Wow. So much happened today to blog about, but I have already pre-determined what today's entry would be. So, quickly:
Got a phone call from Mike. That was awesome. He's doing really well, and offered (jokingly...mostly) a job to me in Minnesota that pays like almost double what I'm making now.
We heard back from one of the bills we entered on the Where's George? site. (wheresgeorge.com) Cool! The dollar had only traveled 11 miles, but still, it was exciting to finally get a response. Yay for money tracking!
Um. I guess that was pretty much all. Doh. I thought there was more to my day, but apparently not.
Luckily I've got that pre-determined blog entry to fall back upon, huh?
Okay. So, one year ago today I went and identified all the song lyrics I'd used as blog titles on my blog. I figured, since then, I've used several other songs, so now I'll ID those. Maybe every Feb. 17th I'll update this. It'll be a gimmick. Gimmick!!!!
Away we go...
"Our hearts pump dust and our hairs all gray" on Feb. 18th, 2004, is from Tiny Cities Made of Ashes by Modest Mouse
"Here's a truck stop instead of St. Peter's" on Feb. 22nd, 2004, is from Man on the Moon by REM
"Nowhere Man" on Mar. 2nd, 2004, is from Nowhere Man by the Beatles
"You better watch out, because I'm about to say 'Fuck'!" on Mar. 16th, 2004, is from Rockin' the Suburbs by Ben Folds
"....I'm getting older too." on Mar. 24th, 2004, is from Landslide by Fleetwood Mac (also covered by the Smashing Pumpkins)
"I want Charles in charge of my days and my nights." on Apr. 2nd, 2004, is from Charles in Charge by Timothy Thompson
"A three hour tour. A three. hour. tour." on Apr. 5th, 2004, is from the Gilligan's Island theme song, which I am too lazy to google up to see who wrote it.
"Will you tell me what you saw and I'll tell you what you missed" on May 1st, 2004, is from Ocean Breathes Salty by Modest Mouse
"So they rode on ahead on their furry donkey." on May 8th, 2004, is from Happy Jack by The Who
"It's a nice day to start again." on June 1st, 2004, is from White Wedding by Billy Idol
"Bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy fun fun fun fun fun!" on June 8th, 2004, is from The Wonderful Things About Tiggers by Tigger
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss." on June 9th, 2004, is from Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who
"Ch-ch-ch-changes" on June 13th, 2004, is from Changes by David Bowie
"you're older than you've ever been" on June 14th, 2004, is from Older by They Might Be Giants
"What the world needs now..." on June 15th, 2004, is from What the World Needs Now is Love by ...like, everyone on the freaking planet. I don't know who did the original. It's also from Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now) by Cracker
"You promised me the ending would be clear" on Sep. 7th, 2004, is from Bring Me The Disco King by David Bowie
"Ever since we said it, he went and took the credit" on Sep. 10th, 2004, is from Monkey to Man by Elvis Costello
"It's kickin' in! Yeah! It's kickin' in! Yeah! It's kickin' in! YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH!" on Sep. 16th, 2004, is from It's Kickin' In by They Might Be Giants
"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans" on Oct. 9th, 2004, is from Beautiful Boy by John Lennon
"Stop and smell the smoke" on Oct. 19th, 2004, is from Smoke by Ben Folds
"Once more, with feeling." on Nov. 2nd, 2004, is from that Buffy musical thingy. ;)
"....and there's nothing on." on Nov. 17th, 2004, is from 57 Channels (and nothin' on) by Bruce Springsteen
"What a drag it is getting old." on Nov. 20th, 2004, is from Mother's Little Helper by the Rolling Stones
It's been a hard day's night. on Nov. 30th, 2004, is from Hard Day's Night by The Beatles
Whoa, I ....I...I'm still alive. on Dec. 12th, 2004, is from Alive by Pearl Jam
"Tale as old as time." on Jan. 19th, 2005, is from Beauty and the Beast
"Goddamn right, it's a beautiful day!" on Feb. 1st, 2005, is from the hidden track on the Eels album that I forget the name of right now.
"We can be happy underground" on Feb. 7th, 2005, is from Underground by Ben Folds
"Time keeps on slippin, slippin', slippin' ...into the future" on Feb. 8th, 2005, is from Fly Like an Eagle by Steve Miller
And, partial credit entries. Things that weren't exactly lyrics, but were kinda sorta influenced by them:
"The groove? It's in the heart." on Mar. 6th, 2004, gets (Pepsi?) partial credit! for being derived from Groove is in the Heart by Dee-Lite
"I would drive 500 miles. And I would drive 500 more." on June 2nd, 2004, gets (Pepsi?) partial credit! for being derived from I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by the Proclaimers
"Our news turns one today, oh boy" on Oct. 13th, 2004, gets partial credit for being derived from A Day in the Life by the Beatles
Boxing (Day)'s been good to me, Howard. on Dec. 26th, 2004, gets partial credit for being derived from Boxing by Ben Folds
Clouds in my synapses on Jan. 11th, 2005, gets partial credit for being derived from You're So Vain by Carly Simon
I used to blog a little, but a little wouldn't do it, so the little got more and more. on Feb. 14th, gets partial credit for being derived from Mister Brownstone by Guns 'n' Roses
Whew! I think the thing I learned from this is to make sure I only do it once a year. And to use less song lyrics as titles.
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Robot Soldiers Will Fight For Us
Well, that's good news!
But the question remains - fight whom? Fight whom? I can only hope that it's something as equally cool as Robot Soldiers. Like Robot Terrorists. Or Space Pirate Monkey Shrimp....Dogs. Or something. Ehh. I guess it doesn't really matter. Robot Soldiers fighting anything would be dramatic and watchable, I suppose.
Speaking of AOL Headline News, the Will Flu Shots Save Your Life? pic looks a lot like Locke. I don't think it's him, but there is a resemblance.
Speaking of Lost, it's spoiler time!
[Begin spoiler for -Outlaws, even though I thought the episode should've been called I Never or Boared Now. And, yeah, this will only be of interest to maybe four people who actually watch the show, but that's part of the allure of being elitist highlight to view]
Heeeeeeeee! The boar hates Sawyer!! Man, I hope that boar becomes a regular. Anyone that makes Sawyer's life miserable deserves to stick around.
It's interesting that Sawyer is like the Spike of this show. Let's hope when the time comes, the writers do the right thing, and actually kill him off. (Don't get me wrong, I don't have a Sawyer-hate thing going on. I hope that when the time comes, the writers will kill any character off. Um...except for Locke. Or Hurley. Because those two make the show. Especially Locke.)
So, anywhat, this was written by Drew Goddard, who was, like, some great writer for Buffy or something? To his credit, I wasn't sure what way Sawyer's storyline was going to go until the end, and call me short-sighted, but I honestly didn't see the twist coming.
But the Sawyer backstory wasn't the best part of this episode. The best part was the island-action. Locke's story was awesome. And then his smile....man. As the Steph said in awe after he finished, "Man, Locke is mysterious."
ALso! They mentioned Fate like a gabillion times. I'm fairly certain I heard Amy squeal everytime they did. (Amy has a theory that the show is all about fate.)
Also also - I've been proven wrong. I said to Steph earlier this week, "It's funny how everyone calls Locke 'Locke', except for Dr. Jack, who calls him 'John'."
So, now it's everyone calls him 'Locke' except for Dr. Jack and Criminal Kate. I don't know what it means, but it must mean something.
Lastly - the interaction between the islanders pre-crash is growing. Thus far it's all involved Sawyer, though. Hmmmmm.[end spoiler]
I know I had something to talk about other than this week's episode of Lost. But what was it?
I watched Icebreaker at work today, and thought of bettie while doing so. (I bet she can tell me why! [wink])
um.
In conclusion, Conclusion.
But the question remains - fight whom? Fight whom? I can only hope that it's something as equally cool as Robot Soldiers. Like Robot Terrorists. Or Space Pirate Monkey Shrimp....Dogs. Or something. Ehh. I guess it doesn't really matter. Robot Soldiers fighting anything would be dramatic and watchable, I suppose.
Speaking of AOL Headline News, the Will Flu Shots Save Your Life? pic looks a lot like Locke. I don't think it's him, but there is a resemblance.
Speaking of Lost, it's spoiler time!
[Begin spoiler for -Outlaws, even though I thought the episode should've been called I Never or Boared Now. And, yeah, this will only be of interest to maybe four people who actually watch the show, but that's part of the allure of being elitist highlight to view]
Heeeeeeeee! The boar hates Sawyer!! Man, I hope that boar becomes a regular. Anyone that makes Sawyer's life miserable deserves to stick around.
It's interesting that Sawyer is like the Spike of this show. Let's hope when the time comes, the writers do the right thing, and actually kill him off. (Don't get me wrong, I don't have a Sawyer-hate thing going on. I hope that when the time comes, the writers will kill any character off. Um...except for Locke. Or Hurley. Because those two make the show. Especially Locke.)
So, anywhat, this was written by Drew Goddard, who was, like, some great writer for Buffy or something? To his credit, I wasn't sure what way Sawyer's storyline was going to go until the end, and call me short-sighted, but I honestly didn't see the twist coming.
But the Sawyer backstory wasn't the best part of this episode. The best part was the island-action. Locke's story was awesome. And then his smile....man. As the Steph said in awe after he finished, "Man, Locke is mysterious."
ALso! They mentioned Fate like a gabillion times. I'm fairly certain I heard Amy squeal everytime they did. (Amy has a theory that the show is all about fate.)
Also also - I've been proven wrong. I said to Steph earlier this week, "It's funny how everyone calls Locke 'Locke', except for Dr. Jack, who calls him 'John'."
So, now it's everyone calls him 'Locke' except for Dr. Jack and Criminal Kate. I don't know what it means, but it must mean something.
Lastly - the interaction between the islanders pre-crash is growing. Thus far it's all involved Sawyer, though. Hmmmmm.[end spoiler]
I know I had something to talk about other than this week's episode of Lost. But what was it?
I watched Icebreaker at work today, and thought of bettie while doing so. (I bet she can tell me why! [wink])
um.
In conclusion, Conclusion.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Wha huh what?
Very tired. Not really having anything to say.
Imaginary savings are now up to $105.40. We could buy an imaginary GameCube!
There's a wrapper for a Butterfinger near the computer, and I can see that among the ingredients is something called Monoglycerides. I don't know what those are! Also, TBHQ and Citric Acid, which, they tell me in parenthesis, has been added to preserve freshness. There's also Ground Roasted Peanuts. Well, there ya go. Something healthy.
I may do a Television Without Pity style recap of a movie tomorrow. Maybe. It depends on a) how tired I am and b) if I'm feeling up to it. Which, you know, is the same as "a", but ...different.
Um.
It's only Tuesday. This week is going by very slowly.
Imaginary savings are now up to $105.40. We could buy an imaginary GameCube!
There's a wrapper for a Butterfinger near the computer, and I can see that among the ingredients is something called Monoglycerides. I don't know what those are! Also, TBHQ and Citric Acid, which, they tell me in parenthesis, has been added to preserve freshness. There's also Ground Roasted Peanuts. Well, there ya go. Something healthy.
I may do a Television Without Pity style recap of a movie tomorrow. Maybe. It depends on a) how tired I am and b) if I'm feeling up to it. Which, you know, is the same as "a", but ...different.
Um.
It's only Tuesday. This week is going by very slowly.
Monday, February 14, 2005
Fingerprintless
As I was filling up the bathtub for the girls, I was thinking about my last entry, and in particular, the fingerprint and evolution aspects.
Since my thoughts still aren't fully formed - or at least not in a way that flows naturally - I'll simply do a transfer of my thoughts from grey matter to white screen.
In the green, when people can genetically engineer their children, I bet someone creates a child that has no fingerprints.
Hey, that would be a good idea if you were to genetically engineer a child to grow up to be a criminal. Oooh. I wonder what other traits you would give to an in utero person that you wanted to grow up to become an antilaw person. There's a story idea there. Or at least a character idea. I should blog this.
I also had a tangent thought that some goody-two shoes (but how good are they, really, if they're genetically engineering a human being?) would 'build' a perfect police officer child, you know, to counter the perfect thief. And then, in the story, they'd do the whole chase each other thing that is the cornerstone of Hollywood movies. And, maybe they'd fall in love. Ahh.
In other news, I've blogged over 500 words today, and two different entries. If I can maintain this pace for the remainder of the year (ha!!), I'll achieve my goal!
Since my thoughts still aren't fully formed - or at least not in a way that flows naturally - I'll simply do a transfer of my thoughts from grey matter to white screen.
In the green, when people can genetically engineer their children, I bet someone creates a child that has no fingerprints.
Hey, that would be a good idea if you were to genetically engineer a child to grow up to be a criminal. Oooh. I wonder what other traits you would give to an in utero person that you wanted to grow up to become an antilaw person. There's a story idea there. Or at least a character idea. I should blog this.
I also had a tangent thought that some goody-two shoes (but how good are they, really, if they're genetically engineering a human being?) would 'build' a perfect police officer child, you know, to counter the perfect thief. And then, in the story, they'd do the whole chase each other thing that is the cornerstone of Hollywood movies. And, maybe they'd fall in love. Ahh.
In other news, I've blogged over 500 words today, and two different entries. If I can maintain this pace for the remainder of the year (ha!!), I'll achieve my goal!
I used to blog a little, but a little wouldn't do it, so the little got more and more.
Even though it's only Monday (tell me why - I don't like Mondays!), it feels like Tuesday (Dawn must be in trouble). And I'm slightly having a case of the UTP@.
At work today I screened (that's the technical jargon for viewing or watching or wasting two hours of one's life) the movie The Fantasticks. I thought of CassyLee while I was watching it, because it's a musical, and I know that of all the P@riots out there, she'd be the one who would've most likely have seen it. Oh, and Kirk, because he's seen a buttload of movies.
Also, this movie had Joel Grey. Buffy connection! Joel Grey reminds me of Norman Bates, though. Not Anthony Perkins, but Norman Bates. Everytime he was Grey was onscreen, I expected him to begin talking to his dead mother. And, yes, I've confirmed - yet again - that my brain is indeed a very strange place.
Oh, so, The Fantasticks. It totally was one of the worst musicals I've ever seen. Worse, even, then...well, no, I generally like every musical. This one, though, was just lackluster. I enjoyed maybe 40% of the songs, and couldn't tolerate the daughter at all. I don't know why, exactly, she just bugged me.
On the upside, though, there was no nudity or profanity to remove. So, there ya go.
I have several emails that I need to respond to. And comments. And I want to continue working on my story. But I'm going to wash dishes instead of doing any of those things. Because the dishes need to be done. Dude. Heh.
I wonder if I should count this entry on the 17th. Hmm. I think I'll give it (Pepsi?) partial credit.
Tomorrow is payday, finally. Better, though, will be the payday on the 28th, when the raise (from the start of the year) will take effect, along with the retroactive pay that goes along with it. Yahoo! Money.
My blog ID, according to the url up top of the screen is 3869370. I'm very tempted to call that phone number and see who answers. Maybe I will do that some day from the safety of work. I'll report on what happens.
The pizza was not heart shaped, sadly.
I have several blog topics, but not the focus (bofus?!) to actually follow through. Eventually, I suppose.
You know what's odd? Fingerprints. I think I may have discussed this with the Jupe previously. And/or the Steph. But anyway. Fingerprints don't truly serve any evolutionary function, do they? I mean, yeah, I suppose they provide a minimal amount of grip for picking things up. But why should everyone's fingerprints be unique? That's just weird. It's as though evolution were providing CSI workers with ...ammuntion for capturing criminals. But that's ..wrong. Man, my brain is not working right. Suffice to say that fingerprints are the latest piece of (ancedotal?) evidence toward the case that evolution has/had someone behind it all. [/waht?]
Speaking of whatever I'm thinking about right now, hubris is funny. Or tragic, perhaps. (Originally typed - prehaps. Hee. "prehaps". And posthaps! I truly am amusing myself to death tonight) But, yeah, the fact that our station has some movie contracts with certain distributors that end in 2022 makes me simultaneosly amsued and bemused. Maybe even demused. (Not cemused, though. I'm not average. [no, I'm really not. Count for yourself.])
I do believe I mentioned doing dishes several paragraphs up. I think I ought to do that now.
At work today I screened (that's the technical jargon for viewing or watching or wasting two hours of one's life) the movie The Fantasticks. I thought of CassyLee while I was watching it, because it's a musical, and I know that of all the P@riots out there, she'd be the one who would've most likely have seen it. Oh, and Kirk, because he's seen a buttload of movies.
Also, this movie had Joel Grey. Buffy connection! Joel Grey reminds me of Norman Bates, though. Not Anthony Perkins, but Norman Bates. Everytime he was Grey was onscreen, I expected him to begin talking to his dead mother. And, yes, I've confirmed - yet again - that my brain is indeed a very strange place.
Oh, so, The Fantasticks. It totally was one of the worst musicals I've ever seen. Worse, even, then...well, no, I generally like every musical. This one, though, was just lackluster. I enjoyed maybe 40% of the songs, and couldn't tolerate the daughter at all. I don't know why, exactly, she just bugged me.
On the upside, though, there was no nudity or profanity to remove. So, there ya go.
