more strangely, I could still move). Yeah. You think you're freaked out reading about - it was even grosser actually seeing it.

Anywhat, there was some other part of my dream that involved a brat of a child that I was babysitting...and he could travel to other worlds...but that part is much more vague. The radiator/thumb/hot water scar dream was way more vivid.

In lieu of a real entry...

I've sat here for the past hour (at least) trying to come up with something to blog about. Not succeeding, I went off to Quizzilla, and surfed through their lame quizzes. Yay!


You're Mask Salesman!

You are very strange and sometimes your scary.
However, your a good person who is concerned
about the fate of the world.


Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask persona
brought to you by Quizilla



Which of Majora's Masks are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

So true!

Salty goodness.

What I've eaten today:

• A bowl of Crispix with sugar added
  
• Three sausage links
  
• Two eggs, over-medium
  
• Potatoes with cheese
  
• Glass of orange juice
  
• Nachos Supreme without sour cream
  
• Chicken Quesadilla
  
• Soft taco
  
• Pepsi
  
• Popcorn
  

Quite a bit of salty food, eh? Well, you say sodium, I say sodiyum!

Although the lack of water might account for the headache I've had for the past two hours...

Oh yeah.

I totally forgot that yesterday Senator Harry Reid came to my workplace!

He was being interviewed by our newspeople. They talked to him about Yucca Mountain, and the economy, and September 11th. Yawn.

He didn't speak to me at all, and was only next to me for maybe 45 seconds total. (He was being given the tour of the station.) He came into the control room with the guy giving him the tour, along with a security person (!!). All Mr. Reid said was, "Why do you have two TV stations?"

Heh. Yeah. I've wondered the same thing.

Before the interview, I listened in on the thing, and it was kinda funny. More interesting than the actual interview, at any rate. The newscaster doing the questioning (Christine) asked him if he'd been busy today.

He said "No. We like your station the best." He then turned to someone (his assistant?) and asked "Have we done anything today?"
The assistant responded about how they had had an interview with a different station earlier in the day.
Christine asked if the other station had "worked him over" (or something like that, I couldn't quite hear her), but Harry said that the guy was "really nice".

The chitchatted a little bit more, and then they began the interview. Only a fraction of which was played back on the newscast. [shrug] It was interesting, but pretty lame.

Like so much of everything.

And, hey! I posted before going to work! I might (maybe) post when I get home, too, but we'll have to see how the rest of the day goes.

Always look at the bright side of life.

My nails are clean.

I'm totally full.

My feet are nice and warm.

Our car is running at optimal performance levels.

My head is not throbbing.

This entry is entertaining and worthwhile.

Okay, I'm lying about all of the above. But I figured if I wrote the truth, I'd sound like I was grumpy and bitching. (Hmm. Because I would've been, perhaps?) So I thought I'd try the ol' opposite route. [shrug] Didn't help, really.

My dad's leaving next week. He's going to take us out to lunch before he moves, and it's not like I'll never see him again (or that I ever see him that much now anyway) but for some reason this feels...I don't know. Permenantish. (I guess that shouldn't be a real word, but, having said it, I like it.)

Steph's entry was so much better than mine.

I think tomorrow, just to shake things up a bit, I'll try to blog before I leave for work. (Also because tomorrow at work is going to be crap-a-licious, and I don't know if i"ll be in the mood to write when I get home)

I hate funks.

Na na na na-na-na-naaa!

That's the refrain (or something) from the Beatles' Hey Jude, which, I, of course, always sing as "Hey Jupe". Because Amy is kick ass.

I spoke to her briefly today! She's got this Amy voice that is very ... I don't know. Amyish. (Heh. That almost looks like "Amish". Which, yeah, I guess Jupe's voice is kinda Amish. You know.)

The radio was all Jupe-y today on the way into work, too. They played Revolution ("Don'tchya know it's gonna be ...all right?") and that Led Zep song ("I don't know what I've been told.") and the Rolling Stones' Shattered. And then another station played Hey Jupe. It was the best 'on-the-way-in-to-work' radio I've heard in ages. [up]

Despite all that, though, I was in a pretty crap mood today. I don't know why, exactly. Maybe because of the planets being all aligned freaky. (Um. No.)
Maybe because of my menstrual cramps. (Um...No.)
Maybe because we're out of money, and I have to work and never get to see my kids, and I hate the cold, but don't want to live in Las Vegas for the rest of my life, but don't want to move anywhere else either and the fact that you're pretty much forced to play the stupid game if you want to have anything resembling health in your life....and a lot of other monotonous crap I won't bother to go into right now either. (Partly due to time. Partly due to not wanting to type it up. Partly because I know nobody wants to read it.)

I heard Mother Culture alive and well tonight at work. Two coworkers were discussing the fact that President Shrub wants to repump up the Space Program, and go back to the moon. (I'm all for sending him to the moon... [grin])
Anywhat, they were talking about space exploration in general, and it was a little disheartening to hear stuff that I disagree with so much.
Of course, I just sat there and didn't say anything. (They weren't talking to me, and I didn't want to just butt into the conversation. Also, I doubt I would've brought up any of my opinions even if I had been included. Just the way I am.)

[sigh]

In other news, last night at about 1:45am we got a phone call. The answering machine answered (we were in bed, but I wasn't asleep) and the message left was simply a series of beeps. Odd.

This morning, around 9:30, I got another call from Sears about "my Sears account", despite the fact that I don't FUCKING OWN A SINGLE CREDIT CARD!! AND!!!! The fact that I've told them this before. They have the wrong person, and I believed that we'd settled this previously, but I guess I was wrong about that, too.

Maybe that is the real reason behind my irritability today. I don't know. All I do know is that its a fool who plays it cool by making his world a little colder.

Hobbit motherfuckers!

(heh. Only, like, 3 people will get that title.)

I was going to type out this huge post about Leadership, but I don't have the time. Plus, despite the fact that it's been brewing in my head for over a year now, it's still not totally formed. [doh2]

So instead:

Today I saw the first trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Goooooseebumps!!!!

But, since I've not ever read the books, I have no idea what's going to happen in RotK. (Other than a really freakin huge spider) Stephanie, however, has read them. (Long ago)

Tonight (just a few minutes ago) I asked her, "Does Sam die?"