I have several emails that I need to respond to. And comments. And I want to continue working on my story. But I'm going to wash dishes instead of doing any of those things. Because the dishes need to be done. Dude. Heh.
I wonder if I should count this entry on the 17th. Hmm. I think I'll give it (Pepsi?) partial credit.
Tomorrow is payday, finally. Better, though, will be the payday on the 28th, when the raise (from the start of the year) will take effect, along with the retroactive pay that goes along with it. Yahoo! Money.
My blog ID, according to the url up top of the screen is 3869370. I'm very tempted to call that phone number and see who answers. Maybe I will do that some day from the safety of work. I'll report on what happens.
The pizza was not heart shaped, sadly.
I have several blog topics, but not the focus (bofus?!) to actually follow through. Eventually, I suppose.
You know what's odd? Fingerprints. I think I may have discussed this with the Jupe previously. And/or the Steph. But anyway. Fingerprints don't truly serve any evolutionary function, do they? I mean, yeah, I suppose they provide a minimal amount of grip for picking things up. But why should everyone's fingerprints be unique? That's just weird. It's as though evolution were providing CSI workers with ...ammuntion for capturing criminals. But that's ..wrong. Man, my brain is not working right. Suffice to say that fingerprints are the latest piece of (ancedotal?) evidence toward the case that evolution has/had someone behind it all. [/waht?]
Speaking of whatever I'm thinking about right now, hubris is funny. Or tragic, perhaps. (Originally typed - prehaps. Hee. "prehaps". And posthaps! I truly am amusing myself to death tonight) But, yeah, the fact that our station has some movie contracts with certain distributors that end in 2022 makes me simultaneosly amsued and bemused. Maybe even demused. (Not cemused, though. I'm not average. [no, I'm really not. Count for yourself.])
I do believe I mentioned doing dishes several paragraphs up. I think I ought to do that now.
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Recently viewed movies:
Netflix is keen.
Here's a list of the movies we've watched in the past week or so.
The School of Rock - Decent enough. Jack Black isn't my favorite comedian, but I did find myself laughing several times during the film. The best moment though, was delivered by Joan Cusack.
Amélie - Mmmm...quirky French film. I can totally see why Simon says this is his favorite movie. Humor, humanity, and just a very unique way of looking at life. [up]
love actually - I didn't think I'd like this...but guess what, I did! [grin] I'm glad that I opted to watch it with Steph rather than go online. The internet is far less interesting lately than a 2 1/2 hour romantic comedy. (Take that, world wide web!)
Interesting tidbit about love actually - after it was over, we watched the deleted scenes, and there was a story about a lesbian couple. And one of them dies. In their defense, it was deleted, but still.
Lost in Translation - BORING! We've only watched an hour of this, which means there's 30 minutes remaining, but good Christ it's slow. I doubt we'll finish it.
In fact, we're always taking movie suggestions.
Here's a list of the movies we've watched in the past week or so.
The School of Rock - Decent enough. Jack Black isn't my favorite comedian, but I did find myself laughing several times during the film. The best moment though, was delivered by Joan Cusack.
Amélie - Mmmm...quirky French film. I can totally see why Simon says this is his favorite movie. Humor, humanity, and just a very unique way of looking at life. [up]
love actually - I didn't think I'd like this...but guess what, I did! [grin] I'm glad that I opted to watch it with Steph rather than go online. The internet is far less interesting lately than a 2 1/2 hour romantic comedy. (Take that, world wide web!)
Interesting tidbit about love actually - after it was over, we watched the deleted scenes, and there was a story about a lesbian couple. And one of them dies. In their defense, it was deleted, but still.
Lost in Translation - BORING! We've only watched an hour of this, which means there's 30 minutes remaining, but good Christ it's slow. I doubt we'll finish it.
In fact, we're always taking movie suggestions.
Friday, February 11, 2005
Story - take two.
Let's try this again, see if it actually works this time.
I've been wanting to post this for a while. Back in 2003 when I partook in NaNoWriMo, I did start writing. While I didn't finish the project, what I had was ...well, okay. I finally transferred it from notebook to computer, and am going to post it now. It's not complete - as you'll see - but I hope that you enjoy it anyway. I'm going to put my own thoughts after it in spoiler tags, so if you want to leave your own comments on it without having my ideas taint your review you can. =)
From Andilus Be's diary -
I'm living in a nightmare. I keep trying to tell myself that this is all just a horrible dream and that any second now, I'll wake up - safe and perhaps in my old bed. Ha. That would mean the past month has been a dream.
Why stop there, Andi? Why not wish that you'd never slept with Brandon? Or at least not that night in April? Or maybe all of this is a dream, Andi. Wish big or don't wish at all, as they say. Yeah. All 15 years of your life have been the fucked up nightmare of some creature from another world. Maybe everyone is a dream. That makes a certain kind of sense, It seems that several hours ago, a good percentage of the world woke up.
Poof. Gone.
Not me, though. And not everyone. In fact, near as I can tell, only people older than teenagers were effected. It's like all the adults - all of them - just completely vanished into thin air.
Even writing that now it seems unreal. God, just reading it sounds absurd. But writing calms me, and after the day I've been through, I need some major calming.
I suppose I should start at the beginning, for my own piece of mind if nothing else. Maybe doing that will help me piece together how this could have happened. Yeah. Wish big.
Let's see. What is today? Right. 5th June, 1986.
It started as a normal day. Well, no, things haven't been normal for a while. Not since I told...not since a month ago.
It was last May that I had to move out. It was last May that my mother and I last spoke. And now...
So the day began as the redefined normal. I was in Brandon's cramped apartment, feeling a bit ill (ahh, the joys of pregnancy) and considering calling into work. I chose not to, mostly for financial reasons. Although getting away from Brandon for 8 hours certainly factored in.
Plus, there's a guy at work I kind of like.
I wonder if he's still alive.
It's a wonder I'm still alive.
But back to my day.
I got to work a little early. My shift didn't begin until 10; I arrived at 9:30 and sat in the lobby, reading to kill the time.
Work was, really, uneventful. Well, of course, until the SHIT HIT THE FAN. Which is a given, of course.
But, yeah, before that - and it was around 1pm, I guess - before then, it was just another day. I performed my drive-thru duties just like a machine. Automaton Andi, that's me.
It wasn't busy at the time - there were maybe half a dozen customers in the lobby. The lunch rush had come and gone for the most part. The drive-thru had two cars in it. One was at the window, awaiting their food. They'd already paid, and in a few minutes would be on their merry way. The other car had just pulled up to the intercom. The weight of the automobile's wheels had set off the ding-dong chime in my headset. I answered with the shpiel I'd said a hundred times in the last two weeks, completely tuning it out, as I'm sure the drivers did. It was all just routine. Boring little play, all of us dutifully going through the motions. I'd give anything to have it back now.
The guy driving the car asked me to hold on and I replied with, "Sure. Take your time."
Those were the last words I said in the Normal World.
I handed the food through the window to the customer. They thanked me, and shifted out of Park.
The Vanishing happened before they could get to Drive, but not before Reverse.
Over the intercom, the driver at the menu said, "Okay, I'm..." and that was it. Poof. Gone in mid-sentence.
When the Vanishing took place, a lot of things began to occur very quickly.
The two cars, no sans drivers, but idling under the engines, began to move. Of course, thousands (millions?) of vehicles on the roads were having the same problem. It's just that the drive-thru accident was a microcosm of the world's automotive disasters.
Reverse-o car was drifting, not going all that fast. The other car, though, had begun to move forward at a relatively much faster speed. I think it had an engine that idled faster, plus the drive thru did slope forward, so gravity was assisting the now empty vehicle.
Partly because it was happening in slow motion, but also because time always does it's parlor tricks during moments of crises, I foresaw the collision. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do to prevent it. I uselessly shouted, "Watch out!" into the headpiece, not yet aware of just how pointless that warning was.
There was a crunch as the two vehicles finally kissed. And it was then that I noticed they were both passengerless. I gawked for what seemed like hours - the back of my mind rationalizing that the drivers must have ducked below my line of vision. Mark - who was on register duties - uttered a "What the fuck?" AND right then a much louder smash could be heard from the intersection outside.
Giving the accident in the drive-thru one final look - (why'd they both duck? And shouldn't they be getting out of their cars now?) - I turned to see what Mark was cursing about.
The lobby was empty.
That is not entirely accurate. Half eaten food was still at the tables. A drink that one of the customers had apparently been holding at the moment of the Vanishing was lying on the ground, a puddle of soda spreading. And the clothes that everyone had been wearing were lying on the seats, crumpled. Eyeglasses, rings, earrings, fillings. All of that had been left behind as well.
Mark turned to me and asked the most obvious question, "What the hell just happened?"
I blinked in response, and then went to find Cheryl, our manager, or the food prep crew, Michael and Ken. The five of us were the only people scheduled to work until 2pm.
I found Ken standing in the food prep station, motionless. I didn't know the signs at the time, but he was in shock. I've seen it enough now to recognize it. Ken was staring at Michael's clothes, unable to comprehend what he had seen.
He muttered, "Where'd?" or maybe it was "Weird.", but I don't know if he was even aware of my existence. He may have been asking himself. Or God. Or maybe his brain was just (mal)functioning out loud. Seeing Mike's clothing left behind - or more likely, having been witness to Mike Vanishing right before his eyes - had frozen Ken, but it had the opposite effect on me. I had to do something. Figuring that Ken wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, I knocked on Cheryl's office door, already knowing that she would not be in there.
I opened the door and my suspicion was confirmed. Cheryl was nowhere to be found. Her clothes - no panties! - were lying in her chair, and the phone was off the hook. I picked up the receiver and said, "Hello?" but there was, of course, no response on the other end.
I did that thing you do where you try to get a connection - push the hang-up button quickly a couple times - then said "Hello?" again, but it resulted in the same results. I thought I could hear some ensuing chaos on the other end of the phone - more driverless cars - but I couldn't be sure.
I pushed the hang-up button down long enough to disconnect Cheryl's line, and then lifted the button. Dial tone. Thankfully.
I dialed 9-1-1 and waited. It rang. And rang. It was right before the fourth ring that I realized, DUH! Kinda kicking myself for not realizing the stupidity earlier, I hung up the receiver. It was then that my mind turned to the personal, and I thought of my mother. Despite our rough history the previous month or so, I had to be certain that she was okay.
I picked up the handle, and started to dial Mom's number, but was interrupted by Mark frantically screaming.
"Cheryl! Mike! Ken! Andi! We've got to get out of here! Right..."
The rest of his yelling was drowned out by a noise that was straight out of hell. A ROARR that was loud enough to shake the building was followed shortly by an explosion so intense, I could feel the temperature increase by five degrees.
Ken screamed.
Mark screamed.
I shrieked.
Instinctually, I crouched and half-crawled/half-walked over to Mark, who was huddled next to Ken. They both looked terrified. I'm sure I was no effigy of bravery at the time either.
"What the hell was that?" I yelled - mostly due to being unable to hear myself from the auditory assault on my ears.
Mark shouted back, "Airplane!"
I don't know if it was the baby or simply the realization of that word, but my stomach did a very unpleasant flip then. I sat down, trying to soak everything in. Ken was crying.
Mark, seeing his two co-workers on the verge (or beyond) of meltdown, took over the role of Leader.
"Look, guys," he semi-yelled, "I know it's craziness, but we have got to get out of here. Other ...other planes will c-crash. And the fire from..."
As if the Universe knew what he was saying, we heard another explosion - distant, but audible - and began to smell smoke from the nearby fire.
The smell of smoke was enough to snap both of us out of our shock - for the time being, anyway.
The three of us cautiously stood and walked toward the front door. The scene from the door was ...the only way I know how to accurately describe it is Fucked Up.
There was thick black smoke drifting toward the sky, a slight breeze was blowing it toward the Taco Bell where we worked. It appeared (and we would later confirm) that the plane had smacked into a Wal-Mart that was not quite kitty-corner to our workplace. It was certainly within walking distance, but most people would drive.
The streets were cluttered with driverless cars and trucks that had smacked into each other, the engines still revving.
A nearby explosion (probably a car - or more than one - from the parking lot of Wal-Mart that had caught fire due to the plane wreck) startled us. I think I may have let out a small scream.
Ken muttered, "I wanna go home," and started to run toward his car. I looked helplessly at Mark, who ran over to Ken and grabbed his shirt.
They began to argue. I remember Mark screaming about helping the people in the plane crash and Ken yelling back, "What people?!" While they fought, I surveyed the area. I don't know if I can express the extreme sense of discomfort I had at seeing a scene that was a hybrid mix between a war zone and a ghost town, and NOT hear sirens. There was smoke - and it stank - all over the sky, but no fire trucks racing to the rescue. And perhaps most disconcerting, there were no people running from the plane wreck.
I felt myself slipping again. The magnitude of the situation was simply too large. I turned my attention to Mark and Ken. Mark was trying to convince Ken to come with him to survey the disaster. "We didn't disappear, Ken," he was saying, "maybe other people didn't either. And they need our help." The mention of other people not vanishing made me think of my mom. And Brandon.
The guys looked at me then, as though I would be the tie-breaker or the deciding factor in what would happen next.
I blinked, and then said, "I agree with Mark. We should look for other people. But first, I wanna call my mom. See if she..." I didn't need to finish the sentence and instead walked back inside.
Mark followed me. I think Ken hesitated for a few seconds before he came inside as well. Mark said, "Not too long, Andi. Like I said, other planes are gonna..." I cut him off with a nod of 'yeah, I get it.'
I picked up the phone and quickly dialed my mom's number. It rang four times. Six. Eight. It was halfway through the ninth ring when I just hung up, turned to Ken and Mark, and shook my head. I didn't know what to say, and I didn't want to cry because I knew I wouldn't be able to stop.
Mark hugged me and offered the, "It doesn't mean she's not okay," line that we both knew wasn't true.
Ken said, "I'm gonna call my sister. She's probably scared shitless."
He dialed the phone as Mark and I stood by. As the line was ringing, I looked at Cheryl's clothing. I felt morbid looking at them, but I also couldn't look away. I reached down and touched them, proddingly, partly afraid that I might vanish if I came in contact with them. When I remained, I took a bigger gamble and actually lifted her shirt. The material felt normal enough.
"Meredith?"
Ken had, apparently, gotten an answer on the phone. I dropped Cheryl's shirt, and eagerly listened to Ken's side of the conversation.
"Are you okay?" he listened for a while, then said, "I don't know. I don't know. No. Just. No ...just stay there. Just stay there until I get there," he glanced in Mark's direction. Mark frowned a little.
"Soon," Ken said, "I know. I am, too. I'll be there in a bit. Just stay put and everything will be okay. I love you, sis. I'll see you in thirty..." a quick look toward Mark "...forty minutes."
He hung up and turned to us. "I was right. She is scared shitless."
I giggled, a somewhat scary giggle that made me think of those old Crazy Mary movies. Not a good thing. But that made me want to laugh more. Like my fear of not being able to stop crying, I somehow knew that if I gave in to the laughing indulgence, I'd not stop. I bit my cheek to prevent myself from going hysterical. Ken smiled wanly at his joke, and I thought I saw Mark had a bit of a smile as well, but I couldn't be sure.
Sensing that he had more to say, I nodded toward Ken in a 'go on' way.
He kinda shrugged and said, "Meredith didn't have much to tell me. She's scared, obviously. She tried to call our step-dad, but couldn't get hold of him. And she's heard the explosions. And...this is so fucked up. Where'd everyone go, man?"
Mark looked unsure but eh knew that Ken needed some reassurance - even if it was false hope. Looking back, it's incredible how well together Mark was. I bet he'd've made a great leader. He certainly helped Ken and I through that initial roughness. And, of course, the Wal-Mart incident. Which I'm getting to.
So Mark went over and gave Ken a hug (!!) and told him that he'd be able to get to Meredith shortly, and that she'd be safe at home.
I wondered about that - especially with planes and helicopters falling out of the sky, fires burning uncontrolled, and cars simply moving forward. But I kept quiet. There was enough to worry about without my throwing in more doubt.
Ken kinda sniffled, "Okay. Thanks." And then Mark shifted gears. "Are we ready to go?" he asked us.
"Is...isn't there anyone you want to call?" I asked him.
Mark kinda steeled up, and simply shook his head. I realized how little I truly knew him. God, nobody really knows anyone.
I said, "Yeah, then, I guess we should go." Ken nodded in agreement.
We left work...and instantly hit a snag. Ken had a car - as did Cheryl and Mike - but Mark and I were carless. I took the bus - I doubt that's gonna happen again anytime soon - and Mark had a bicycle.
"Uh. Should we take my car or hoof it?" Ken asked.
Mark, our leader by some unspoken vote, hesitated.
"Let's ..uh...actually..." he ran back inside, leaving Ken and I exchanging puzzled glances.
We heard another explosion. It came from the direction of the freeway, and had probably occurred at least half a minute before. I wondered what had caused it. Or, rather, a small part of me wondered. Mostly, I was terrified.
Ken and I both turned and looked in the direction of the blast. We both then looked up to see if we could see any more aircraft. We couldn't, but that didn't mean anything, of course. Ken looked at his watch. "It's only been six minutes!"
At first I thought he meant that Mark had been inside for that long, but that couldn't be right. I then figured that he meant since the Vanishing. Even that felt wrong. Seven minutes ago life was normal? How could that be?