"Sam..? You mean Samwise Gamgee? Who have you been talking to or reading or seeing?"

"I saw a trailer for Return of the King tonight, and I just need to know."

"Truth?"

(a pause here while I debated whether I really wanted to be spoiled for the movie) then Steph continued:
"I don't remember."

My wife is awesome.

Also, if Samwich dies, I'll be totally upset. But I don't think he will. *glares at Chandler Tolkien*

New post, indeed.

With 20 minutes left in the day, I start my entry of the day.

19.

And I have nothing to say. Hey!

Hee. I'm rhyming. The other night I had several connected dreams about rhyming. I was going to make a post about them, but then I lost the desire. Suffice to say that there was a pretty darn cool story (all in rhyme) about Wolves from Mars in it.

What else?

I haven't eaten today, except for lunch. I mean meal. Yes. I had meal today.

Naturally, of course, I'm starving right now. So I have some Top Ramen soup sitting in the kitchen, cooling. A little girl named Godilocks is, I believe, currently eating my food, and sitting in my chair, and perhaps sleeping in my bed. Hmm.

Some people (those on television) are so nerdy. (I'm referring to the show that is on TLC that showed Princess Armadillo and Darth Vader getting married.)

Okay. There are 15 minutes left in the day, and I need to get some nourishment into my belly. Time to consume some noodles with chicken flavored broth. Yum!

"My life is only half a melon."

It's nearly one pm, we have so much to do. We haven't even eaten breakfast. Well, no, we ate. But it was donuts. (Two TV quotes: "Mmmm. Donuts." and "Whoa. Had too many jelly donuts.")

We still need to go back to Home Despot in order to return the tube we bought yesterday...because, see, the garbage disposal got all broke, so we attempted to fix it by removing the junk from it, which wound up breaking the plastic tube underneath. So we went to Home Despot and bought a replacement tube. Turns out that the tube we bought is like 3 millimeters too big. Doh.

We also need to purchase an Xmas tree, if we're gonna do that. (Otherwise we'll have to wait til the 15th, and who wants to have a tree up only 10 days? Nazis. That's who.)

In addition, Saren is going to a Harry Potter thing at the library today at 4pm. So much time, so little to do.

Scratch that, reverse it.

Also, I need to make and send out the final PMQ.

At least I've blogged today. Hey. I said that I'd blog daily. I never said they'd be worthwhile entries.

And the wolves all howl while the world around me dies

Days off are blessings.

A commercial at work informed me today that "the best things in life are free: the sun, the beach, hanging out" I added: "starving".

Because, really, what's better than that?

I think when I go, that's how I'll do it. It'll be on my terms. Sorta.

I don't know either.

I wrote ...I guess 8 years ago... that I was tired of being a freak. And for a while, I stopped being one. I more or less adapted to the Borgian society of just being a good little consumer. Now, though, I'm back to freakville.
Speaking of freakville - there's a city (probably several) in one of those Eastern states called Lynchsburg. Why would anyone live there? Would anybody choose to reside in a city called Rapesville? Or Murdertown? I think not. Or, actually, yeah, I guess people would. Sometimes I find the amount of dislike I have for the human race is astounding.

Maybe it's the ...what's the word? "Cognitive dissonance", I believe it's called... maybe it's because we're all suffering from a huge (I mean huge) case of cognitive dissonance. Because we keep attempting to tell ourselves that money isn't the most important thing, but then we act as though it is. Because what are you gonna do - starve?

My mind is too jumbled with negative thoughts. I've been storing them up for the past ...however long... and now that I'm blogging, I can't get them out fast enough or in a linear..ish fashion. I apologize for that. Hopefully some of what I'm saying is making a modicum of sense. ("What's a modicum?")

I can't breathe. Heh. Liz Phair is in my head now. "Why can't I breathe, whenever I think about you?" I was going to use that song lyric question in a boq someday. Guess I still can.

Funniest thing ever! - At work, there's a reporter who ...blah. Long story short - He mistyped something on a sheet of paper that he was reading from. It was in regard to the ever lovely, "War on Terrorism". He had typed "War on Tourism".

God, if only.

I have the ability to ...er. Nevermind. Sometimes it's better to not play your hand so soon. Ya know?

My throat still hurts. The fuck?

Sometimes...this is so wrong. God, no wonder I'm not a writer.

It's almost December, moving on to other news (not that I've said anything I wanted to), so that's ...something. I need to email both Jupe and Heath. Bout different things, but now I've reminded myself to do so. Of course, it'll have to wait til tomorrow, since I can't switch over to my mail yet. (We're downloading music)

I'm only on page 34 of Paula. Hrm.

Well, this was a jumbled maelstrom of an entry, but I'm starving (ha!) so I guess it'll have to do.

Gagum.

And then, on the fourth Thursday of the 11th month, you're supposed to show thanks for everything. Finally, a holiday that gets it kinda right. (Yeah, I don't know either.)

The past two days were of the sore-throat variety. It's been a while since I've been ill, but I'm happy to report that it's still as crappy to go through as I remember it being. Yay for things that don't change!!

Yesterday, when I was in the midst of the sore throatness, Steph called me and informed me that my sister and my brother-in-law were both suffering from strep. Since we had just spent time with them, this did not bode well for me in my condition. Or the girls, either, since they'd likely catch it from me.

Today, though, when I woke up, the sickness was (more or less) gone!

HA!! Take that, mystery illness! My antibodies can Kick. Your. Ass!! [/US Military voice]

So, yeah, I'm thankful for my health. And my family. And food! Holy mother of stuff food is great! Steph prepared a turkey and it was yummy as all get-out. (What does that even mean?!) She also made mashed potatoes, pasta salad, stuffing, cranberry sauce (that required opening a can - I did that part.), rolls, and Pepsi. Yes. She made the Pepsi. Stop looking at me that way.

We ate earlyish, because I had to go to work at 3. Then, when I got to work, it turned out there really wasn't much for me to do. So, once everything was done-done, my coworkers agreed to let me leave early! Awesome!

Now I think I'm going to go eat some cherry pie. Because it smells really good. I realize that scents aren't able to be conveyed online (yet) but trust me on this one.

Blog challenge!!

In the month of December, I'm going to blog at least once every day.

Anyone else with me on this one?

Guess who was in an accident yesterday.