It was at that moment that I remember distinctly thinking (not for the last time, obviously, but probably for the first time that day) that I'd gone crazy and was imagining this entire thing. That I must still be asleep, dreaming it all. I shook my head, hoping that if this were just an illusion, that would clear it up, make it end. It didn't, of course.
Mark emerged from the store at that time, with a strange look of accomplishment and dread on his face. I was about to find out why.
"We're taking Mike's truck." He informed us, holding up the keychain of Mike's keys.
Ken's jaw dropped.
"Nuh uh," he protested. "We're not stealing his truck, man. No way."
"Ken," Mark said rationally, "it's not stealing. Mike is gone."
"I FUCKING KNOW HE'S GONE!" Ken screamed. "HE FUCKING VANISHED IN FRONT OF ME!"
Mark blinked, hard, then just said, "I'm sorry, Ken. But I'm still taking his truck. You can come with me, or not. Your choice. Andi?"
I looked between the two men - two boys, really. God, we're all so young - and then stepped toward Mark, showing who my alliances were with.
Ken looked seriously stressed out. And pissed.
He ran his fingers through his hair and screamed, at the sky, at Mark, at the whole situation, "MOTHERFUCK!!!"
Mark nodded, as though he sympathized - and possibly he did- then asked Ken, "Well?"
Ken looked at the crash site. At Mike's truck. At the ground. He shook his head 'no'.
Mark looked as though he expected this. He stepped toward Ken and shook his hand and did that half man-hug that guys do. He said what I was thinking - "Be safe." To be honest, I had reservations about splitting up at all. In my mind there were safety in numbers. I still feel that way. Tomorrow, after I sleep, I think I'll tell the others that we should look for other survivors. And Ken and Meredith should be at the top of the list. God, so much to do. And so much has already happened. I should finish this entry and attempt to get some sleep. The others already are.
Where was I?
Oh, yeah.
We (that is, Mark and I) got into Mike's truck. Mark was driving, of course.
I used to hear stories about how bad teenagers are at driving, but I guess the reporters of those stories never drove with Mark. The world had suddenly lost a good chunk of people, a plane had crashed less than a half mile away darkening the sky, there were still vehicles 'driving' without pilots, and yet Mark drove like a pro. Totally focused. I guess Mark is - was - the type of person that excelled under pressure.
We got to the Wal-Mart parking lot and Mark parked the truck. The heat was super intense, and the stench of smoke made breathing difficult. If you ignored the burning Wal-Mart and focused on the parking lot, you would see shopping carts, filled with bags of stuff, but nobody around. A few of the cars had their trunks open - the people had been loading their trunks when the Vanishing had hit.
[Begin spoiler for -A few of my thoughts -highlight to view]
Hmm. Well, I probably owe Stephen King some royalties or something, since the 'pregnant teen writing in her diary as the world ends' idea is pretty much lifted from The Stand. And then the Vanishing leaving people's clothing, jewelry, etc, being ..."borrowed" from The Langoliers, but that's okay.
One of my biggest flaws as a writer is that I don't give enough detail, and that was totally evident to me as I was typing this up. Certain parts were actiony enough, which is great. And I could see what was happening, but that might be because I know what's going on, ya know?
I was trying to subtly get across that this is taking place in a world that is very similar to our own, but isn't quite the same. Thus the name Andilus, and the references to the Crazy Mary movies, in addition when Andi mentions the date, she uses the day/month/year style, unlike most Americans in this reality, who use month/day/year. I don't know if it came across, though. Again, probably not enough details.
Um. I know I had more to say, but I really don't remember what it was now. Doh.[end spoiler]
Hopefully I'll add on throughout the year.
I've been wanting to post this for a while. Back in 2003 when I partook in NaNoWriMo, I did start writing. While I didn't finish the project, what I had was ...well, okay. I finally transferred it from notebook to computer, and am going to post it now. It's not complete - as you'll see - but I hope that you enjoy it anyway. I'm going to put my own thoughts after it in spoiler tags, so if you want to leave your own comments on it without having my ideas taint your review you can. =)
From Andilus Be's diary -
I'm living in a nightmare. I keep trying to tell myself that this is all just a horrible dream and that any second now, I'll wake up - safe and perhaps in my old bed. Ha. That would mean the past month has been a dream.
Why stop there, Andi? Why not wish that you'd never slept with Brandon? Or at least not that night in April? Or maybe all of this is a dream, Andi. Wish big or don't wish at all, as they say. Yeah. All 15 years of your life have been the fucked up nightmare of some creature from another world. Maybe everyone is a dream. That makes a certain kind of sense, It seems that several hours ago, a good percentage of the world woke up.
Poof. Gone.
Not me, though. And not everyone. In fact, near as I can tell, only people older than teenagers were effected. It's like all the adults - all of them - just completely vanished into thin air.
Even writing that now it seems unreal. God, just reading it sounds absurd. But writing calms me, and after the day I've been through, I need some major calming.
I suppose I should start at the beginning, for my own piece of mind if nothing else. Maybe doing that will help me piece together how this could have happened. Yeah. Wish big.
Let's see. What is today? Right. 5th June, 1986.
It started as a normal day. Well, no, things haven't been normal for a while. Not since I told...not since a month ago.
It was last May that I had to move out. It was last May that my mother and I last spoke. And now...
So the day began as the redefined normal. I was in Brandon's cramped apartment, feeling a bit ill (ahh, the joys of pregnancy) and considering calling into work. I chose not to, mostly for financial reasons. Although getting away from Brandon for 8 hours certainly factored in.
Plus, there's a guy at work I kind of like.
I wonder if he's still alive.
It's a wonder I'm still alive.
But back to my day.
I got to work a little early. My shift didn't begin until 10; I arrived at 9:30 and sat in the lobby, reading to kill the time.
Work was, really, uneventful. Well, of course, until the SHIT HIT THE FAN. Which is a given, of course.
But, yeah, before that - and it was around 1pm, I guess - before then, it was just another day. I performed my drive-thru duties just like a machine. Automaton Andi, that's me.
It wasn't busy at the time - there were maybe half a dozen customers in the lobby. The lunch rush had come and gone for the most part. The drive-thru had two cars in it. One was at the window, awaiting their food. They'd already paid, and in a few minutes would be on their merry way. The other car had just pulled up to the intercom. The weight of the automobile's wheels had set off the ding-dong chime in my headset. I answered with the shpiel I'd said a hundred times in the last two weeks, completely tuning it out, as I'm sure the drivers did. It was all just routine. Boring little play, all of us dutifully going through the motions. I'd give anything to have it back now.
The guy driving the car asked me to hold on and I replied with, "Sure. Take your time."
Those were the last words I said in the Normal World.
I handed the food through the window to the customer. They thanked me, and shifted out of Park.
The Vanishing happened before they could get to Drive, but not before Reverse.
Over the intercom, the driver at the menu said, "Okay, I'm..." and that was it. Poof. Gone in mid-sentence.
When the Vanishing took place, a lot of things began to occur very quickly.
The two cars, no sans drivers, but idling under the engines, began to move. Of course, thousands (millions?) of vehicles on the roads were having the same problem. It's just that the drive-thru accident was a microcosm of the world's automotive disasters.
Reverse-o car was drifting, not going all that fast. The other car, though, had begun to move forward at a relatively much faster speed. I think it had an engine that idled faster, plus the drive thru did slope forward, so gravity was assisting the now empty vehicle.
Partly because it was happening in slow motion, but also because time always does it's parlor tricks during moments of crises, I foresaw the collision. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do to prevent it. I uselessly shouted, "Watch out!" into the headpiece, not yet aware of just how pointless that warning was.
There was a crunch as the two vehicles finally kissed. And it was then that I noticed they were both passengerless. I gawked for what seemed like hours - the back of my mind rationalizing that the drivers must have ducked below my line of vision. Mark - who was on register duties - uttered a "What the fuck?" AND right then a much louder smash could be heard from the intersection outside.
Giving the accident in the drive-thru one final look - (why'd they both duck? And shouldn't they be getting out of their cars now?) - I turned to see what Mark was cursing about.
The lobby was empty.
That is not entirely accurate. Half eaten food was still at the tables. A drink that one of the customers had apparently been holding at the moment of the Vanishing was lying on the ground, a puddle of soda spreading. And the clothes that everyone had been wearing were lying on the seats, crumpled. Eyeglasses, rings, earrings, fillings. All of that had been left behind as well.
Mark turned to me and asked the most obvious question, "What the hell just happened?"
I blinked in response, and then went to find Cheryl, our manager, or the food prep crew, Michael and Ken. The five of us were the only people scheduled to work until 2pm.
I found Ken standing in the food prep station, motionless. I didn't know the signs at the time, but he was in shock. I've seen it enough now to recognize it. Ken was staring at Michael's clothes, unable to comprehend what he had seen.
He muttered, "Where'd?" or maybe it was "Weird.", but I don't know if he was even aware of my existence. He may have been asking himself. Or God. Or maybe his brain was just (mal)functioning out loud. Seeing Mike's clothing left behind - or more likely, having been witness to Mike Vanishing right before his eyes - had frozen Ken, but it had the opposite effect on me. I had to do something. Figuring that Ken wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, I knocked on Cheryl's office door, already knowing that she would not be in there.
I opened the door and my suspicion was confirmed. Cheryl was nowhere to be found. Her clothes - no panties! - were lying in her chair, and the phone was off the hook. I picked up the receiver and said, "Hello?" but there was, of course, no response on the other end.
I did that thing you do where you try to get a connection - push the hang-up button quickly a couple times - then said "Hello?" again, but it resulted in the same results. I thought I could hear some ensuing chaos on the other end of the phone - more driverless cars - but I couldn't be sure.
I pushed the hang-up button down long enough to disconnect Cheryl's line, and then lifted the button. Dial tone. Thankfully.
I dialed 9-1-1 and waited. It rang. And rang. It was right before the fourth ring that I realized, DUH! Kinda kicking myself for not realizing the stupidity earlier, I hung up the receiver. It was then that my mind turned to the personal, and I thought of my mother. Despite our rough history the previous month or so, I had to be certain that she was okay.
I picked up the handle, and started to dial Mom's number, but was interrupted by Mark frantically screaming.
"Cheryl! Mike! Ken! Andi! We've got to get out of here! Right..."
The rest of his yelling was drowned out by a noise that was straight out of hell. A ROARR that was loud enough to shake the building was followed shortly by an explosion so intense, I could feel the temperature increase by five degrees.
Ken screamed.
Mark screamed.
I shrieked.
Instinctually, I crouched and half-crawled/half-walked over to Mark, who was huddled next to Ken. They both looked terrified. I'm sure I was no effigy of bravery at the time either.
"What the hell was that?" I yelled - mostly due to being unable to hear myself from the auditory assault on my ears.
Mark shouted back, "Airplane!"
I don't know if it was the baby or simply the realization of that word, but my stomach did a very unpleasant flip then. I sat down, trying to soak everything in. Ken was crying.
Mark, seeing his two co-workers on the verge (or beyond) of meltdown, took over the role of Leader.
"Look, guys," he semi-yelled, "I know it's craziness, but we have got to get out of here. Other ...other planes will c-crash. And the fire from..."
As if the Universe knew what he was saying, we heard another explosion - distant, but audible - and began to smell smoke from the nearby fire.
The smell of smoke was enough to snap both of us out of our shock - for the time being, anyway.
The three of us cautiously stood and walked toward the front door. The scene from the door was ...the only way I know how to accurately describe it is Fucked Up.
There was thick black smoke drifting toward the sky, a slight breeze was blowing it toward the Taco Bell where we worked. It appeared (and we would later confirm) that the plane had smacked into a Wal-Mart that was not quite kitty-corner to our workplace. It was certainly within walking distance, but most people would drive.
The streets were cluttered with driverless cars and trucks that had smacked into each other, the engines still revving.
A nearby explosion (probably a car - or more than one - from the parking lot of Wal-Mart that had caught fire due to the plane wreck) startled us. I think I may have let out a small scream.
Ken muttered, "I wanna go home," and started to run toward his car. I looked helplessly at Mark, who ran over to Ken and grabbed his shirt.
They began to argue. I remember Mark screaming about helping the people in the plane crash and Ken yelling back, "What people?!" While they fought, I surveyed the area. I don't know if I can express the extreme sense of discomfort I had at seeing a scene that was a hybrid mix between a war zone and a ghost town, and NOT hear sirens. There was smoke - and it stank - all over the sky, but no fire trucks racing to the rescue. And perhaps most disconcerting, there were no people running from the plane wreck.
I felt myself slipping again. The magnitude of the situation was simply too large. I turned my attention to Mark and Ken. Mark was trying to convince Ken to come with him to survey the disaster. "We didn't disappear, Ken," he was saying, "maybe other people didn't either. And they need our help." The mention of other people not vanishing made me think of my mom. And Brandon.
The guys looked at me then, as though I would be the tie-breaker or the deciding factor in what would happen next.
I blinked, and then said, "I agree with Mark. We should look for other people. But first, I wanna call my mom. See if she..." I didn't need to finish the sentence and instead walked back inside.
Mark followed me. I think Ken hesitated for a few seconds before he came inside as well. Mark said, "Not too long, Andi. Like I said, other planes are gonna..." I cut him off with a nod of 'yeah, I get it.'
I picked up the phone and quickly dialed my mom's number. It rang four times. Six. Eight. It was halfway through the ninth ring when I just hung up, turned to Ken and Mark, and shook my head. I didn't know what to say, and I didn't want to cry because I knew I wouldn't be able to stop.
Mark hugged me and offered the, "It doesn't mean she's not okay," line that we both knew wasn't true.
Ken said, "I'm gonna call my sister. She's probably scared shitless."
He dialed the phone as Mark and I stood by. As the line was ringing, I looked at Cheryl's clothing. I felt morbid looking at them, but I also couldn't look away. I reached down and touched them, proddingly, partly afraid that I might vanish if I came in contact with them. When I remained, I took a bigger gamble and actually lifted her shirt. The material felt normal enough.
"Meredith?"
Ken had, apparently, gotten an answer on the phone. I dropped Cheryl's shirt, and eagerly listened to Ken's side of the conversation.
"Are you okay?" he listened for a while, then said, "I don't know. I don't know. No. Just. No ...just stay there. Just stay there until I get there," he glanced in Mark's direction. Mark frowned a little.
"Soon," Ken said, "I know. I am, too. I'll be there in a bit. Just stay put and everything will be okay. I love you, sis. I'll see you in thirty..." a quick look toward Mark "...forty minutes."
He hung up and turned to us. "I was right. She is scared shitless."
I giggled, a somewhat scary giggle that made me think of those old Crazy Mary movies. Not a good thing. But that made me want to laugh more. Like my fear of not being able to stop crying, I somehow knew that if I gave in to the laughing indulgence, I'd not stop. I bit my cheek to prevent myself from going hysterical. Ken smiled wanly at his joke, and I thought I saw Mark had a bit of a smile as well, but I couldn't be sure.
Sensing that he had more to say, I nodded toward Ken in a 'go on' way.
He kinda shrugged and said, "Meredith didn't have much to tell me. She's scared, obviously. She tried to call our step-dad, but couldn't get hold of him. And she's heard the explosions. And...this is so fucked up. Where'd everyone go, man?"
Mark looked unsure but eh knew that Ken needed some reassurance - even if it was false hope. Looking back, it's incredible how well together Mark was. I bet he'd've made a great leader. He certainly helped Ken and I through that initial roughness. And, of course, the Wal-Mart incident. Which I'm getting to.
So Mark went over and gave Ken a hug (!!) and told him that he'd be able to get to Meredith shortly, and that she'd be safe at home.
I wondered about that - especially with planes and helicopters falling out of the sky, fires burning uncontrolled, and cars simply moving forward. But I kept quiet. There was enough to worry about without my throwing in more doubt.
Ken kinda sniffled, "Okay. Thanks." And then Mark shifted gears. "Are we ready to go?" he asked us.
"Is...isn't there anyone you want to call?" I asked him.
Mark kinda steeled up, and simply shook his head. I realized how little I truly knew him. God, nobody really knows anyone.
I said, "Yeah, then, I guess we should go." Ken nodded in agreement.
We left work...and instantly hit a snag. Ken had a car - as did Cheryl and Mike - but Mark and I were carless. I took the bus - I doubt that's gonna happen again anytime soon - and Mark had a bicycle.
"Uh. Should we take my car or hoof it?" Ken asked.
Mark, our leader by some unspoken vote, hesitated.
"Let's ..uh...actually..." he ran back inside, leaving Ken and I exchanging puzzled glances.
We heard another explosion. It came from the direction of the freeway, and had probably occurred at least half a minute before. I wondered what had caused it. Or, rather, a small part of me wondered. Mostly, I was terrified.
Ken and I both turned and looked in the direction of the blast. We both then looked up to see if we could see any more aircraft. We couldn't, but that didn't mean anything, of course. Ken looked at his watch. "It's only been six minutes!"
At first I thought he meant that Mark had been inside for that long, but that couldn't be right. I then figured that he meant since the Vanishing. Even that felt wrong. Seven minutes ago life was normal? How could that be?
It was at that moment that I remember distinctly thinking (not for the last time, obviously, but probably for the first time that day) that I'd gone crazy and was imagining this entire thing. That I must still be asleep, dreaming it all. I shook my head, hoping that if this were just an illusion, that would clear it up, make it end. It didn't, of course.
Mark emerged from the store at that time, with a strange look of accomplishment and dread on his face. I was about to find out why.
"We're taking Mike's truck." He informed us, holding up the keychain of Mike's keys.
Ken's jaw dropped.
"Nuh uh," he protested. "We're not stealing his truck, man. No way."
"Ken," Mark said rationally, "it's not stealing. Mike is gone."
"I FUCKING KNOW HE'S GONE!" Ken screamed. "HE FUCKING VANISHED IN FRONT OF ME!"
Mark blinked, hard, then just said, "I'm sorry, Ken. But I'm still taking his truck. You can come with me, or not. Your choice. Andi?"
I looked between the two men - two boys, really. God, we're all so young - and then stepped toward Mark, showing who my alliances were with.
Ken looked seriously stressed out. And pissed.
He ran his fingers through his hair and screamed, at the sky, at Mark, at the whole situation, "MOTHERFUCK!!!"
Mark nodded, as though he sympathized - and possibly he did- then asked Ken, "Well?"
Ken looked at the crash site. At Mike's truck. At the ground. He shook his head 'no'.
Mark looked as though he expected this. He stepped toward Ken and shook his hand and did that half man-hug that guys do. He said what I was thinking - "Be safe." To be honest, I had reservations about splitting up at all. In my mind there were safety in numbers. I still feel that way. Tomorrow, after I sleep, I think I'll tell the others that we should look for other survivors. And Ken and Meredith should be at the top of the list. God, so much to do. And so much has already happened. I should finish this entry and attempt to get some sleep. The others already are.
Where was I?
Oh, yeah.
We (that is, Mark and I) got into Mike's truck. Mark was driving, of course.
I used to hear stories about how bad teenagers are at driving, but I guess the reporters of those stories never drove with Mark. The world had suddenly lost a good chunk of people, a plane had crashed less than a half mile away darkening the sky, there were still vehicles 'driving' without pilots, and yet Mark drove like a pro. Totally focused. I guess Mark is - was - the type of person that excelled under pressure.
We got to the Wal-Mart parking lot and Mark parked the truck. The heat was super intense, and the stench of smoke made breathing difficult. If you ignored the burning Wal-Mart and focused on the parking lot, you would see shopping carts, filled with bags of stuff, but nobody around. A few of the cars had their trunks open - the people had been loading their trunks when the Vanishing had hit.
[Begin spoiler for -A few of my thoughts -highlight to view]
Hmm. Well, I probably owe Stephen King some royalties or something, since the 'pregnant teen writing in her diary as the world ends' idea is pretty much lifted from The Stand. And then the Vanishing leaving people's clothing, jewelry, etc, being ..."borrowed" from The Langoliers, but that's okay.
One of my biggest flaws as a writer is that I don't give enough detail, and that was totally evident to me as I was typing this up. Certain parts were actiony enough, which is great. And I could see what was happening, but that might be because I know what's going on, ya know?
I was trying to subtly get across that this is taking place in a world that is very similar to our own, but isn't quite the same. Thus the name Andilus, and the references to the Crazy Mary movies, in addition when Andi mentions the date, she uses the day/month/year style, unlike most Americans in this reality, who use month/day/year. I don't know if it came across, though. Again, probably not enough details.
Um. I know I had more to say, but I really don't remember what it was now. Doh.[end spoiler]
Hopefully I'll add on throughout the year.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Monday, February 07, 2005
We can be happy underground
As far as the government is concerned, Irina doesn't officially exist! That's okay, though, because as far as Irina is concerned, the government doesn't officially exist either. Unless the government reads my blog - I believe the appropriate icons are [shifty] and [eyebrow] - they have no official documentation of her birth. Ha!
Of course, we will get her all set up on "the grid" in a bit.
Won't we?
No, we will.
Unless we don't.
But don't worry, we will. She'll have a (useless except for government and corporation tracking purposes - and identity theft!) Social Security Number.
Eventually.
Of course, we will get her all set up on "the grid" in a bit.
Won't we?
No, we will.
Unless we don't.
But don't worry, we will. She'll have a (useless except for government and corporation tracking purposes - and identity theft!) Social Security Number.
Eventually.
Sunday, February 06, 2005
Epic battles and ads.
Super Bowl Sunday. Saren and I watched the commercials, and played the Buffy board game during the football parts. It's our annual tradition.
Best ads this year: FedEx (a talking, dancing bear ("That bear can dance!"), and Burt Reynolds) and Careerbuilder.com (monkeys!)
Worst ads: Pretty much everything else. Blah. The Super Bowl spots don't live up to the hype anymore. If they ever did.
I do want to see War of the Worlds, though. Mmmmm...destruction.
Best quotes from the Bimpsons after-game show: "America's priorities are a joke!" Heh.
and
Mom on street: "You try to raise your child as a secular humanist, but these religious organizations cram it down your throats!"
Child: "Mommy, why wasn't I baptized?"
Mom: "You see?!? You see!?!?"
We tried to watch American Dad, but could only take about five minutes of it. Not funny.
The game ended before either Good or Evil actually completed their goal, but Evil "won" by the fact that her players had more hit points remaining. Just like in real life!
Best ads this year: FedEx (a talking, dancing bear ("That bear can dance!"), and Burt Reynolds) and Careerbuilder.com (monkeys!)
Worst ads: Pretty much everything else. Blah. The Super Bowl spots don't live up to the hype anymore. If they ever did.
I do want to see War of the Worlds, though. Mmmmm...destruction.
Best quotes from the Bimpsons after-game show: "America's priorities are a joke!" Heh.
and
Mom on street: "You try to raise your child as a secular humanist, but these religious organizations cram it down your throats!"
Child: "Mommy, why wasn't I baptized?"
Mom: "You see?!? You see!?!?"
We tried to watch American Dad, but could only take about five minutes of it. Not funny.
The game ended before either Good or Evil actually completed their goal, but Evil "won" by the fact that her players had more hit points remaining. Just like in real life!
Saturday, February 05, 2005
"There's only one bitch here, and I'm looking at him."
If ...doh. I lost what I was going to say.
We got our car back today. Yay! Steph's dad is Mr. Fixit, and it's super great that he does so much for us. Now we must remember to make sure we don't run it back into the ground. Oil changes every three thousand miles from here on out.
To celebrate the return of having a vehicle, we bought pizza for dinner. And I got to visit the brand new Washington Mutual bank around the corner. (It's finally open!) It was kinda spooky to go in there and have the ATM buttons be completely new and not worn down at all. It had that New Bank Smell and everything.
While I was buying Pepsi to go along with the pizza, there was a young man attempting to purchase cigarettes. He didn't have ID, so the cashier refused. He insisted that he was 18, but he had simply forgotten his drivers license at home. But Apu (I shall from here on out refer to all 7-11 employees as Apu, regardless of age, sex, or ethnicity. I just started this now, but I like it) was stubborn and stood her ground. She said that they couldn't take the chance and end up with a big fine.
Heh. And now - right now - there is a PhillipMorris commercial on the TV, talking about how Phillip Morris is a wonderful company that does it's part to keep cigarettes away from children. Yup. Everything short of stopping making them.
But, really, why should they try to keep children away from cigarettes? Everyone knows that cigarettes kill you. Why is it unacceptable for children to commit suicide, but okay once you turn 18 (or younger in certain states)? The tobacco companies could bring in a bunch of money if they allowed minors to purchase their product too. Young people have a lot of disposable income, supposedly.
Besides, smoking is cool.
Eh, whatever.
Reminder to myself: Look up what J.K. Rowling has planned for after Harry Potter. It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, she produces once that series is complete.
I have a killer headache. I suppose I ought to consume some aspirin.
We got our car back today. Yay! Steph's dad is Mr. Fixit, and it's super great that he does so much for us. Now we must remember to make sure we don't run it back into the ground. Oil changes every three thousand miles from here on out.
To celebrate the return of having a vehicle, we bought pizza for dinner. And I got to visit the brand new Washington Mutual bank around the corner. (It's finally open!) It was kinda spooky to go in there and have the ATM buttons be completely new and not worn down at all. It had that New Bank Smell and everything.
While I was buying Pepsi to go along with the pizza, there was a young man attempting to purchase cigarettes. He didn't have ID, so the cashier refused. He insisted that he was 18, but he had simply forgotten his drivers license at home. But Apu (I shall from here on out refer to all 7-11 employees as Apu, regardless of age, sex, or ethnicity. I just started this now, but I like it) was stubborn and stood her ground. She said that they couldn't take the chance and end up with a big fine.
Heh. And now - right now - there is a PhillipMorris commercial on the TV, talking about how Phillip Morris is a wonderful company that does it's part to keep cigarettes away from children. Yup. Everything short of stopping making them.
But, really, why should they try to keep children away from cigarettes? Everyone knows that cigarettes kill you. Why is it unacceptable for children to commit suicide, but okay once you turn 18 (or younger in certain states)? The tobacco companies could bring in a bunch of money if they allowed minors to purchase their product too. Young people have a lot of disposable income, supposedly.
Besides, smoking is cool.
Eh, whatever.
Reminder to myself: Look up what J.K. Rowling has planned for after Harry Potter. It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, she produces once that series is complete.
I have a killer headache. I suppose I ought to consume some aspirin.
|
Friday, February 04, 2005
Nicknames
I've had a lot of nicknames over the years. I wonder if certain people exude "nickname germs" or something, that make people want to call them by names other than their given ..name.
Anywhat, an incomplete list of some of the nicknames I've had:
PatMan
Patcasso (due to my drawing ability...or perhaps lack thereof)
Comrade Patricknick (um...because I'm a communist?)
Thin Man
CAAT (stood for Crazy At All Times)
Elf
Incompetent Bastard (well, I am)
Doogie Howser
Professor
Pico Sauce
College Boy
Awesome Guy, Awesome Guide, Awesome Dad
and of course, P@.
I don't mind any of these - well, maybe Incompetent Bastard - but it is strange that I've been given so many different nicknames.
Anywhat, an incomplete list of some of the nicknames I've had:
PatMan
Patcasso (due to my drawing ability...or perhaps lack thereof)
Comrade Patricknick (um...because I'm a communist?)
Thin Man
CAAT (stood for Crazy At All Times)
Elf
Incompetent Bastard (well, I am)
Doogie Howser
Professor
Pico Sauce
College Boy
Awesome Guy, Awesome Guide, Awesome Dad
and of course, P@.
I don't mind any of these - well, maybe Incompetent Bastard - but it is strange that I've been given so many different nicknames.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Dreams, etc.
That would be a cool name for a store. In a movie.
The past ...I don't know how long, I've had difficulty remembering my dreams. I think part of it was due to having my sleep pattern tinkered with.
But last night I made up for it. I had an abundance of dreams during my last sleep. I feel like giving partial credit to Irina. She has powers, dude. Powers.
So, some of my dreams from last night:
I was driving our car through the city, smashing into signs and small trees and other cars, and basically being a complete menace to the streets. (ala Simpsons Hit and Run, which is weird, since I've not played it in at least a week) At the point where I could no longer drive the car due to damage, it switched on me so that I was standing amongst a crowd looking at the carnage I had caused. Stephanie showed up and asked me what had happened to the car. I didn't get to answer her because a clipboard got passed to me at that moment. Someone was collecting signatures. I signed my name, but I have no idea what for.
A quick segment of The Simpsons played out in one of my other dreams. (I will often have dreams that "play" like I'm watching television or a movie. And generally they involve fictional characters. My subconscious: Another victim of pop culture.) Bart was standing near a grate, holding a cigarette that he was going to smoke. A Troy McClure type person (but not Troy McClure) approached him, telling him how smoking was a really bad thing to do. Bart dropped the cigarette into the grate, but the adult continued to admonish him, informing him that his dog had smoked for years, and now he was going to die of lung cancer. Bart was horrified, and approached the man's dog. He asked the canine, "Are you really going to die from smoking?" and the dog tried to bark, but instead coughed.
Some work dream, where I went back to Master Control and had no idea how to operate anything in there. The station went to black for fifteen minutes while I frantically tried to figure out the buttons and how to get things back to normal.
I remember dreaming about shopping for ice cream with Stephanie.
Darn. I know I had a few other dreams, but, like they all do, they've faded. Ah well.
I wonder what Irina is dreaming of.
In nondream news, I rebeat the Shadow Queen today. Because I could. Bang pow!
Also,
no, that was all.
The past ...I don't know how long, I've had difficulty remembering my dreams. I think part of it was due to having my sleep pattern tinkered with.
But last night I made up for it. I had an abundance of dreams during my last sleep. I feel like giving partial credit to Irina. She has powers, dude. Powers.
So, some of my dreams from last night:
I was driving our car through the city, smashing into signs and small trees and other cars, and basically being a complete menace to the streets. (ala Simpsons Hit and Run, which is weird, since I've not played it in at least a week) At the point where I could no longer drive the car due to damage, it switched on me so that I was standing amongst a crowd looking at the carnage I had caused. Stephanie showed up and asked me what had happened to the car. I didn't get to answer her because a clipboard got passed to me at that moment. Someone was collecting signatures. I signed my name, but I have no idea what for.
A quick segment of The Simpsons played out in one of my other dreams. (I will often have dreams that "play" like I'm watching television or a movie. And generally they involve fictional characters. My subconscious: Another victim of pop culture.) Bart was standing near a grate, holding a cigarette that he was going to smoke. A Troy McClure type person (but not Troy McClure) approached him, telling him how smoking was a really bad thing to do. Bart dropped the cigarette into the grate, but the adult continued to admonish him, informing him that his dog had smoked for years, and now he was going to die of lung cancer. Bart was horrified, and approached the man's dog. He asked the canine, "Are you really going to die from smoking?" and the dog tried to bark, but instead coughed.
Some work dream, where I went back to Master Control and had no idea how to operate anything in there. The station went to black for fifteen minutes while I frantically tried to figure out the buttons and how to get things back to normal.
I remember dreaming about shopping for ice cream with Stephanie.
Darn. I know I had a few other dreams, but, like they all do, they've faded. Ah well.
I wonder what Irina is dreaming of.
In nondream news, I rebeat the Shadow Queen today. Because I could. Bang pow!
Also,
no, that was all.
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
"Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!"
Happy Groundhog Day everyone! It's hard to believe that it's this time of year again already, but it's true.
In celebration, I read Groundhog on Evergreen Road to Saren and Harper. Then Harper read it back to me. It was interesting to learn that another name that groundhogs are known by is "whistle-pig". Hee! Whistle pig.
And, it turned out that apparently the Groundhog did not see his shadow today, which, according to legend means six more weeks of winter. So, um, better luck next year?
*****
In non-groundhog news, Stephanie has already documented the birth story of Irina from her point of view, now here's mine. Between the two of us, I think everyone reading will be able to viacariously live out the birth of our third daughter. [grin]
So, since Steph began her story on the 31st, I'll do the same. While at work, just before leaving, I had a quick conversation with Tina. She mentioned that her sister had gone into labor with one of her children while at a Wal-Mart. (Birth stories have been pretty popular this last week or so at my work.) I said that that was kind of funny, since, except for TV and movies, I'd never seen a woman's water break in public. But, yeah, apparently it does happen. I jokingly said, "Well, we're going shopping tonight, so maybe Steph'll have the baby at Smith's."
So when Steph mentioned that she had bloody show at the Smith's restroom, we finished the grocery shopping as quickly as possible.
Went to sleep on the 31st, with the alarm set for 6 am. I don't normally have to wake up until 7, but I was going to take the bus to work the next day, due to our brakes being less than perfect. (Good thing I didn't. Imagine if Steph had gone into labor while I was at work. She'd've had Irina long before I would've managed to ride the bus back home!) Anywhat- I woke up around 5:30 and realized that Stephanie wasn't in the bed. Part of me considered getting up and checking on her, but the more selfish (and more tired) part logiced that the alarm would be going off in 30 minutes, so I fell back asleep.
As soon as the clock hit six, I jumped up, and walked into the living room. There was an air about my wife, and I knew the answer before I asked, but I asked anyway. "Do you want me to stay home?" She hesitated for about three seconds before saying, "Yes."
I smiled happily and called Tina. Of course she wasn't in the office yet, so I got her voicemail. I left a message saying that today would be the day, wish us luck, and I'll call you back later.
Stephanie then wanted something to eat. I wondered if she'd be able to stomach it - in the hospital they never let women eat anything more than ice chips - but I made her the toast and orange juice, and she ate it all.
The TV news was on, but I honestly can't recall any of the stories. I was too focused on Steph. I asked, "What can I do?" and she told me, "Don't watch me." Heh.
Steph then got up to take her shower, and I cleaned up the living room. Once she was done showering, she brought out the birthing blankets and set them beside the small couch. She knelt down, and let the contractions do their work.
At some point shortly thereafter, Saren woke up and came out. Like Steph said, at first she looked groggy, but when she realized what was going on, she had a look of intense awe on her face. She asked me, "Is the baby going to come soon?" I said, "Yes." and she got a huge smile.