I'm okay. The car is okay (but it's pride is hurt. [rimshot]).

Cars suck.

I'm starving. I think I'll go purchase some Taco Bell.

Clarification.

In the last entry, when I said:

Seriously, though, I hope they lock the fucker up. If he gets away with this, I'm moving to another country.

I meant whomever winds up being guilty. Either Michael Jackson, if he is a pedophile, or the child bringing the false accusation forward, if Jackson is innocent.

Either way, someone should be punished.

I should have been more specific. I apologize for any inconvience this may have caused.

More Jackson thoughts.

Because the topic just hasn't been beaten dead enough yet. [rolleyes]

I think the King of Pop (hee!) might be a shape-shifter. But you know how in the movies, the shape-shifting aliens do it in a fraction of a second? He takes a long time to change form.

Also, I think maybe that he's like Saddam Hussein, and has doubles placed around. That's why he was able to turn himself in in California, and then be spotted later the same afternoon in Vegas. And perhaps this would explain why he's claiming to be "innocent". One of his doubles is truly guilty. [smirk]



Seriously, though, I hope they lock the fucker up. If he gets away with this, I'm moving to another country.

One more to go.

Thankfully the year is almost over. Just one more batch of PMQs to get through.

Not that I haven't enjoyed the PMs and whatnot, it's just...[sigh] Coming up with questions each month is hard. Answering them is harder.

What are you thankful for?
and
Who are you thankful to?
Nothing, and nobody. I'm a selfish, ungrateful piece of shit who takes everyone and everything for granted.



No, really.

Back in May, I asked a non-question: Name an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This month, I'll ask another non-question: Name an episdoe of Angel. (Again, I'm curious to see if anyone names the episode I'm thinking of, and also if any episodes get multiple votes.)
The episode I was thinking of was Fredless. Nobody mentioned that one.

"Well, who else did you know? What other famous people did you know?"
"famous" from the board = laser_doc, sarennharpersmom, bettie, oslowe, Del, mUrt, CassyLee, mayhem, Becky (mayhem's better half), sarennharper, starshine, Starspawn, Bally, Steorra, jadde, Aexia, The_Count, Jamie Marie, Great Attractor, Jewels, kirielle. I feel like I'm forgetting someone.
Famous from not the board = Ben Folds (from Ben Folds Five), Danny Elfman (from Oingo Boingo), Shirley Manson (from Garbage), Mark Slaughter (from Slaughter), Jill Sobule, Ian Ziering (from Beverly Hills, 90210), and probably a dozen or so local 'celebrities' (weathercasters, folks from local commercials, etc).
("Change" by Boingo) - sidenote: this is one of my all time favorite songs. I've referenced and/or used it in boqs more than any other song. This time, I believe, makes #7.

What is your favorite mondegreen? (feel free to cite more than one)
A mondegreen is a misheard lyric.
I've had several million, I'm sure, but my favorite (or at least, the only one I can think of right now) is:
"Shoot the children, with no shoes on their feet." (Whoa, there's a solution.)

[laugh]

What should you be doing now instead of this?
Sleeping. Or eating.

Um...
Sleeping.

"Does anybody know how the story really goes Or do we all just hum along?"
Yes.
("Big Bang Baby" by Stone Temple Pilots)


In general, do you feel older than your age, or younger?
Yes.
Mostly older. Lately I've been thinking of myself as already being in my 30s. [shrug]

One year from this month will be an election year in the US. Gaze into your crystal ball and sum up what you see.
That's not a question. But...
*shakes 8-ball*
MY SOURCES SAY NO

Hmm. That can't be good.

What's the last thing you remember dreaming about?
Cotton candy. And giddiness.
It's rather vague, actually.

"Is you am a dog?"
I is not.
("How many cans?" by Soul Coughing)

and finally...

What else ya got?
Heh. Yeah, those were bad times. Bad times.

I don't like the drugs, but the drugs like me.

I think other people get spam for larger penises, house mortgages, credit card applications, and the like.

Me? I get stuff trying to sell me prescription drugs.

Viagra (so, I guess the penis enlargement group has their hands in everything), Claritin, that one memory drug I can't remember the name of, Soma, Xanax, Prozac, Didrex...dude. What are they trying to say?

God, I need some caffeine.

Why do all my ideas happen away from the computer?

I know I had things to say yesterday when I couldn't blog. Now that I can...

In other news, The Nightmare Before Christmas is going to be on in a few minutes. Danny Elfman is kick ass.

*chirp*

So it's winter-ish here in Sin City, and that means all the bugs are dying. Or dead.

Or, in our case, trying to find a warm place to hide out. And the warmest place a nest of crickets has found happens to be inside our walls.

It's great, though, because now whenever I tell a joke, there's the cricket chirp that I so require for an even greater punchline.

I want a Pepsi.

Life goes by so fast. You only want to do what you think is right. Close your eyes and then it's past.

Story of my life.

And, Soupy, I do believe that that is the longest blog title ever. [tongue]

So, yeah. I remember how to blog. Do ya believe that?

Heh. I'm chuckling to myself now because I also seem to have remembered how to blank out. Joy.

Lately, when I watch the news, I just have to shake my head in amazement. GAWD!

Er..I mean: I KNOW!!!

I think: "But then he just vomitted, and all was well with the world." is probably the funniest thing I've said in ages. Hmm. I need to say more stuff, I guess.

Dude!! I totally met real life WDers! Like, two weeks ago, but still! Starshine and Bally and Jamie and Aexia and several others. Granted, I wasn't the best conversationalist with anyone, but I'm not real well known for that skill.

I still want to meet imissoz, but I think that's gonna have to wait a while to happen. I mean, Australia isn't even going to ram into Asia for another 500 million years. [sigh] (I know that from a Jeopardy! question!)

Remember when I was supposed to write a novel this month?

Ha!

Ha! I say!

Tomorrow is payday.

Um.

Oh! The dictionary? That wonderfully cool book of words? 'tis meant to be a descriptive book, not a prescriptive one. Just so ya know.

I've missed talking to people online. I haven't really read any blog entries in about a week, and I feel all...not connected. Guess I better go reread that prophecy about myself to remind me why I do it all.
"Don't forget you're here forever." = "Do it for her."

My brain works in weird ways sometimes.

Hey! Random..ish question! Why are movies hyped? I mean, everyone who saw Lord of the Rings 1 & 2 is gonna see 3, so why promote it? Why build it up? Because if I've learned nothing else in my 28 plus years of life (and I haven't) it's that hype always disappoints. Look at the Matrix trilogy. All of those people were salavating because of the promos (I still haven't seen 2) and they were all disappointed. They should've not pumped so much money into trying to make a movie look good, especially when folks were already hooked. I'm not making any sense. Whatever.

You know when you're on the news (or, rather, when you see other people on the news) and a graphic (known as a "mat" in the biz) comes up that says the persons' name, along with a brief description of why they deserve to be on TV pops up? Like:

Dawn Summers
Witnessed Vampire Attack

or

Mr. Owl
Knows How Many Licks It Takes

How would you like to be immortalized like that? Your whole existence (descriptive - not prescriptive!) summed up with just a few words:

the P@
Dork

Speaking of whatever I'm talking about, I
have benn typing in spurts and

now have hit another major snag.

It's ..my brain is the way it is.

OH! We may be able to go see Disney's Haunted Mansion for free. Boo ya! Heh.

Money money money.

Aww. Poor Buffy has a bald spot. Actually. I think she should've done an episode bald. Hairless Buffy = Kick. Ass.

We rented some movies from the library, and we still hve n't watched any of them. We're dumb sometimes.

2004!!! Four!!!!

OH!!!!!!! This won't really be funny ...unless I can find a pic of him online, or unless you come to Vegas and see what I'm talking about, but I'll share anyway. We have an "entertainment reporter" (Guy is his name) and he's really a very funny and very nice...guy. So I mean this in the nicest way. And it is a compliment, of sorts.

He's Lorne.

If you were to dye him green and give him horns, I swear to god, Guy would be Lorne. Sometimes I do work in a pretty cool place.

Holy blank, I'm hungry.

And I've been typing for a hudnred ckabillion years. So.

Dissolve, cue.

Not enough time.

It's late in the afternoon and I have a gabillion emails to respond to, probably a gabillion PMs, I still haven't done the dishes, the trash still needs to be taken out, and I've yet to do any work on my novel today.

I'm simply blogging to say that if you've contacted me recently (you know who you are ...and so do I), I'm not ignoring you. I'm just putting you on hold temporarily. [chompers]

Mmmmm. Lack of accomplishments.

So, we got like nothing done today.

Not entirely true, of course. But it feels that way right now, since it's 10:16 at night and I'm exhausted, and I didn't do any writing on my novel (WAAH!!) and we didn't get the car reregistered at the DMV....[sigh]

We did pay the cable bill. So that's something. We also finally got around to buying Majorca's Mask (YAY!!) and some Donkey Kong game for the N64 (YAY!!) but it appears that MM has a glitch, and freezes once you get the Acorn of Time back. [frown] Guess we'll be returning that shortly.

This whole waking up at 8 in the morning deal? It's odd. It makes the day seem so much longer than it truly is. Also, it makes me really freakin' tired much earlier than usual. I'm not sure I like it.

What was the other thing I wanted to say? I don't recall. But mostly I'm just upset that I didn't write anything in my novel. The first two days I did ...okay. And today, zip. Not good.

JFK blown away, what else do I have to say?

Not much, apparently.

Time to make the donuts pay the cable bill!

Saren's Postcard Project

Saren is going to be doing a postcard project and we are looking for some people to help her out with it. If you would like to participate, here is what you will do: Saren will send you a Las Vegas themed postcard that might say something about what it's like living here (or it might not, she's much better at reading than writing at this point), and you send her back a postcard from the area where you live (preferably with a picture of something near you, or the landscape near you) telling her something about what it's like to live where you live. If you would like to help us out, just email me (the email me link is on the left) with your address. If we don't already know you, then please include in your email something that allows us to get to know you before we go sending you our address (like a paragraph or two telling us who you are or a link to your website or weblog). Thanks!

Comedy comedy!

Non-halloween entry. And last one of the night. And month!

Funny things I've heard/read the past couple of days -

From Jupe:

"If I had nukes, I wouldn't waste them on children."

******

Spsh4 [9:55 PM]: On that same trip, I did run over a snake!
Jupe [9:56 PM]: Yay!
Spsh4 [9:56 PM]: Although we didnt' eat it.
Jupe[9:56 PM]: Snakes are scary!
Spsh4 [9:56 PM]: I felt bad.
Spsh4 [9:56 PM]: I also laughed about it.
Jupe [9:56 PM]: Snakes are scary.
Jupe [9:56 PM]: It was him or you, dude.
Jupe [9:56 PM]: Him or you.

******

Saren: "Dad. Listen. Angel. [pause] Los Angeles."

I kinda giggled. "Yup."

Saren: "Los...TVless."

I start laughing.

Saren: "Buffy...Los Buffyless."

In between laughter, I give her a puzzling look.

Saren: "You know, Buffy. Like, she's a buffalo."

******

Saren: "If the Universe swallows us in a black hole, it means it doesn't like us."

What are you supposed to be?

Costumes are great.

I always want to spend elaborate (and nonexistant) amounts of money and time making my costumes, but I never do. Or, you know, did. Since I don't really dress up anymore.

But in the past I always wanted to start preparing my get-up around like March. The ultimate dream costume I had in mind was this angel with wings, robes, halo, the whole 9 yards. And then, at midnight, I would have the costume change into a devil/demon thing. With horns, pitchfork, blah, blah, blah. It was incredibly cool looking in my mind's eye, anyway.

Probably my best Halloween costume (aside from the aforementioned Michael Jackson) was when I was a hooker. I shaved my legs. And armpits. I wore a bra. I ...um...tucked. I had a blonde wig. And wore makeup. I was, in a word, hot.

Or, um, maybe not.

The only thing I remember dressing up as any other year was the old standby of vampire. White makeup and fake teeth are simple, after all.

"Let me out! Let, let me out!"

~ Smashing Pumpkins, Cherub Rock.

It's also very much what my brain is screaming (my vocal cords are also screaming) during any trips into haunted houses.

I'm a huge ol' wuss.

I remember one year I went to a Haunted House with Jared (actually, that year we hit like 4 of them), and at one point a werewolf turned a corner, growling at us. I screamed, "Don't kill me, kill him instead!"