I got Saren her breakfast, and she tried to eat, but Stephanie was sort of screaming, and it was pretty distracting to her. We comforted her, though, letting her know that Mama was okay and not to worry.
Harper woke up from the noise and as I was going to get her her cereal, Stephanie yelled out, "Pat, I need you!" I ran back in and asked what, she responded, "Baby!" and then things happened very very fast.
I helped Steph up slightly, and I saw that her water had already broken. I looked down and could see the baby crowning already. "It's coming!" I reported, and I was dimly aware of Saren and Harper standing behind me watching as well.
Two more pushes, and she was born. I said, "Oh my goodness!" about a gabillion times, as my daughter slid from my wife into my arms. Catching a baby is fucking awesome. Feeling the gooey newborn, all warm and ...new. It's like nothing else ever. The baby was already colorful, not purple, like I remember seeing with Saren and Harper, and not like I was expecting. She did have some mucus in her cry, so we put her bellydown on Steph's leg and we rubbed her back for a bit. I don't know when I reported, "It's a girl!" but I know it was very soon after her entire body was out.
Steph had me get the string to tie the umbelical cord and some scissors - run under extremely hot water for several minutes - so that the cord could be cut. My only regret from the whole ordeal was that as I was cutting the cord, I sensed that Saren was behind me, and I didn't ask her if she wanted to do it.
Eventually Steph birthed the afterbirth (placenta, and lots of blood - although I remember it being a lot grosser at Saren and Harper's births - maybe I'm just getting desensitized to them), we cleaned up, and phone calls were made.
Some of the people I talked to were unaware that we were doing a homebirth (let alone unassisted). When it came out in the phone calls, the general reaction was supportive. As Steph's mom put it, "My friends are all in awe of you guys. They also think you're crazy."
Me: "Yeah. We get a lot of that."
After the inital phone calls, we still hadn't settled on a name. We had been so certain that the baby was a boy, and while she'd been in utero, no girl names had "clicked", that we just didn't have one for her. I hopped online, and found a baby name site and started doing some surfing. We had some potential names (Margaret, Delana, Irina, Ember, Apple Egg Delight) but we figured maybe the interweb would help strike the inspiration. Eventually, of course, we settled on Irina Zoey, and when we said it, it felt right. And it is.
The rest of the day - and today, too, for that matter - has been blissful goodness. Having been a part of the birth here at home, I really just don't understand why anyone has a baby at a hospital. It's so amazing, and I wouldn't trade this experience for anything. Irina is very peaceful - which is funny, since "Irina" means "peace" - and alert and smiley and just amazing. There's nothing like having a newborn fall asleep in your arms to reaffirm your belief in humanity.
I'm so happy right now. Life is good.
*****
The birth from Oreo's perspective:
First, the big ugly cat that I kinda like [he means Steph - P@] started making strange noises. And everytime I tried to investigate the smells (they were so interesting), the big ugly cat that I kinda like would push me out of the way.
Later, the big ugly cat with short whiskers [that'd be me - P@] came out, and he'd push me away too. I tried to scratch the couches to relax myself, but that made the big ugly cat with short whiskers mad too. (It always does. If he'd only try it, then he would see how relaxing it is!)
The two small big ugly cats came out too, but they didn't pay any attention to me, which suited me just fine. I could take a hint of when I wasn't wanted, so I went back into the bedroom and slept.
Now there's a NEW ugly cat, but I can't bring myself to investigate it yet. Just as long as it doesn't eat my food, we're cool.
In celebration, I read Groundhog on Evergreen Road to Saren and Harper. Then Harper read it back to me. It was interesting to learn that another name that groundhogs are known by is "whistle-pig". Hee! Whistle pig.
And, it turned out that apparently the Groundhog did not see his shadow today, which, according to legend means six more weeks of winter. So, um, better luck next year?
In non-groundhog news, Stephanie has already documented the birth story of Irina from her point of view, now here's mine. Between the two of us, I think everyone reading will be able to viacariously live out the birth of our third daughter. [grin]
So, since Steph began her story on the 31st, I'll do the same. While at work, just before leaving, I had a quick conversation with Tina. She mentioned that her sister had gone into labor with one of her children while at a Wal-Mart. (Birth stories have been pretty popular this last week or so at my work.) I said that that was kind of funny, since, except for TV and movies, I'd never seen a woman's water break in public. But, yeah, apparently it does happen. I jokingly said, "Well, we're going shopping tonight, so maybe Steph'll have the baby at Smith's."
So when Steph mentioned that she had bloody show at the Smith's restroom, we finished the grocery shopping as quickly as possible.
Went to sleep on the 31st, with the alarm set for 6 am. I don't normally have to wake up until 7, but I was going to take the bus to work the next day, due to our brakes being less than perfect. (Good thing I didn't. Imagine if Steph had gone into labor while I was at work. She'd've had Irina long before I would've managed to ride the bus back home!) Anywhat- I woke up around 5:30 and realized that Stephanie wasn't in the bed. Part of me considered getting up and checking on her, but the more selfish (and more tired) part logiced that the alarm would be going off in 30 minutes, so I fell back asleep.
As soon as the clock hit six, I jumped up, and walked into the living room. There was an air about my wife, and I knew the answer before I asked, but I asked anyway. "Do you want me to stay home?" She hesitated for about three seconds before saying, "Yes."
I smiled happily and called Tina. Of course she wasn't in the office yet, so I got her voicemail. I left a message saying that today would be the day, wish us luck, and I'll call you back later.
Stephanie then wanted something to eat. I wondered if she'd be able to stomach it - in the hospital they never let women eat anything more than ice chips - but I made her the toast and orange juice, and she ate it all.
The TV news was on, but I honestly can't recall any of the stories. I was too focused on Steph. I asked, "What can I do?" and she told me, "Don't watch me." Heh.
Steph then got up to take her shower, and I cleaned up the living room. Once she was done showering, she brought out the birthing blankets and set them beside the small couch. She knelt down, and let the contractions do their work.
At some point shortly thereafter, Saren woke up and came out. Like Steph said, at first she looked groggy, but when she realized what was going on, she had a look of intense awe on her face. She asked me, "Is the baby going to come soon?" I said, "Yes." and she got a huge smile.
I got Saren her breakfast, and she tried to eat, but Stephanie was sort of screaming, and it was pretty distracting to her. We comforted her, though, letting her know that Mama was okay and not to worry.
Harper woke up from the noise and as I was going to get her her cereal, Stephanie yelled out, "Pat, I need you!" I ran back in and asked what, she responded, "Baby!" and then things happened very very fast.
I helped Steph up slightly, and I saw that her water had already broken. I looked down and could see the baby crowning already. "It's coming!" I reported, and I was dimly aware of Saren and Harper standing behind me watching as well.
Two more pushes, and she was born. I said, "Oh my goodness!" about a gabillion times, as my daughter slid from my wife into my arms. Catching a baby is fucking awesome. Feeling the gooey newborn, all warm and ...new. It's like nothing else ever. The baby was already colorful, not purple, like I remember seeing with Saren and Harper, and not like I was expecting. She did have some mucus in her cry, so we put her bellydown on Steph's leg and we rubbed her back for a bit. I don't know when I reported, "It's a girl!" but I know it was very soon after her entire body was out.
Steph had me get the string to tie the umbelical cord and some scissors - run under extremely hot water for several minutes - so that the cord could be cut. My only regret from the whole ordeal was that as I was cutting the cord, I sensed that Saren was behind me, and I didn't ask her if she wanted to do it.
Eventually Steph birthed the afterbirth (placenta, and lots of blood - although I remember it being a lot grosser at Saren and Harper's births - maybe I'm just getting desensitized to them), we cleaned up, and phone calls were made.
Some of the people I talked to were unaware that we were doing a homebirth (let alone unassisted). When it came out in the phone calls, the general reaction was supportive. As Steph's mom put it, "My friends are all in awe of you guys. They also think you're crazy."
Me: "Yeah. We get a lot of that."
After the inital phone calls, we still hadn't settled on a name. We had been so certain that the baby was a boy, and while she'd been in utero, no girl names had "clicked", that we just didn't have one for her. I hopped online, and found a baby name site and started doing some surfing. We had some potential names (Margaret, Delana, Irina, Ember, Apple Egg Delight) but we figured maybe the interweb would help strike the inspiration. Eventually, of course, we settled on Irina Zoey, and when we said it, it felt right. And it is.
The rest of the day - and today, too, for that matter - has been blissful goodness. Having been a part of the birth here at home, I really just don't understand why anyone has a baby at a hospital. It's so amazing, and I wouldn't trade this experience for anything. Irina is very peaceful - which is funny, since "Irina" means "peace" - and alert and smiley and just amazing. There's nothing like having a newborn fall asleep in your arms to reaffirm your belief in humanity.
I'm so happy right now. Life is good.
The birth from Oreo's perspective:
First, the big ugly cat that I kinda like [he means Steph - P@] started making strange noises. And everytime I tried to investigate the smells (they were so interesting), the big ugly cat that I kinda like would push me out of the way.
Later, the big ugly cat with short whiskers [that'd be me - P@] came out, and he'd push me away too. I tried to scratch the couches to relax myself, but that made the big ugly cat with short whiskers mad too. (It always does. If he'd only try it, then he would see how relaxing it is!)
The two small big ugly cats came out too, but they didn't pay any attention to me, which suited me just fine. I could take a hint of when I wasn't wanted, so I went back into the bedroom and slept.
Now there's a NEW ugly cat, but I can't bring myself to investigate it yet. Just as long as it doesn't eat my food, we're cool.
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Sunday, January 30, 2005
Saturday, January 29, 2005
Blogger was hungry.
It ate my entry from yesterday!
Now I am hungry, and there are no entries to make. Ha ha lame.
The (now nonexistant) entry was nothing super important. In a nutshell: I asked for things to blog about, especially since February is fast approaching, and Bally's Blog Challenge (to blog at least once every day for the entire month) will be upon us. I figure if there are a bunch of topics to discuss, it will be beneficial not only for me, but for others who are blogging as well. So, yeah, if you've got something that should be talked about - tell me.
Let's see...I'm so freaking hungry.
Saren just battled Cortez, the pirate ghost, from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, and she won! She's very excited about it. I believe Poshley Heights will be her next destination. Oh! After she battles Lord Crump (again). Video games. The stuff legends are made of.
Two days remaining in the month. It's looking like I'm not going to do my monthly gimmick this year. But, hey, maybe inspiration will strike within the next forty-eight hours. (Haaa!!!)
Can't believe it's almost Februray! It feels like it's been January all year long. [/use that joke every year]
Now I am hungry, and there are no entries to make. Ha ha lame.
The (now nonexistant) entry was nothing super important. In a nutshell: I asked for things to blog about, especially since February is fast approaching, and Bally's Blog Challenge (to blog at least once every day for the entire month) will be upon us. I figure if there are a bunch of topics to discuss, it will be beneficial not only for me, but for others who are blogging as well. So, yeah, if you've got something that should be talked about - tell me.
Let's see...I'm so freaking hungry.
Saren just battled Cortez, the pirate ghost, from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, and she won! She's very excited about it. I believe Poshley Heights will be her next destination. Oh! After she battles Lord Crump (again). Video games. The stuff legends are made of.
Two days remaining in the month. It's looking like I'm not going to do my monthly gimmick this year. But, hey, maybe inspiration will strike within the next forty-eight hours. (Haaa!!!)
Can't believe it's almost Februray! It feels like it's been January all year long. [/use that joke every year]
|
Friday, January 28, 2005
balance
The Universe demands it, I believe.
I went into work an hour late today.... it took me an hour to get home.
Balance.
Speaking of - we got the phone bill today. On the 23rd of December, there was a 20 minute phone call made to the UK. Um. That never happened. (Um...did it? God, I have no memory. I'm like 99% certain that it did not, though. I mean, really, wouldn't I recall something like that?)
So, yeah, our phone bill is 45 dollars higher than normal. Since the Universe requires balance, I believe I will rip out the tongue of some Sprint employee. Balance.
I went into work an hour late today.... it took me an hour to get home.
Balance.
Speaking of - we got the phone bill today. On the 23rd of December, there was a 20 minute phone call made to the UK. Um. That never happened. (Um...did it? God, I have no memory. I'm like 99% certain that it did not, though. I mean, really, wouldn't I recall something like that?)
So, yeah, our phone bill is 45 dollars higher than normal. Since the Universe requires balance, I believe I will rip out the tongue of some Sprint employee. Balance.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Well, Doh!
Heh. WD.
Couple items of Watcher's Diary news.
1) I've been bumped from Page One. It was fun while it lasted.
2) I watched the first twenty minutes or so of Weight of the World today during my lunch break. I was not overly impressed upon rewatching this episode, so I wanted to see what I had written about it. Turns out the archives don't go that far back. Doh! So, I went to check what the polls had to say about it. The 17 votes that episode has recieved break down thusly: 5 A's, 5 B's, 5 C's and 2 F's.
Doh.
Doh well.
Read two of my three books today. Graphic novels/comic books are really quick reads. Sticks and Stones was a graphic novel with no words. Nifty. While I liked the story, it's a pity that the Stone Guy (God?) wasn't fleshed out more. (Heh. Puns.) Why'd he suddenly become a jerkass? [shrug] But, yeah. Metaphors good.
Dead Memory had moments of brilliance, but I didn't feel a connection to the cityfolk. ROM was a more sympathetic character. Perhaps he was meant to be.
In nonbook news, the onramp to the freeway near our house has been closed for, like, 7 months now. When the hell are they gonna reopen it?
Also - we still need a calendar.
Couple items of Watcher's Diary news.
1) I've been bumped from Page One. It was fun while it lasted.
2) I watched the first twenty minutes or so of Weight of the World today during my lunch break. I was not overly impressed upon rewatching this episode, so I wanted to see what I had written about it. Turns out the archives don't go that far back. Doh! So, I went to check what the polls had to say about it. The 17 votes that episode has recieved break down thusly: 5 A's, 5 B's, 5 C's and 2 F's.
Doh.
Doh well.
Read two of my three books today. Graphic novels/comic books are really quick reads. Sticks and Stones was a graphic novel with no words. Nifty. While I liked the story, it's a pity that the Stone Guy (God?) wasn't fleshed out more. (Heh. Puns.) Why'd he suddenly become a jerkass? [shrug] But, yeah. Metaphors good.
Dead Memory had moments of brilliance, but I didn't feel a connection to the cityfolk. ROM was a more sympathetic character. Perhaps he was meant to be.
In nonbook news, the onramp to the freeway near our house has been closed for, like, 7 months now. When the hell are they gonna reopen it?
Also - we still need a calendar.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Shine, monkey! Glow, monkey!
Yeah, I don't know either.
Today was the first day since starting this job (jesus, p@, shut up about work, already!) that I wasn't tired all day long! That deserves a massive "woo hoo!". Being tired sucks.
My boss - who does have a name, and it is Tina - however, was tired. Heh. UTTina. She went to the KingWorld party yesterday, and it, apparently went on until 3am. I didn't get to go. Partly from newness, mostly due to, you know, the wife being all knocked up and all. "Oh? You're having the baby now? Well...I'm kinda here watching Hall & Oates perform, so can you just wait a few more hours? Thanks!"
We went to the library for the first time this year today. Steph handled the business aspect, so now we owe 15 dollars instead of 45. Go team Steph!
While at the libe, we discovered that they [heart] Shrek. So does Harper! Details!: The library is having a Shrek-themed party on Feb. 12th. Viewings of the movies, followed by snacks, and pictures taken with Shrek and Fiona. Nifty!
I checked out two graphic novel/comic book books, a They Might Be Giants CD (John Henry, for those keeping track), and a novel (such as it is) by Spider Robinson. Yay for non-thinky humor sci-fi!
Saren got a buttload of Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon books and DVDs (did you know that Japanese comics read right to left? And when they're reprinted in the US, they are generally "mirrored" so that we can read them left to right. Knowledge!).
Harper got a Tom & Jerry DVD, and a Raggedy Ann & Andy book, along with some other things that I can't remember.
Steph checked out a craft book, a novel about the size of our car, some Home Education Magazine magazines, and ...I forget what else. But overall, we scored. See, the library is great.
In nonlibrary news, it rained today. Again. Stupid rain. I thought you were gone. But, apparently, it's sticking around until Friday. At least. [sigh] I mean, it's nice and all, but the people in Las Vegas don't know how to drive when it rains. Or when the weather changes at all. Accidents galore! And I've been having this uneasy feeling lately about driving. Like there's an accident just waiting to happen. It's most likely just my imagination being retarded, but I'd still feel better if the weather cleared up.
At work (I know!!) part of my job is to screen movies that are going to air, making sure that they don't contain anything obscene or indecent. (OBIN is the fun jargony word we use. As in: "That episode of Maury had OBIN issues." Heh. Work is so ...) Anywhat, today I watched Chain of Command (the 2000 version). It was a decent enough movie. There are certainly worse ways to spend an afternoon (and get paid to do it!) In the movie, Washington gets hit by a nuclear weapon. (Oops. Sorry to spoil it for anyone. But, actually, while that sounds like it should be a big deal, in the movie it's barely a blip.) I think that the Beijing government chose that city as their target because the president is Roy Scheider. And, man, is he the ugliest president I think I've ever seen. Move over, Mr. Lincoln!