In a separate haunted house, a very large (and rather fake looking) spider dropped from the ceiling. My reaction? Dropping to the floor and cowering in the fetal position. (I kid you not) Jared had to pick me up off the floor and push me in order to keep going.

It always amazes me in the movies how people (or at least those who survive) aren't completely petrified with terror. [shrug] I guess if anything like that ever happens to me, I'll just wind up as zombie-food.

Every single one of us, the devil inside.

When I was in 6th grade, I became a devil worshipper.

Mrs. Beard, my home-room teacher that year, may have taught our class other things, but the only thing I remember from her curriculum was the fact that she was a Christian. And she used many many hours of class warning us of the dangers of Rock N' Roll, and of course, Satan himself.

Sounded pretty darn good to me, and some of my friends.

We didn't do anything harmful. We drew lots of pentagrams, upside down crosses, 666s, the whole rigamarole of "satanic" images. We listened to a lot of Motley Crue and Poison and (heh) Bon Jovi. (He's the DEVIL!!!) I had a lot of ...disturbing, I suppose is the best word, thoughts regarding my parents and my teachers and the people in our church, but I never followed through on any of them.

The whole thing blew up one summer when I was visiting my mother. My stepmom found my notebooks with the demonic drawings. When I came home at summer's end, there was a confrontation. I'm sure it was ugly, and there was probably tears, but luckily my brain has decided to block all of that memory out. Yay for repression!!

Of course now, I believe in neither God nor Satan. Now I worship Pepsi.

Let's see if I can scare something up.

All right. I've succumbed to the peer pressure of my spouse to attempt to take part in the Blog-a-thon. And I'm even going to try to make them Halloweenesque in nature. Excellent.

Except, of course, that I have nothing (Halloweeny) to write about right now. Ugh.

My stream-of-conciousness thoughts have been going something like this, though:

Night of the Living Dead, zombies, oslowe, scary movies with michael jackson screaming like a little girl, and a new Scary Movie 4 next year making fun of superhero movies. Bally was Superman. And Spartacus.

One year I Michael Jackson for halloween. ALthough I looked nothing like him. I was wearing a Santa Claus beard, dreadlocks, a bowler cap, and a fake muscle chest.
On second thought, I guess that is rather Michael Jacksonish.

Mmm. Trick or treating begins in about 3 hours. Yay for free candy.

Scratch that, reverse it.

It's not that I don't have anything to say, it's that I don't want to say it.

Right?

The trip to Cali was brief, and filled with peril and adventure and whatnot, but I'm really not in the mood to go into detail about it. Tough pickles, as Mario might say.

Uh...PMA time.

Yes. (also, I didn't know it was a question. I always assumed it was a statement of fact.)

Because what are ya gonna do - starve?

Meh. And it's by the Scorpions. I think.

Yes. Some of them are. (this would be where I'd provide the links, if I were feeling so inclined. And if I'd done the work.)

Somehow, I don't think I'm going to be doing the October version of the blog-a-thon. There's always next month. (for the next 9 years, anyway.)

Potato peeler!!!

[laugh] Man, that was priceless.

So, it's early, and we're going to drive through hell (literally!!) in order to get to Disneyland.

The state, the state, the state is on fire.

I'm setting the VCR to record SpAngel while we're away. Hope we don't have our cable turned off before that happens.

My feet are freezing!!

God, I want a Pepsi.

In other news - last night before going to sleep, I had a really great idea for my November Novel. Excellent.

Is that all?

Your soul is worth £21386. For your peace of mind, 45% of people have a purer soul than you.

From the We Want Your Soul site.

I'm havin' trouble tryin' to sleep.

It's nearly 3:30, and i'm still up, and worse - I'm NOT TIRED!!

This bites.

I was gonna post this question on the WD, but meh. Can't be arsed to log in, so I'll ask here:

What do you do when you can't sleep?

Can we vote the Bush family off the island?

Please? All of them?

Two days ago, on the Fucking News, Barbara Bush was there, criticizing the Democratic Presidentials.

So...Dubya is having hismom fight his battles now? What is he, like 8 years old? [rolleyes]

And then yesterday on our NewsTicker the information scrolled by stating that the Florida woman who was in a coma and had her feeding tube removed ...well, apparently Jeb Bush ordered it back in.

I guess the brain-dead like to stick together.

Seriously, I just want to take that whole family and launch them into space. Give them some other planet to 'rule'. Let them interefere with other people's lives. I'm pretty sure the Earth won't miss them.

In other news, new episode of Spaingel tonight! Yay, right?

It was 20 years ago today...

Well, 20 minus 19. [doh2]

One year ago I started this blog. Of course, back then it was at pshift2.blogspot.com, and it was known as Patent Ambiguity. It had crazy changy colors, and I didn't have a commenting feature. So much has changed. And yet, the entries are still just as dull. [doh2]

And now, I think I'm off to go reminisce and reread some of my archives. Good times. Good times.

Pain means you're alive.

Pfft.

Anywhat, my teeth are killing me (I don't know what I did) and Stephanie and Harper are both feeling ill. Yippee.

I'm vastly overtired, and not in the mood at all to blog. Damnit.

At leatst tomorrow is my Friday. Although I only have one day off. [sigh] Work should suck it.

Reserving this space.

I don't have time right now, but I will be blogging later today, after work.

"Okay, let's kill this pig."

Not sure where it came from, but I said it the other day before doing my first ever switching of Gold 33 News @ 7.

It seemed ...apropos. I won't go into the massively boring details about how the shows went, but will simply sum up the past three days with a quick synopsis.

Monday (I wasn't running it) - In the words of corporate, "It was the worst news launch we have ever seen."
We watched it at home, and yes, it was pretty bad. I cringed. I laughed. I wondered what else was on.

Tuesday (my first time) - Smooth. There was a different director (Nancy, the director of Monday night's show, had been "reassigned" [eyebrow]), and he was pretty damn good. Not to toot my own horn, but so was I. [/smug]

Wednesday (tonight) - Heh. Nancy was back on deck, which everyone who had been there for Monday night took to be a bad omen. And oddly enough, it became a bad omen. Sort of. The way we have the news set up, our national news comes off the satellites via a hook up to the Corporate Headquarters in Baltimore. Well, today, Baltimore was having audio problems, so it was up to Nancy to fill the local stuff for an additional 10 minutes or so while the problem was fixed. She had me shuffle some spots and rearrange some breaks, but I think she handled it extremely well. Eventually we got Baltimore back up and running with audio, and I'm sure the audience had no clue that there was a semi-crisis. Which is all that matters.

So, yeah. News is here, and it's not all that horrible. Which pleases me greatly.

The bad thing? I'm on 33, which means I don't "run" the WB shows. So tonight, despite having Angel on right next to me, I didn't really get a chance to watch it. And Stephanie forgot to record it. Doh. Fortunately, I nabbed the DVC pro tape of it, and I'll transfer it to VHS tomorrow. Take that, Universe!

In other news, I woke up this morning about two minutes before the phone rang. At 6 am. The freakin' sun wasn't even up yet, but someone was. It turned out to be Sears. Again.

They've called me three times in as many days, looking for someone with my name who has apparently become delinquent on his Sears card payments. I know that I'm not the Herb they're looking for (heh) because I don't have any credit cards. I've told them this each time, and they've then apologized. I explained it to them again this morning, and I sincerely doubt they'll be calling back. The guy on the phone sounded a bit scared. Truth be told, hearing my voice, I was a bit scared too.

Highlights of last nights dream: Ordering food at Wendy's, get my order (chicken nuggets) and it's swarming with ants. Disgusted and outraged, I threaten to call the Health Department. The dream jumps, and instead Stephanie and I are in the restaraunt lobby after hours with a teenage employee who is mopping the floor. We're discussing with her how much wage slavery sucks, and starting to segway into Ishmael territory (with the phrase, "What are you going to do - starve?" of all things) when the governor (a man in a suit) gets out of a government issued van and is coming to do a surprise inspection. Wendy's girl tells us to get out (or at least hide), and that's when the alarm woke me up.

I need a haircut.

Oh yeah!

Also - I got a PM from someone on the Nanowrimo site! It's from someone who runs Meet&Greets and whatnot in Nevada, urging me to go to the Nevada Forum that the site has there.

This person tracked me down (probably doing profile searches) and discovered I was in Vegas. And she sounds all...I don't know. It's left me kinda freaked out. I don't do public meetings very well. And I'm just not sure how involved (with other people) I want to be with regard to my "novel".

Banned posts.

I've got two (at least) things I want to type about, but they seem to be blocked in my brain.

I hate when that happens, and it seems to be happening to me a lot lately. I'm probably doing something wrong with my chi or ...something.

I think I need some candy corn.

Also - it's hilarious that there's a bring gaffer back campaign. I hope when I get banned (what?) that people simply move on. I know I would.

Anywhat - as a reminder to myself about what the topics were going to be, so I can post them in the future...the titles were: Yabba Dabba Do! and Leadership (the latter one has been one that I was going to post on the WD for...well, nearly a year and a half now.)

The Middle Ages sucked.

I won't go into the horrible details, but overall the Renaissance Faire was not an enjoyable day out. Damnit.

Gah. I had more to say, but I dont' think tonight is the night I'll post it.

I will say this - people should not write in library books. Or, rather, if they're going to, it should be something intelligent. Or at least relevant.

Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping ...into the future.

Gawd.

We all have a limited amount of time on this planet, and I'm currently overloading myself. Because it's fun! [/sarcasm]

In addition to the project that I mentioned several weeks back (now at a stand-still) and a not-before-mentioned other project (WD related), I've now gone and joined the insanity that is the NaNoWriMo. I do believe that in order for me to complete any portion of it, I'll be writing most of mine the old fashioned way.

On paper.

Otherwise, I might as well just install some software in my head, and spend my whole life in front of a computer screen.

Ideas for what to write about are more than welcome, too. I've got ideas, of course, but hearing others is always fun. I think what I'll most likely end up with is a hybrid of something I've got in my head and the stuff that is thrown out there by the P@riots. We'll see.

In other news, we're now under 10000 miles from hitting the 123456 mark on the car's odometer. I believe the mileage is currently at 113499. So, guesses as to when it will hit the sacred mark are now being accepted. I do loves my games.

In other other news, we've got the Ren. Fair on Sunday. Bitchin' camaro.

Sweet Dreams are made of these.

Yay! Dream entry!

Since my personal life is so mind-numbingly dull, I'll entertain you all with the goings on of my nocturnal imaginings.

Three dreams I've had in the past week or so:

Dream 1:

Mostly involved floating down a river (the Mississippi?) and the fact that I owned a psychic chicken. This chicken would always give predictions that were simultaneously vague and specific. Talk about annoying.

The bird was dubbed the "Chicken of the See" (get it?) and the joke (in the dream) was that the animal was not a tuna.

Dream 2:

A movie called Flowers (I still don't know why. There were no flowers in it, and, as far as I could tell, no character with that name). The movie starred Robert Redford (that was me) and a very young Jennifer Lopez. (Jennifer Lopez ROCKS!! [/personal joke])

Apparently, J-Lo was a time traveller from the future. Redford discovered her secret, but so did some branch of the government. The movie mostly consisted of Lopez running from both me and the agents, all the while having time change due to things being changed.

The two scenes I remember were when I was making a speech on telelvision, and the amount of time that had passed kept changing. "23 hours ago" (zap!) "24 hours ago" (zap!) "12 hours ago"... and there was a scene in a parking garage where I was more or less cornered by the FBI (or whoever it was) and the number of bullets in my gun was changing constantly.

The movie either took place in 1982, or was supposedly released in '82. Either way, I want to see it.

Dream 3:

This one I had last night. It's a bit fuzzy, but the gist was that some combination between Lord Voldemort and Darth Vader had actually won, and had been in control of (wherever) for 1000 (or was it 100?) years. Hagrid was there, and was serving the Dark Lord, but I remember he gave me (I'm not sure who I was) a knowing glance, which seemed to say, "Don't worry. I'm just playin' along until the time is right".

The odd thing is, that even though The Big Bad Evil had conquered the forces of "good", life was overall pretty decent.

And then...the Titanic rose back from the bottom of the ocean. This made the Voldemort/Vader guy really nervous. In fact, everyone in the (wherever) was freaking out about it (which is pretty understandable).