Another movie I got to view was Winners Take All. Dude. How in the world can that have a higher ranking at imdb than Chain of Command?? I will never understand people on the internet.
So, yeah. This "movie" was all about motorbike racing. It's really a pity that it didn't have a nuclear weapon in it. I might've enjoyed it more. It's sad that the highlight of WTA is a scene where a bull urinates. Even sadder that it may be cut. Poor bull piss. [frown] A victim of our society's prudish ways.
Hmm. I think I've hit a wall on things to say. But, hey. This was a longish entry. So, that's something. I guess.
Imaginary savings this year to date: $57.79. That's enough to buy a(n imaginary) copy of Donkey Konga for the GameCube. Woohoo!!
Today was the first day since starting this job (jesus, p@, shut up about work, already!) that I wasn't tired all day long! That deserves a massive "woo hoo!". Being tired sucks.
My boss - who does have a name, and it is Tina - however, was tired. Heh. UTTina. She went to the KingWorld party yesterday, and it, apparently went on until 3am. I didn't get to go. Partly from newness, mostly due to, you know, the wife being all knocked up and all. "Oh? You're having the baby now? Well...I'm kinda here watching Hall & Oates perform, so can you just wait a few more hours? Thanks!"
We went to the library for the first time this year today. Steph handled the business aspect, so now we owe 15 dollars instead of 45. Go team Steph!
While at the libe, we discovered that they [heart] Shrek. So does Harper! Details!: The library is having a Shrek-themed party on Feb. 12th. Viewings of the movies, followed by snacks, and pictures taken with Shrek and Fiona. Nifty!
I checked out two graphic novel/comic book books, a They Might Be Giants CD (John Henry, for those keeping track), and a novel (such as it is) by Spider Robinson. Yay for non-thinky humor sci-fi!
Saren got a buttload of Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon books and DVDs (did you know that Japanese comics read right to left? And when they're reprinted in the US, they are generally "mirrored" so that we can read them left to right. Knowledge!).
Harper got a Tom & Jerry DVD, and a Raggedy Ann & Andy book, along with some other things that I can't remember.
Steph checked out a craft book, a novel about the size of our car, some Home Education Magazine magazines, and ...I forget what else. But overall, we scored. See, the library is great.
In nonlibrary news, it rained today. Again. Stupid rain. I thought you were gone. But, apparently, it's sticking around until Friday. At least. [sigh] I mean, it's nice and all, but the people in Las Vegas don't know how to drive when it rains. Or when the weather changes at all. Accidents galore! And I've been having this uneasy feeling lately about driving. Like there's an accident just waiting to happen. It's most likely just my imagination being retarded, but I'd still feel better if the weather cleared up.
At work (I know!!) part of my job is to screen movies that are going to air, making sure that they don't contain anything obscene or indecent. (OBIN is the fun jargony word we use. As in: "That episode of Maury had OBIN issues." Heh. Work is so ...) Anywhat, today I watched Chain of Command (the 2000 version). It was a decent enough movie. There are certainly worse ways to spend an afternoon (and get paid to do it!) In the movie, Washington gets hit by a nuclear weapon. (Oops. Sorry to spoil it for anyone. But, actually, while that sounds like it should be a big deal, in the movie it's barely a blip.) I think that the Beijing government chose that city as their target because the president is Roy Scheider. And, man, is he the ugliest president I think I've ever seen. Move over, Mr. Lincoln!
Another movie I got to view was Winners Take All. Dude. How in the world can that have a higher ranking at imdb than Chain of Command?? I will never understand people on the internet.
So, yeah. This "movie" was all about motorbike racing. It's really a pity that it didn't have a nuclear weapon in it. I might've enjoyed it more. It's sad that the highlight of WTA is a scene where a bull urinates. Even sadder that it may be cut. Poor bull piss. [frown] A victim of our society's prudish ways.
Hmm. I think I've hit a wall on things to say. But, hey. This was a longish entry. So, that's something. I guess.
Imaginary savings this year to date: $57.79. That's enough to buy a(n imaginary) copy of Donkey Konga for the GameCube. Woohoo!!
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Update de la quick.
We were faked out this morning by the baby. Steph had been having contractions since 1:30 in the morning (she told me later! Why she didn't wake me up is not known, but I guess there wasn't much I would've been able to do even if she had, so I should just be thankful). Anyway, before I was going to leave this morning, Steph suggested I call in, because today might be the day. I called in, and waited as Stephanie tried to get some more sleep. After an hour or so, it was determined that the baby was going to remain inside for the time being. So I had to go to work, anyway. Stop doing fake-outs, as yet unknown person!
New jorb is going okay. Lots to learn. Tired of people asking, "How's it going?". Also tired of comments about being dressed up and/or having gotten my haircut.
Caught up on Lost finally. And there's not a new episode tomorrow. Harumph. But, we still have like, a hundred and thirty hours of Alias to watch. And there is a new one of those.
Typing is slow going.
So, yeah. The baby keeps waiting, putting off the inevitable. And my body is not yet used to this new time-table of waking up at 7 in the morning. Otherwise, nothing mucht to report.
New jorb is going okay. Lots to learn. Tired of people asking, "How's it going?". Also tired of comments about being dressed up and/or having gotten my haircut.
Caught up on Lost finally. And there's not a new episode tomorrow. Harumph. But, we still have like, a hundred and thirty hours of Alias to watch. And there is a new one of those.
Typing is slow going.
So, yeah. The baby keeps waiting, putting off the inevitable. And my body is not yet used to this new time-table of waking up at 7 in the morning. Otherwise, nothing mucht to report.
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Tuesday's weather
We watched The Day After Tomorrow today. As per usual, I have nothing to say about the film.
It hit all the right notes for an action/disaster/blockbuster/brainless summer movie. You know - computer generated wolves, explosions, sappy goosebump inducing music, presidential heroes, suspension of disbelief to a maximum level, happy ending.
Things I learned from this movie:
When making an escape plan near wolves, whisper, as they will hear and understand you otherwise.
Dennis Quaid is faster than ice.
Pigeons are smarter than most New Yorkers.
We also watched Pokemon: Destiny Deoxys. Basic message of that movie: Do not put all your trust in technology.
Also: Destroying foreign cities is okay, so long as you're doing it to find a friend.
Ooh! The Bimpsons are on! At an odd time! More television viewing now.
It hit all the right notes for an action/disaster/blockbuster/brainless summer movie. You know - computer generated wolves, explosions, sappy goosebump inducing music, presidential heroes, suspension of disbelief to a maximum level, happy ending.
Things I learned from this movie:
When making an escape plan near wolves, whisper, as they will hear and understand you otherwise.
Dennis Quaid is faster than ice.
Pigeons are smarter than most New Yorkers.
We also watched Pokemon: Destiny Deoxys. Basic message of that movie: Do not put all your trust in technology.
Also: Destroying foreign cities is okay, so long as you're doing it to find a friend.
Ooh! The Bimpsons are on! At an odd time! More television viewing now.
Saturday, January 22, 2005
I beat King Bowser, where's my baby?
I really do think he or she is at the bottom of the 100 pits. [wink]
So, yeah, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door? Done. Take that, forces of evil!
Also done? My time in the control room. Speechless, I guess. I worked like nobody's business today. My gift for putting in nine years of work? I got to do the duties of two people for the pay of one! Yay!
No, wait.
But, yeah. My coworker's sister had her baby today (um...I guess finishing Paper Mario induced labor in someone...), so after 5pm, I was all alone. So much responsibility! So much work!
I finished most of it, though, which is impressive, even for the bestswitcher. =) Sadly, though, I didn't get to watch Angel on my last day. It was Awakening though, so no big loss.
So that's that, then. No more Fear Factor. No more days of sleeping til noon. No more not knowing vitally important information until the absolute last minute. So long, Master Control, and thanks for all the fish.
Imaginary Savings this year: $48.06.
And, since it's Saturday:
So, yeah, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door? Done. Take that, forces of evil!
Also done? My time in the control room. Speechless, I guess. I worked like nobody's business today. My gift for putting in nine years of work? I got to do the duties of two people for the pay of one! Yay!
No, wait.
But, yeah. My coworker's sister had her baby today (um...I guess finishing Paper Mario induced labor in someone...), so after 5pm, I was all alone. So much responsibility! So much work!
I finished most of it, though, which is impressive, even for the bestswitcher. =) Sadly, though, I didn't get to watch Angel on my last day. It was Awakening though, so no big loss.
So that's that, then. No more Fear Factor. No more days of sleeping til noon. No more not knowing vitally important information until the absolute last minute. So long, Master Control, and thanks for all the fish.
Imaginary Savings this year: $48.06.
And, since it's Saturday:
|
You had to be there.
Today being the final day I'll ever switch MASTER CONTROL!!! (Thanks, Amy! You're right. Saying it with authority makes it much more fun!), I decided to write up a list (most likely incomplete) of the inside jokes from the past nine years. I know! Another work entry! What's wrong with me? But, hey, last time! Unless, of course, I blog about work again tonight (completely in the realm of possiblity!)
Undoubtedly this list of inside jokes will be boring to everyone else, but quite amusing to yours truly.
Also - why am i up this early!?!
And away we go...
"Man's ability to use tools!!"
"I hope we win!"
"It's time to d-d-d-d-d-duel!!!"
"And...uh...don't forget to vote for me."
"Beeeep-beep-beep."
"Jesus, why don't you go after the bikers?"
"Jenny Jones!!"*
"John Walsh!!"*
"Shut up, Bill."
"Stinky dog."
"Turtle, turtle, turtle, turtle."
"Jennifer Lopez ROCKS!!!!!!!"*
"Classic!"*
The idea that Maury Povich is in fact, a moray eel, and in his final show will pull off his human skin and reveal this.
"Kangaroos?"
"These are dark times."
The broom incident.
"Rexella, I choose you!"
"I never lie."
"Woodification!"
"...but guess what, I did!"
"Why we in black?"
[/list]
Good times. Good times.
I'm looking forward to seeing what the next decade produces, joke wise.
* It's the way in which they were shouted that was amusing. Doesn't really translate in a text based medium, but, oh well.
Undoubtedly this list of inside jokes will be boring to everyone else, but quite amusing to yours truly.
Also - why am i up this early!?!
And away we go...
"Man's ability to use tools!!"
"I hope we win!"
"It's time to d-d-d-d-d-duel!!!"
"And...uh...don't forget to vote for me."
"Beeeep-beep-beep."
"Jesus, why don't you go after the bikers?"
"Jenny Jones!!"*
"John Walsh!!"*
"Shut up, Bill."
"Stinky dog."
"Turtle, turtle, turtle, turtle."
"Jennifer Lopez ROCKS!!!!!!!"*
"Classic!"*
The idea that Maury Povich is in fact, a moray eel, and in his final show will pull off his human skin and reveal this.
"Kangaroos?"
"These are dark times."
The broom incident.
"Rexella, I choose you!"
"I never lie."
"Woodification!"
"...but guess what, I did!"
"Why we in black?"
[/list]
Good times. Good times.
I'm looking forward to seeing what the next decade produces, joke wise.
* It's the way in which they were shouted that was amusing. Doesn't really translate in a text based medium, but, oh well.
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Four more years.
[shrug]
Heh. I nearly wrote [shrub]. Also appropriate.
Level 82. Eighty-two!! Stupid stupid game.
Lately, I've been thinking of things to blog about, but then I'm like, "Nah. That's [depressing, stupid, boring, not very well thought out, some other excuse]" so I don't. Maybe I should anyway. [shrug]
I unsubscribed from the Derrick Jensen email loop. And I believe I'm better off as a result. You are what you surround yourself with, and that loop, while sometimes informative and thought provoking, was also sometimes very negative and possibly quite harmful to one's psyche. So, I turned it off.
My inbox is all empty looking now, though. No more days of 48 emails to read.
Difficult to believe that we're nearly three weeks into the new year already. Wasn't it just Xmas??
Well, with time going by so quickly, that means the next 7 years should zip by like that! *snaps fingers*
Yay?
Heh. I nearly wrote [shrub]. Also appropriate.
Level 82. Eighty-two!! Stupid stupid game.
Lately, I've been thinking of things to blog about, but then I'm like, "Nah. That's [depressing, stupid, boring, not very well thought out, some other excuse]" so I don't. Maybe I should anyway. [shrug]
I unsubscribed from the Derrick Jensen email loop. And I believe I'm better off as a result. You are what you surround yourself with, and that loop, while sometimes informative and thought provoking, was also sometimes very negative and possibly quite harmful to one's psyche. So, I turned it off.
My inbox is all empty looking now, though. No more days of 48 emails to read.
Difficult to believe that we're nearly three weeks into the new year already. Wasn't it just Xmas??
Well, with time going by so quickly, that means the next 7 years should zip by like that! *snaps fingers*
Yay?
Monday, January 17, 2005
What's a 7 letter word for 'change in appearance'?
[Begin spoiler for - Not Fro Jupe To See! highlight to view (unless you are the Jupe)]
Jupe, don't read this!
Really. You should turn back now.
Last chance!
Patfro is gone.
Gone!
After 14 months of hair-growing, like the dirty hippie that I am, the scissors have finally caught up with the mass of dead follicles protruding from my scalp. Patfro is no more.
I know!! It's crazy. My boss probably wouldn't've had a problem with my hair, but since I will be moving into the "office" building part of the company, it was better to play it safe than sorry. I know! I'm such a corporate tool. Heh.
So, yeah. Shed a tear for the fro. It had a good life. Now, it is simply four pounds of hair sitting in the garbage can.[end spoiler]
And so begins the final week until I change jobs. Next Monday, things at work will be radically different. Yay!
Next up on the P@rix: I find something else (non-job related) to talk about.
Jupe, don't read this!
Really. You should turn back now.
Last chance!
Patfro is gone.
Gone!
After 14 months of hair-growing, like the dirty hippie that I am, the scissors have finally caught up with the mass of dead follicles protruding from my scalp. Patfro is no more.
I know!! It's crazy. My boss probably wouldn't've had a problem with my hair, but since I will be moving into the "office" building part of the company, it was better to play it safe than sorry. I know! I'm such a corporate tool. Heh.
So, yeah. Shed a tear for the fro. It had a good life. Now, it is simply four pounds of hair sitting in the garbage can.[end spoiler]
And so begins the final week until I change jobs. Next Monday, things at work will be radically different. Yay!
Next up on the P@rix: I find something else (non-job related) to talk about.
Why do I even watch movies?
They simply wash over me anymore. We watched Shrek 2 (sequelious!) and Vanilla Sky (as opposed to Vanilla Coke) last night. Our philosophy was "Carpe Diaz"!
But, yeah, while I liked both movies enough to spend the time watching them, I don't have anything to really say about them. Ya know? Shrek 2 was entertaining, but, as per the rule of sequels, didn't quite measure up to the first one. And the Far Far Away Idol thing at the end was cute...but Simon was as irritating in CGI form as real life. Or wait! Maybe Simon Whatshisname is a computer animated character! That explains so much!!
In any case, it wasn't a horrible movie, and I'm glad that i saw it, but I doubt I'll be quoting from it anytime soon. [shrug]
Vanilla Sky felt like it was 150 years long.
The director really could've cut 20 or 30 minutes from it and it would've been much better. Steph and I discussed the explanation at the end - I won't give it away here, mostly because I'm too lazy to type up the HTML code - and I felt like it should've been different, but it was pointed out to me that that's mostly because my brain works improperly. ;)
So. Tonight we're supposed to finally watch last week's Lost, maybe two week's ago's Alias, and the movie The Secret of Roan Inish. Plus we need to go shopping for new clothing for moi. Fun!
Everyone have a safe and enjoyable Martin Luther King Jr Day!
But, yeah, while I liked both movies enough to spend the time watching them, I don't have anything to really say about them. Ya know? Shrek 2 was entertaining, but, as per the rule of sequels, didn't quite measure up to the first one. And the Far Far Away Idol thing at the end was cute...but Simon was as irritating in CGI form as real life. Or wait! Maybe Simon Whatshisname is a computer animated character! That explains so much!!
In any case, it wasn't a horrible movie, and I'm glad that i saw it, but I doubt I'll be quoting from it anytime soon. [shrug]
Vanilla Sky felt like it was 150 years long.
The director really could've cut 20 or 30 minutes from it and it would've been much better. Steph and I discussed the explanation at the end - I won't give it away here, mostly because I'm too lazy to type up the HTML code - and I felt like it should've been different, but it was pointed out to me that that's mostly because my brain works improperly. ;)
So. Tonight we're supposed to finally watch last week's Lost, maybe two week's ago's Alias, and the movie The Secret of Roan Inish. Plus we need to go shopping for new clothing for moi. Fun!
Everyone have a safe and enjoyable Martin Luther King Jr Day!
Sunday, January 16, 2005
Dust and mockery.
There are times when I'm absolutely convinced that there is a higher power (I suppose I should capitalize that, eh?). Thinking about the Universe, and about the Future, and about the Creation of Stuff (got that capitalization thing down, didn't I?) makes my brain conclude - however fleetingly - that it isn't all just Randomness.
But the glory (or irritation) of it all is that one can never truly know. Ahh, agnosticism.