The Voldemort guy decided to do a spell that would allow him to see all the dead people from a specific date. (I believe he picked November 9th, but I forget the year) The whys of this ...I don't know. I think he wanted to interrogate the folks who would be on the Titanic, to try to find out who was behind the ship's rising.

Anywhat, there were a lot of children in Halloween costumes (my brain does not follow your Earth Logic), along with a bunch of sports fans who had died in a bus crash. But the people who the V-man was looking for weren't there. He was outraged.

I suggested to him that it was because they were on the ship, and no longer dead that the spell hadn't allowed him to see them. He concurred, and decided that it was time to board the Titanic.

It was at that moment that I awoke.

My dreams are fun.

sjkyjsofh

BLAGH!!!

I didn't get the job.

Oregon Trail only has the one disk downloaded, so we've only got half the game.

My belly is going to burst.

Will, Annika, and Soupy all didn't like last night's Spaingel.

Stephanie's got to keep the car tomorrow.

I know there are good things right now, but I'm having a hard time coming up with them. I blame it on being UTP@. (Heh. Steph: "Being tired doesn't give you the right to be an asshole."
Me: "Then what does?")

Dude, where's my entry?

I've spent the past half-hour staring at a blank screen. Wait, that's not entirely true.

I did have about half an entry typed out (it was about Ed) but deleted it because it was blah.

I then did a little blog-hopping in hopes that something would spark an idea. No go.

Then, I went to this site which filled me with a little bit of hope, but didn't really make me want to blog anything.

I then came back to my ol' familiar blank screen, and finally decided to just start typing. The title was inspired by a line from Gargoyles which is on right now. Elissa said, "Where's my car?" which reminded me of the movie (I didn't see the film, but I, of course, know the title), and the rest is (or, um, will be) history.

The past two days off of work have been wonderful. It's a shame they go by so quickly, though.

And now, since I've not updated in a gabillion years, a recap of some of the stuff that's gone on in my life in the past two weeks or so.

• (re)discovered Trader Joe's. That is of the good.

• Had a date with Stephanie. We had a very expensive dinner with really crappy service, followed by driving about 20 miles beyond the city limits to star gaze. That was awesome. Excpet for the coldness factor. Man, we're wimpy.

• Had a kind of play date with Jared and his daughter, Anastasia. She's grown a lot since I saw her last.

• Went to the library, where I checked out The Golden Compass, um..some mystery-type novel, and Ishmael.

• Speaking of books - I read the 3rd Aretmis Fowl book, and I believe that one to be the best in the series. I didn't care for #2 all that much, but #3 was back on track.

• Had (still have) some sort of bruised lung/clogged artery type of injury. Not fun. At all. But I think my body has pretty much healed itself. Yay!

• Had a "practice run" on the Fucking News®. It doesn't seem like it will be too intrusive, but then again, I've not yet experienced the real thing.

• The fucking Terminator got elected. Whatever.

• Fed ducks and geese and pigeons at the park. That was fun, and pretty damn cool. Also, watched pigeons trying to "get it on". Heh.

• Roy got attacked by a tiger! Dude.

• Tarzan is not as lame as I feared it would be, but not as cool as it was hyped up to be, either.

• I'm predicting that Harold Abbot's sister (the redhead) will wind up being "gay now". Because it would tie in with the Buffyverse.

• Tomorrow (now today, due to the technicality of midnight and all that crap) will be my last time I have to go to work at 7am. Unless I get the promotions gig. (Still haven't heard back one way or another about that.) Also if I get that, onlineness at work might be more likely. Woo!

And with that, I'm fresh out of bullets.

Evil.

I work around computers all day long, but not a single one of them allows Internet access.

This is just wrong. It's akin to having a starving (ha!!) person cook all day long, but not allow them to sample any of the food.

I'll be back online later, hopefully.

There is water at the bottom of the ocean.

I'm UTP@, but it may be for the last time.
See, it seems that Fucking News® is beginning on the stations on the 13th. (Yeah, that's a good sign [doh2]) and Tommie (my supervisor) told me today that he wants his "A-Team" (his words) to be the ones who work the shift that would be covering Fucking News®.

His A-Team would be me, Troy, and Mike.

I think I might be B.A. Barracus, mostly due to my hair, foo!!

But really, I'm probably more Mad Dog (or do I mean Faceman? [sigh] I don't rememeber well enough. [/sad geek])

Anywhat, the point is, my schedule will most likely be changing. My days off might be changing in addition. Which, yeah, whatever. I'd prefer to have my days off be Monday thru Sunday, but somehow I doubt that's doable right now.

Moving on.

You know what helps? Looking up. The simple act of looking up into the sky - day or night - and just gazing into the depths of the universe changes you. If only minutely, and if only temporarily. It's a nice way to help. I think it's because gazing skyward is something primeval and human (in the best sense of the word). I also think it's because in our post-modern (whatever that means) world, we don't do it enough.

We went to the park today, and spent some time laying on the ground and staring at clouds. It was incredibly nice.

The other day we were having lunch outside of Wild Oats, and I leaned back in my chair and just stared up for about 30 seconds. I liked doing that. I think I'm going to look up more often.

Also at the park, we played Frisbee for a while. I recalled that I used to spend a long time in my youth playing frisbee. In Alaska, we spent hours flinging frisbees around the neighborhood, doing "frisbee tricks". Mostly, that consisted of bouncing them off the pavement, or throwing one up into the air, and then having the other discs try to hit it on the way down. Or hitting/avoiding parked cars. [wink]

It made me want to use our frisbee more often with the girls.

It is, to restate the obvious, a new month. Normally when the month changes, I have a difficult time writing the write date at work. Today, though, I didn't. I knew it was 10/2, and never once wrote 9/anything. I don't know why. Perhaps October has some kind of special magic to it. I even commented on something like that earlier today to Steph. About how October knows that Halloween is coming, so to prepare it is getting darker earlier.

Wow. This has been rambly and super dull.
Same as it ever was. [tongue]

robotce

So, in my dream last night, Tom Skerrit was George W. Bush. Yeah. I don't know either.

I've gotten the first part of my 'project' done! I'm so excited! Depending on how things go, I should have the rest of it uploaded and complete for your viewing pleasure (or, disdain) in a matter of days. Woo!! Finally, when it's done, I'll be able to talk about it without having to be all cryptic.