Moving on - I was talking to my soon-to-be new boss yesterday, and was filled in on the exciting (to me) information that the NATPE* convention is going to be here in town the same week that I start. Woo! Conventions are boring!! But dude! I start the job, and get to (conceivably) hobnob with representatives from KingWorld and Sony and Buena Vista and whatnot. Dull? Most likely! But I'm still really looking forward to it. [/incredibly boring]
Of course, the baby will most likely be born on the 24th (Camden day!) so I'll not go, but then, having a new life in our house will be a gabillion times better than going to NATPE anyway.
*NATPE = National Association of Television Program Executives
But the glory (or irritation) of it all is that one can never truly know. Ahh, agnosticism.
Moving on - I was talking to my soon-to-be new boss yesterday, and was filled in on the exciting (to me) information that the NATPE* convention is going to be here in town the same week that I start. Woo! Conventions are boring!! But dude! I start the job, and get to (conceivably) hobnob with representatives from KingWorld and Sony and Buena Vista and whatnot. Dull? Most likely! But I'm still really looking forward to it. [/incredibly boring]
Of course, the baby will most likely be born on the 24th (Camden day!) so I'll not go, but then, having a new life in our house will be a gabillion times better than going to NATPE anyway.
*NATPE = National Association of Television Program Executives
Friday, January 14, 2005
Woohoo!
I [heart] The Simpsons.
Now if we could only figure out how to get to the two-player mode, things would be just peachy.
We bought The Simpsons Hit and Run for the GameCube today, along with a second controller. Saren is currently having Homer drive through Cletus, the Slack-jawed Yokel's yard. Heh.
What's funny is the comments made by the characters. As Homer crashes into people, he yells out things like, "I'm a lean, mean, speed...thingy!" and "I am evil Homer! I am evil Homer!" It's like watching the show, but we direct it. Ha!
In other news, our computer is super slow. And soem new icon has mysteriously placed itself in our taskbar. It's a dog, and when I place the mouse over it, it says: "CashBack pays you to shop!" Lame! I don't want the CashBack dog on our computer. Please go away.
Bah. Now I have to go to work. As Homer would say, "Doh! Why me?!"
Now if we could only figure out how to get to the two-player mode, things would be just peachy.
We bought The Simpsons Hit and Run for the GameCube today, along with a second controller. Saren is currently having Homer drive through Cletus, the Slack-jawed Yokel's yard. Heh.
What's funny is the comments made by the characters. As Homer crashes into people, he yells out things like, "I'm a lean, mean, speed...thingy!" and "I am evil Homer! I am evil Homer!" It's like watching the show, but we direct it. Ha!
In other news, our computer is super slow. And soem new icon has mysteriously placed itself in our taskbar. It's a dog, and when I place the mouse over it, it says: "CashBack pays you to shop!" Lame! I don't want the CashBack dog on our computer. Please go away.
Bah. Now I have to go to work. As Homer would say, "Doh! Why me?!"
Thursday, January 13, 2005
We're not the Camdens
Lucy Camden (fictional character from the television show 7th Heaven) is going to have her baby on the episode that airs on January 24th. Wouldn't it be coincidental if our baby arrived on the same day?
According to the promos, Lucy is stuck in the elevator (in the hospital) when she gives birth. Hmm.
Semi-related news - the WB turned 10 back on the 11th. Wow. Ten. Spooky.
More work related news - the guy that was hired to replace the person that left (was fired) four months ago? He quit after the second day. (I still hold that it's because he was being trained with Bill) So they hired another new person - a woman this time - who worked with us yesterday. I think she'll stick around longer, but then again, she hasn't met Bill yet...
In nine days, I won't be in Master Control anymore. Odd.
Don't you hate it when a person you dislike does something nice? It's like, "It was easier to hate you when you were being a jackass, jackass."
We still need a new calendar.
Thankfully tomorrow is payday. We are broke broke broke!
Our phone line is all static-filled. It makes talking on the telephone extremely annoying and difficult. Plus, half the time incoming calls get cut off mid-ring. Oddly enough, staying online hasn't been an issue. We suspect that the wires outside may have been damaged by all the rain from the past 40 days or so. I may do some investigating later. I fear, though, that I'll end up having to call Sprint and they'll charge us an arm and a leg and an elbow just to come out and say, "Yup, it's screwed up." and then they'll tell us that it'll cost even more money to fix it. Because Sprint is the fucking anti-christ. Truly. I hate them. HATE!! HATE!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry.
I should be working on my big ol' entry I promised, but meh. Meh, I tell you!
Today's the 13th? Hmm. Nearly two weeks into 2005. So far, so....far.
["joke" deleted]
Um.
I've not read a book yet this year. Also, I'm doing okay on a resolution I made. Go team me! I'm also doing ...mediocre on another 'resolution' I made. Well, maybe "mediocre" is too strong a word. More like "poor". Or "failing". Or "not even remotely close". But, what are ya gonna do?
Wow. This was super boring!
According to the promos, Lucy is stuck in the elevator (in the hospital) when she gives birth. Hmm.
Semi-related news - the WB turned 10 back on the 11th. Wow. Ten. Spooky.
More work related news - the guy that was hired to replace the person that left (was fired) four months ago? He quit after the second day. (I still hold that it's because he was being trained with Bill) So they hired another new person - a woman this time - who worked with us yesterday. I think she'll stick around longer, but then again, she hasn't met Bill yet...
In nine days, I won't be in Master Control anymore. Odd.
Don't you hate it when a person you dislike does something nice? It's like, "It was easier to hate you when you were being a jackass, jackass."
We still need a new calendar.
Thankfully tomorrow is payday. We are broke broke broke!
Our phone line is all static-filled. It makes talking on the telephone extremely annoying and difficult. Plus, half the time incoming calls get cut off mid-ring. Oddly enough, staying online hasn't been an issue. We suspect that the wires outside may have been damaged by all the rain from the past 40 days or so. I may do some investigating later. I fear, though, that I'll end up having to call Sprint and they'll charge us an arm and a leg and an elbow just to come out and say, "Yup, it's screwed up." and then they'll tell us that it'll cost even more money to fix it. Because Sprint is the fucking anti-christ. Truly. I hate them. HATE!! HATE!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry.
I should be working on my big ol' entry I promised, but meh. Meh, I tell you!
Today's the 13th? Hmm. Nearly two weeks into 2005. So far, so....far.
["joke" deleted]
Um.
I've not read a book yet this year. Also, I'm doing okay on a resolution I made. Go team me! I'm also doing ...mediocre on another 'resolution' I made. Well, maybe "mediocre" is too strong a word. More like "poor". Or "failing". Or "not even remotely close". But, what are ya gonna do?
Wow. This was super boring!
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Clouds in my synapses
Waking up is hard to do.
I'm not sure how I'm going to adjust to the new hours of my new job.
*yawn*
Um.
Heh. I write a lot, therefore I must be great! Hee.
Um. Oh! I had a dream...it involved Harry Potter. And Judge Judy. And cicadas (yuck). But I don't recall the details, just the vague outline. It's so strange how dreams are like that. Thankfully our brains don't function that way during real life. How horrible that would be. Or, you know, I guess if it happened all the time, we'd be used to it. [shrug]
Super long entry coming soonish.
I'm not sure how I'm going to adjust to the new hours of my new job.
*yawn*
Um.
Heh. I write a lot, therefore I must be great! Hee.
Um. Oh! I had a dream...it involved Harry Potter. And Judge Judy. And cicadas (yuck). But I don't recall the details, just the vague outline. It's so strange how dreams are like that. Thankfully our brains don't function that way during real life. How horrible that would be. Or, you know, I guess if it happened all the time, we'd be used to it. [shrug]
Super long entry coming soonish.
Monday, January 10, 2005
One ten!
The month is one third of the way done! Holy carp. Heee! Carp.
The other day I heard "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" on the radio again. That was the first song I remember officially being sick of hearing. Also - what's the deal with metal bands (mostly Motley Crue - I refuse to put the umlauts) making comebacks? I mean, I like Kickstart My Heart as much as the next guy, but how many times can one hear Girls, Girls, Girls or Looks That Kill in one's life? The answer is 74.
I don't really have anything to blog about (I promised Steph I wouldn't mention the c...ouch...es..... um. Pretend I erased that.), and the girls want to see the continued escapades of Paper Mario, so I think I'll sign off with the following question - How long until we get a movie version of "Mork & Mindy" And who will play the role of Mork? And what role will Robin Williams have (just a cameo, some other part, etc)? I say 2007. And maybe he'll play Mork's father. Heh. Except that wouldn't work because Orkians (??) grow younger. I suppose he could be Mearth, but I despised that character on the show.
The other day I heard "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" on the radio again. That was the first song I remember officially being sick of hearing. Also - what's the deal with metal bands (mostly Motley Crue - I refuse to put the umlauts) making comebacks? I mean, I like Kickstart My Heart as much as the next guy, but how many times can one hear Girls, Girls, Girls or Looks That Kill in one's life? The answer is 74.
I don't really have anything to blog about (I promised Steph I wouldn't mention the c...ouch...es..... um. Pretend I erased that.), and the girls want to see the continued escapades of Paper Mario, so I think I'll sign off with the following question - How long until we get a movie version of "Mork & Mindy" And who will play the role of Mork? And what role will Robin Williams have (just a cameo, some other part, etc)? I say 2007. And maybe he'll play Mork's father. Heh. Except that wouldn't work because Orkians (??) grow younger. I suppose he could be Mearth, but I despised that character on the show.
Reviews and stuff.
Or, stuff and reviews. And, of course, the reviews aren't going to be much more than simple two line thoughts on the matter, but, whatchya gonna do?
When I hopped online today, one of the AOL headlines was that "some libraries ban 'America'". Being a fan of Jon Stewart, I thought, "Who be hatin'?" and decided to follow the link. As it started to load, the title bar gave a fuller account of the article, stating, "Mississippi County Libraries Ban Jon Stewart Book". Ohhhhh! Mississippi!
In other news, the armoire building experiment was not a complete failure! Hooray! It was also not a complete success, as I have not yet finished building it. (Dude. It's big, okay?) The only faults I had while constructing it were as follows:
1) A small cut on the base of my thumb. (Blood!)
2) I think I may have a small sliver of metal in the same thumb that was cut. It could also possibly just be some small under the skin type of blister that is rather painful. In fact, this thumb injury may not even be related to the building of the armoire at all.
3) Piece "H" was put on there backwards, originally. When I realized my error, I managed to undo it. (YAY!) But that was when I cut my thumb. Doh!
4) When I screwed the magnetic latch holder thing (that's the technical term, by the way) to the top of the armoire, it produced two diminutive bumps in the wood. Which means, either I overtightened the screws, I used the wrong length screws, or the wood is extremely cheap.
Other than those four things, it went pretty well. Doing man things is kinda cool. Who knew? Also! Saren and I bonded during the building of it, as she was my helper. She enjoyed placing the cam locks (that really is a technical term!) and screwing any screws that needed to be placed. She also liked to put the glue in the holes for the dowels. ("Dowels" and "glue" being yet two more technical terms. This blog entry is turning into "This Old House")
Okay. Reviews time.
Saturday at work I watched Raging Bull, which, as I had mentioned before, I had never seen. It was adequate. I liked it, I guess, but, like SpiderMan 2, I find that I don't really have much to say about it. I've thought about it for the past two days, but I don't know how much longer it'll stay with me. [shrug] I suppose the moral of the movie was "Professional boxers are people too."
Also, I'm reminded of Eddie Izzard:
"You don't talk to me that way! You don't talk to me that way! You fuck my wife? You fuck my wife? You fuck my wife? You fuck my wife? You fuck my wife?"
"I am your wife!"
"That doesn't matter! That doesn't matter! I say again, you fuck my wife?"
"All right, yes, I fucked your wife. I am your wife, and I fucked her."
Hee.
I also caught the last fifteen minutes or so of Ella Enchanted on Saturday (Saren was rewatching it, and it was ending as I got home from work). Super enjoyable! I think we may wind up buying that movie eventually.
Yesterday we finished the last hour of Garden State. Which makes that, what, like four days since we started it? Doh. I liked that, too. The message of that movie seemed to be, "All you need isdrugs love." Oh, and "Zach Braff knows how to pick out really awesome, Gen X-ish music." Which are both very good (and true) messages.
But, today we can mail back Garden State and Ella Enchanted, and get ...actually I'm not sure what's next on our ...queue. (Yes, that word is slowly becoming acceptable to me. Slowly.)
And we finally watched last Wednesday's Lost. There are so many Otherland references going on now! Freaky! Maybe the secret will be that they're all Puppets trapped in a virtual simulation. Heh.
When I hopped online today, one of the AOL headlines was that "some libraries ban 'America'". Being a fan of Jon Stewart, I thought, "Who be hatin'?" and decided to follow the link. As it started to load, the title bar gave a fuller account of the article, stating, "Mississippi County Libraries Ban Jon Stewart Book". Ohhhhh! Mississippi!
In other news, the armoire building experiment was not a complete failure! Hooray! It was also not a complete success, as I have not yet finished building it. (Dude. It's big, okay?) The only faults I had while constructing it were as follows:
1) A small cut on the base of my thumb. (Blood!)
2) I think I may have a small sliver of metal in the same thumb that was cut. It could also possibly just be some small under the skin type of blister that is rather painful. In fact, this thumb injury may not even be related to the building of the armoire at all.
3) Piece "H" was put on there backwards, originally. When I realized my error, I managed to undo it. (YAY!) But that was when I cut my thumb. Doh!
4) When I screwed the magnetic latch holder thing (that's the technical term, by the way) to the top of the armoire, it produced two diminutive bumps in the wood. Which means, either I overtightened the screws, I used the wrong length screws, or the wood is extremely cheap.
Other than those four things, it went pretty well. Doing man things is kinda cool. Who knew? Also! Saren and I bonded during the building of it, as she was my helper. She enjoyed placing the cam locks (that really is a technical term!) and screwing any screws that needed to be placed. She also liked to put the glue in the holes for the dowels. ("Dowels" and "glue" being yet two more technical terms. This blog entry is turning into "This Old House")
Okay. Reviews time.
Saturday at work I watched Raging Bull, which, as I had mentioned before, I had never seen. It was adequate. I liked it, I guess, but, like SpiderMan 2, I find that I don't really have much to say about it. I've thought about it for the past two days, but I don't know how much longer it'll stay with me. [shrug] I suppose the moral of the movie was "Professional boxers are people too."
Also, I'm reminded of Eddie Izzard:
"You don't talk to me that way! You don't talk to me that way! You fuck my wife? You fuck my wife? You fuck my wife? You fuck my wife? You fuck my wife?"
"I am your wife!"
"That doesn't matter! That doesn't matter! I say again, you fuck my wife?"
"All right, yes, I fucked your wife. I am your wife, and I fucked her."
Hee.
I also caught the last fifteen minutes or so of Ella Enchanted on Saturday (Saren was rewatching it, and it was ending as I got home from work). Super enjoyable! I think we may wind up buying that movie eventually.
Yesterday we finished the last hour of Garden State. Which makes that, what, like four days since we started it? Doh. I liked that, too. The message of that movie seemed to be, "All you need is
But, today we can mail back Garden State and Ella Enchanted, and get ...actually I'm not sure what's next on our ...queue. (Yes, that word is slowly becoming acceptable to me. Slowly.)
And we finally watched last Wednesday's Lost. There are so many Otherland references going on now! Freaky! Maybe the secret will be that they're all Puppets trapped in a virtual simulation. Heh.
Saturday, January 08, 2005
Thank ya. Thank ya very much.
So it's Elvis' 70th birthday.
In other news, it snowed here in Vegas yesterday. SNOW! In Las Vegas!
I don't know about global warming, per se, but the weather? It certainly has been getting wackier in recent years. People can draw their own conclusions. But I think that the folks living in California who have experienced the onslaught of rain in the past week might start to think that something might be up. I'm just sayin'.
Tomorrow I am going to build an armoire. Truly! It's one of my forays into doing a manly task, and I'm pretty psyched about it. I'll report back and see how it goes. "Man's ability to use tools!" Heh.
Two more random musings I forgot to mention: What is the plural of Vulpix? Vulpixes? Vulpices? Just Vulpix? All sound simultaneously right and wrong.
What is the "that" that Meatloaf won't do for love? And is it the same thing that Hall and Oats can't go for?
And, speaking of music questions - who is that song about, if it's not about me? (I'll bet you think it's about you. Don't you? Don't you!?!)
Today is the World Premiere (or Sneak Preview??) of Elektra. It's happening here in Las Vegas. Jennifer Garner will be here, at the Palms Casino, which is, literally, right down the road from where I work. I will be working - running Raging Bull (which I have never seen) - while our main newsanchor, RachWell will be interviewing her. Unfair!
Lastly, the Pit of 100 Trials needs save points along the way. REALLY.
In other news, it snowed here in Vegas yesterday. SNOW! In Las Vegas!
I don't know about global warming, per se, but the weather? It certainly has been getting wackier in recent years. People can draw their own conclusions. But I think that the folks living in California who have experienced the onslaught of rain in the past week might start to think that something might be up. I'm just sayin'.
Tomorrow I am going to build an armoire. Truly! It's one of my forays into doing a manly task, and I'm pretty psyched about it. I'll report back and see how it goes. "Man's ability to use tools!" Heh.