In less than 30 minutes, new Smallville and Spangel episodes! Yay! That means I'll need to start going back to TWOP on a regular basis. Doh.

My other masterpiece (the Perth story), while not coming along, has suddenly become interesting to me again. Pretty much since I came up with the idea, I've not known how it was going to end. Last night I thought of an idea, that, while doesn't tell me the ending will certainly help me get there. So that's a big Yay!

And now Saren wants on to play a computer game.

Secret agent stuff.

Woops. Due to last post being all "Grumpy ol' troll", I forgot to mention the Alias thing I was going to mention.

[Begin spoiler for The Two - highlight to view]

The Sydney in the videotape had the same knife (or same style of knife) as the Russian Assassin Guy. And AND!!! When Sydney killed (??) the Russian Assassin Guy, he got stabbed in the stomach in the same place that Sydney has her scar!!!

I don't know what it means, but it must mean something!

Because if I don't update, bad things will happen.

Shit, man.

It's a new month. October.

I hated this past week. It sucked beyond all telling. It was really really bad. Like, "Holy fuck, something or someone somewhere must end living soon" bad.

But, hey, it's over now. Right?

And later today (it's after midnight) there is new Spangel! Which is of the good. Hopefully.

Catching up on all the blogging that's been going on has been whirrly for the ol' brain. Annika and Will engaged ("Make it so!" heh. I amuse myself so easily), Heath & Jess living through Toilet Flood '03, other stuff.

Ya ever feel like you've spent a week of your life doing stuff for other people, and that it was all really, just wasted time? A nice chunk of your recent past just gone? Yeah. That's a fun feeling. (Note: Fun is used sarcastically in the previous sentence)

We mailed stuff to people last week. I'm pretty sure that happened.

Blegh. Maybe when I wake up I'll be recharged enough to put words into an order that makes a modicum of sense. Here's hoping.

Use the Force.

I've been sitting here staring at a blank screen, trying to force myself to come up with something to write for the past four minutes.

One could deduce that that meant that I did not really want to write or I didn't have anything to say, but was forcing myself to do it anyway. But did I really not want to write? Because, obviously, I'm writing now. Which must have meant that I did want to. That's one of those pop psychology things that I'm a little unclear on. If one does something, despite whining about it, does that mean that one really wanted to do it anyway? Because there are always options. [shrug] I don't even know what I"m talking about.

Last night's Everwood irritated me. The only good parts (and I'm being spoiler-friendly here) were the Buffy-connection, (hee. "Tabula Rasa.") and the thing that Andy Brown did with Ephram at the end. [up]

The rest was a fantastic illustration of how many parents believe it is their job to control every aspect of their children's lives. They don't trust their children to be happy (or not happy) with the choices that their children make.

Bah. I should leave this type of thing to Stephanie. She says it much better than I do.

In other news...oh. I don't have any other news.

I feel like a witch in a magic shop.

The more I think about this upcoming project the more excited I get.

That, coupled with the fact that we are actually moving into the new building, and the possibility of moving into the new department....it's an exciting time in the life of P@.

But, oddly enough, excitement about upcoming events does not make for entertaining reading. Or maybe it does, and I just can't convey it properly. [shrug] Whatever.

I have "In the church of the poisoned mind" in my head. I don't even know who sings it, or any other lines, except that one. Odd how that happens.

Heee! I'm just too worked up about this thing to think about anything else. It's far too geeky. Gah!

And there I go again with the hype. [doh2] I should learn. Stop hyping things up. They can't possibly live up to the expectations.
I should also learn not to try to project what I think other people are feeling onto other people. (Huh?)

In lieu of having any books from the library to read, I've been reading Marilyn Manson's autobiography. It's ...uh...autobiographical. [shrug] (I've not really read enough to tell my opinion of it. I'm sure I'll finish it, even if it is utter crap. I'm stupid that way.)

Speaking of books, I've gotten two suggestions for next month's book for the Book Club. I figure if more people don't PM me with suggestions soon, I'll use those two, plus some of my own. I've got plenty of books on my list that I would like people to read.

2004 is going to be one weird year. I just have a gut feeling about that.

One down. Three point six to go.

It's kinda sad to see the old building go. Mostly due to the fact that I probably won't be able to go online at the new place, which will cut down on my internet presence a bit.

But also, just because I've been in the hellhole for the past five years or so. And, while there have been mice and roaches and times when the air conditioning broke, and insane janitors (and insane coworkers) and crappy equipment and insufficient pay...um. What was my point?

But, yeah. The year is winding down (101 days left!!). And the work atmosphere is winding down. And it's just a kinda...sad time, I guess. [shrug] I don't know.

Other things - I've got a project coming up that I'm pretty excited about. It may end up being kinda lame (dot com!! [grin]) but hey, nothing says I have to show it to anyone but myself.

I'm hungry, and I've totally lost my momentum. Ack.

And some, like me, are tin.

Bah. I had a huge tirade typed out, but it was rambly, stream-of-conciesness crap, so I'll retype it in list form. Simpler.

Reasons I'm a bad friend:

I don't keep in contact.

I don't know what to say to help friends in their times of trouble.

I give crap advice (or have none to offer, period).

I don't pay enough attention.

I am selfish, self-centered, and constantly thinking of myself, rather than the other person. (this list is prime example. It's all "I", "I", "I".)

There are other things I could list, I'm sure, but they're merely variations of the things already stated. It's no wonder that I'm friendless in RL. What confuses me is that I've got people I consider friends online. Because, of course, the faults I have in real life carry over into online. I am constantly not emailing/PMing people back. And I get far too wrapped up in my own stuff and not enough into other people's. And then when folks need me - I don't know what to say or do. [heart] seems so...not enough. And while the feelings are there, it's oftentimes too difficult to convey across the media of text only.

Tomorrow is my cat's birthday. It's also Stephen King's. And Jupe's aunt. In addition, it is Jared's birthday. Jared is the friend I've known for the longest (over half my life), and I'm sure I won't call him. Mostly due to the fact that I've lost his phone number. Partly due to the fact that as a friend, I suck ass.

If, on the off-chance that he somehow finds this, I'll wish him a happy birthday, and a "How you like?" [grin] I'm sorry I suck as a friend, Jared.

And everyone.