Two more random musings I forgot to mention: What is the plural of Vulpix? Vulpixes? Vulpices? Just Vulpix? All sound simultaneously right and wrong.
What is the "that" that Meatloaf won't do for love? And is it the same thing that Hall and Oats can't go for?
And, speaking of music questions - who is that song about, if it's not about me? (I'll bet you think it's about you. Don't you? Don't you!?!)
Today is the World Premiere (or Sneak Preview??) of Elektra. It's happening here in Las Vegas. Jennifer Garner will be here, at the Palms Casino, which is, literally, right down the road from where I work. I will be working - running Raging Bull (which I have never seen) - while our main newsanchor, RachWell will be interviewing her. Unfair!
Lastly, the Pit of 100 Trials needs save points along the way. REALLY.
|
Friday, January 07, 2005
2005 year in review.
Since I did not get around to doing a 2004 year in review, I figured I'd do one for 2005. And, hey, doing one when the year is only a week old makes it a lot easier than waiting until it's three hundred some odd days into it. Ya know?
So.
Thus far the big news of 2005 is all hold over stuff from 2004. The tsunamis that occured on December 26th of last year have, so far, been the big story of this one. Which, is totally understandable.
The other events in the Fucking News have been the same old same old. Blah blah blah, car bombings in Iraq. Yada yada yada, terrorists planning revenge. Like I said, it seems that '05 hasn't found it's own identity yet, and seems to be 2004 Part Two.
Personally, though, this year's been gooder than last. Except for the poorness. Which is a holdover from the past twenty-nine years. But! New job! And new blog goal/gimmick! And (soon) new baby!! Woohoo!!
So, in the immortal words of Vince Neil: Hey Tommie! Happy Fuckin' New Year! (That cracks me up every time I say it.)
So.
Thus far the big news of 2005 is all hold over stuff from 2004. The tsunamis that occured on December 26th of last year have, so far, been the big story of this one. Which, is totally understandable.
The other events in the Fucking News have been the same old same old. Blah blah blah, car bombings in Iraq. Yada yada yada, terrorists planning revenge. Like I said, it seems that '05 hasn't found it's own identity yet, and seems to be 2004 Part Two.
Personally, though, this year's been gooder than last. Except for the poorness. Which is a holdover from the past twenty-nine years. But! New job! And new blog goal/gimmick! And (soon) new baby!! Woohoo!!
So, in the immortal words of Vince Neil: Hey Tommie! Happy Fuckin' New Year! (That cracks me up every time I say it.)
Random musings.
In a fight to the death, who would win - English Muffins or French Toast?
What happened to DJ Jazzy Jeff? Will Smith went on to bigger and better things, but what of his partner? Parents like myself just don't understand.
I wonder if my work's health insurance covers stigmata. Does anyone's?
Why am I blogging when I should be going to work?
What happened to DJ Jazzy Jeff? Will Smith went on to bigger and better things, but what of his partner? Parents like myself just don't understand.
I wonder if my work's health insurance covers stigmata. Does anyone's?
Why am I blogging when I should be going to work?
Thursday, January 06, 2005
Spider Meh 2: Much less meh!
So, as I think everyone is aware, the Spish joined Netflix recently. And we recieved our first 3 movies on Monday. Spider-Man 2, Garden State, and Ella Enchanted.
Dude. Netflix sends them in such tiny little envelopes! The Steph and I were expecting, like, boxes.
Anywhat, we watched Spider-Man 2 (or as it appeared on our screen before I altered the DVD settings, Pider-Ma 2) first. And, because I promised film reviews, and because I want to keep track of the movies we watch, and because I'm trying to hit this ridiculous goal of 200,005 words, I now present you with my "review" of Spider-Man 2.
[Begin spoiler for -Spider-Man 2 highlight to view]
See, I don't know if it's because I am not so good at reviewing movies, or what, but I don't have a lot to say about SM2. It wasn't horrible. I liked it better than the first one, but to be honest, the only things I really remember about the original film were that I was "not 100%" at the time of watching it, that we saw it for free (I think), and that I made a post about it on the WD entitled Spider Meh.
This one was funny. Or funnier, I mean. Than the first one, I mean. Peter Parker's boss at the newspaper is hilarious. They should give him his own movie.
Um.
I did get goosebumps at the "Go, Spidey, Go!" line. (I got goosebumps while I was writing that. [rolleyes])
Hmmm. Yeah. We watched it a few days ago, so you'd think I'd have more to say about it, but ...you'd be wrong. I do want to have a little gimmick in these reviews, but I can't decide if it should be "Moral of the movie" or "What I learned from [movie title]" or what. Maybe I'll play it by ear. Yeah.
What I learned from Spider-Man 2: In a fight between a spider and an octopus (both having eight arms, thus ensuring a fair fight), the winner will be the one that has more self-esteem.[end spoiler]
As for the other movies, the womenfolk watched Ella Enchanted last night, and Saren did like it very much. She was telling me about how Ella had girl power, and did all these "awesome" (her new favorite word) moves and how I should watch it someday.
And Steph and I have seen about one half of Garden State so far. We'll have to finish it in the next day or so - because we also have 3 hours of J.J. Abrams television to watch eventually as well. So much viewing to do, so little time.
Dude. Netflix sends them in such tiny little envelopes! The Steph and I were expecting, like, boxes.
Anywhat, we watched Spider-Man 2 (or as it appeared on our screen before I altered the DVD settings, Pider-Ma 2) first. And, because I promised film reviews, and because I want to keep track of the movies we watch, and because I'm trying to hit this ridiculous goal of 200,005 words, I now present you with my "review" of Spider-Man 2.
[Begin spoiler for -Spider-Man 2 highlight to view]
See, I don't know if it's because I am not so good at reviewing movies, or what, but I don't have a lot to say about SM2. It wasn't horrible. I liked it better than the first one, but to be honest, the only things I really remember about the original film were that I was "not 100%" at the time of watching it, that we saw it for free (I think), and that I made a post about it on the WD entitled Spider Meh.
This one was funny. Or funnier, I mean. Than the first one, I mean. Peter Parker's boss at the newspaper is hilarious. They should give him his own movie.
Um.
I did get goosebumps at the "Go, Spidey, Go!" line. (I got goosebumps while I was writing that. [rolleyes])
Hmmm. Yeah. We watched it a few days ago, so you'd think I'd have more to say about it, but ...you'd be wrong. I do want to have a little gimmick in these reviews, but I can't decide if it should be "Moral of the movie" or "What I learned from [movie title]" or what. Maybe I'll play it by ear. Yeah.
What I learned from Spider-Man 2: In a fight between a spider and an octopus (both having eight arms, thus ensuring a fair fight), the winner will be the one that has more self-esteem.[end spoiler]
As for the other movies, the womenfolk watched Ella Enchanted last night, and Saren did like it very much. She was telling me about how Ella had girl power, and did all these "awesome" (her new favorite word) moves and how I should watch it someday.
And Steph and I have seen about one half of Garden State so far. We'll have to finish it in the next day or so - because we also have 3 hours of J.J. Abrams television to watch eventually as well. So much viewing to do, so little time.
Clickety-clack.
Dude. What's up with our keyboard? Now, when I type anything, each leter produces a tiny (that should've ben tinny) sounding sound. Also, double leters don't work. Unles I wait for a while before hiting the second key. It's iritating, to say the least. (The double keystroke pause thing also includes the return key and most anoying, the backspace key, so going back to corect erors - time consuming!)
I'm suspecting it's some sort of virus, or spyware or one of those thing-a-ma-bobs. You know what I mean. Either way, I'm not hapy about it, but I'l move on.
So, gues what! I got the job!
No, not that job (although that entry was my way of telling you al that I was applying for a new position. I'm all about the metaphor and the gimicks, you see).
No, the job is Programming Assistant. So I'm still with the "vast sewer of moral darkness", just in a different department.
Side note: I discovered the clickety clack causer. Someone turned on the Filter Keys option on our computer. Which apparently causes Windows to delay keystrokes. What an odd feature. Anywhat, it's turned off now. Yay! [/side note]
So, yeah, as I was saying - A few weeks back, the station's Programming Assistant got hired on at a competitor station, and that left her position open. I figured, "What the heck" and applied for it. The interview went super well, and two days ago, I was officially offered the gig. Yay! So what does a Programming Assistant do, you ask? Among other things, I will be in charge of editing the movies that our stations run. Woohoo! Censorship!! I will also be in charge of talking to the TV Guide people, making sure they know what we're running. And, I'll speak with movie distributors, finding out information about when certain films can run, yada yada yada. Basically, I will be the assistant to the Program Director, who makes the decisions as to what we air. Besides Network. We can't control what the WB decides to run. Damnit. But! my new boss is one of the coolest people at the station, so working for her is going to be awesome. Plus! It's a step up. (Not monetarily, of course, because our stations are cheap, and from the sound of it, about as broke as our family is.) But within the industry, this is defintely seen as an improvement on one's resume.
So, yeah. No more watching the boob tube for 8 hours a day for this guy. Instead, I'll be deciding (or helping in the deciding) what the Master Control ops will be watching instead. Heh. I'll have an office - well, a cubicle, at any rate - and an actual business email account (interent access!? Does this mean that I will once again blog from work? Hmmm. No. Or at least, not right away.), and I'll have nights and weekends free. Plus, I'm going to be 30 this year. It's about time that I grew up and got a real job.
There's a whole lot more I could blog about in regard to this - basically the turmoil that has resulted in the Master Control Department the past few days because of this development, but it's really boring to anyone that isn't working there, so I'll not talk about that.
Seems like, thus far, anyway, 2005 is going to be a pretty good year. Here's hoping it only gets better.
I'm suspecting it's some sort of virus, or spyware or one of those thing-a-ma-bobs. You know what I mean. Either way, I'm not hapy about it, but I'l move on.
So, gues what! I got the job!
No, not that job (although that entry was my way of telling you al that I was applying for a new position. I'm all about the metaphor and the gimicks, you see).
No, the job is Programming Assistant. So I'm still with the "vast sewer of moral darkness", just in a different department.
Side note: I discovered the clickety clack causer. Someone turned on the Filter Keys option on our computer. Which apparently causes Windows to delay keystrokes. What an odd feature. Anywhat, it's turned off now. Yay! [/side note]
So, yeah, as I was saying - A few weeks back, the station's Programming Assistant got hired on at a competitor station, and that left her position open. I figured, "What the heck" and applied for it. The interview went super well, and two days ago, I was officially offered the gig. Yay! So what does a Programming Assistant do, you ask? Among other things, I will be in charge of editing the movies that our stations run. Woohoo! Censorship!! I will also be in charge of talking to the TV Guide people, making sure they know what we're running. And, I'll speak with movie distributors, finding out information about when certain films can run, yada yada yada. Basically, I will be the assistant to the Program Director, who makes the decisions as to what we air. Besides Network. We can't control what the WB decides to run. Damnit. But! my new boss is one of the coolest people at the station, so working for her is going to be awesome. Plus! It's a step up. (Not monetarily, of course, because our stations are cheap, and from the sound of it, about as broke as our family is.) But within the industry, this is defintely seen as an improvement on one's resume.
So, yeah. No more watching the boob tube for 8 hours a day for this guy. Instead, I'll be deciding (or helping in the deciding) what the Master Control ops will be watching instead. Heh. I'll have an office - well, a cubicle, at any rate - and an actual business email account (interent access!? Does this mean that I will once again blog from work? Hmmm. No. Or at least, not right away.), and I'll have nights and weekends free. Plus, I'm going to be 30 this year. It's about time that I grew up and got a real job.
There's a whole lot more I could blog about in regard to this - basically the turmoil that has resulted in the Master Control Department the past few days because of this development, but it's really boring to anyone that isn't working there, so I'll not talk about that.
Seems like, thus far, anyway, 2005 is going to be a pretty good year. Here's hoping it only gets better.
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
I'm George W. Bush, and I approved this message.
best if you can do a decent Bush imitation
"Ladies and gentlemen of America. It has recently come to my attention that a disaster has struck in the middle of the Indian ...er, excuse me, the Native American Ocean. A horrible tragedy has befell the people who live near there.
I believe that this is the work of terraists. My intellegence committee has reported to me that the leader of these terraists is a women named Sue Namie.
I give my word as a God fearin' Christian that I will now declare a War on Nature. Listen Nature, and listen well:
We will not stop. You are either with us, or you are against us. But we will be victorious in our onslaught of you.
God Bless America."
"Ladies and gentlemen of America. It has recently come to my attention that a disaster has struck in the middle of the Indian ...er, excuse me, the Native American Ocean. A horrible tragedy has befell the people who live near there.
I believe that this is the work of terraists. My intellegence committee has reported to me that the leader of these terraists is a women named Sue Namie.
I give my word as a God fearin' Christian that I will now declare a War on Nature. Listen Nature, and listen well:
We will not stop. You are either with us, or you are against us. But we will be victorious in our onslaught of you.
God Bless America."
Sunday, January 02, 2005
Zero point zero. Still.
Most likely. 200,005 words is a large amount. Steph mentioned that it would be a lot easier to accomplish if I were writing a novel, but blogging it is going to be nigh impossible. Heh. "nigh".
Okay, enough meta-posts. I promise not every post this year will be about "Project '05".
Um.
(Someone should keep track of how many times I use "um" in my blog. I'm betting it's a lot. But, hey, "um" is still a word. And therefore counts toward the big goal. And there I go talking about it again. Doh!)
As the baby gets closer to being here, it just kinda constantly hits me that we're going to have a new human in our family. That's so cool. And weird. I mean, really. First there was nothing, then, ploop! Human! Life! And he (or she) will be with us from here on out. Life will be divided into Before Child 3, and After. I'm not expressing my thoughts very well (shocker!), but I think the drift is getting across.
Today is Sunday, and I normally have Sundays off. But earlier this week I was asked if I wanted to come in for some overtime. I agreed, because we do need the extra cash, but BLARGH! I wish I could just get the money without having to be away from home. Especially as Stephanie becomes more and more tired. Blargh.
Hey! They found Vulpix! [/random noticing of my surroundings]
So, yeah. Work in a few hours, and this place is still not as clean as it should be. I think, then, that I will surprise Steph by straightening up the living room before she awakens. Hopefully that goes better than this blog entry, which is a complete mess.
Okay, enough meta-posts. I promise not every post this year will be about "Project '05".
Um.
(Someone should keep track of how many times I use "um" in my blog. I'm betting it's a lot. But, hey, "um" is still a word. And therefore counts toward the big goal. And there I go talking about it again. Doh!)
As the baby gets closer to being here, it just kinda constantly hits me that we're going to have a new human in our family. That's so cool. And weird. I mean, really. First there was nothing, then, ploop! Human! Life! And he (or she) will be with us from here on out. Life will be divided into Before Child 3, and After. I'm not expressing my thoughts very well (shocker!), but I think the drift is getting across.
Today is Sunday, and I normally have Sundays off. But earlier this week I was asked if I wanted to come in for some overtime. I agreed, because we do need the extra cash, but BLARGH! I wish I could just get the money without having to be away from home. Especially as Stephanie becomes more and more tired. Blargh.
Hey! They found Vulpix! [/random noticing of my surroundings]
So, yeah. Work in a few hours, and this place is still not as clean as it should be. I think, then, that I will surprise Steph by straightening up the living room before she awakens. Hopefully that goes better than this blog entry, which is a complete mess.
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Saturday, January 01, 2005
It begins...
Okay, then.
Happy New Year, everyone! Welcome to 1992!
What? It's not 1992? Why not? Says who? Oh, you're right! It's only the year 29. No? Oh. Two-thousand-five, eh?
This 2005 nonsense is simply because everyone has agreed. But what if everyone didn't?
So, yeah. It's the middle of the first decade of the 21st century. The Ohs, as the masses like to call them. I prefer The Aughts. Heh. Aught. You ought to as well! Heh.
I wonder what it is, exactly, about puns and wordplay that make my brain so happy? And I know that it isn't just my brain. I mean, other people enjoy stupid groan-inducing puns as well. Something in our hardwiring, is my guess. But what? Why?
Smiles are strange things. In any other animal (or, most, I should say. I don't know if it's true for ALL of them) showing teeth is a sign of aggression. But in humans (all primates?? Jupe, have any insight on this?) the smile seems to be pretty universal as a sign of happiness and friendship.
You can most likely tell that I'm simply doing the stream-of-conciousness thing. Expect a lot of that this year. If I'm going to accomplish (HA HA HA!) or even come near (ha!) or even make any sort of mark (acceptable!) in this goal of 200,005 words by year's end, I'll have to make all sorts of long, rambling, not truly connected types of posts. Or lots (and lots!) of shorter ones throughout the day. Or both. Oh. And fiction. Must remember to type up stories and whatnot. Yes.
I almost wish it were 1992. Then I'd have so many more years to work on my Perth story! I might even get it finished if I had 14 years to write it. Might.
So we joined Netflix! Which is cool. It'll be nice to actually see movies again. Um. At least, in theory. Because we were looking at the Netflix list the other day, and, even though I'm always saying, "Oh, there are so mnay movies I want to see"....there really aren't. I mean, thre are some. But a lot of movies SUCK. Really really bad. I'd say, even, that MOST movies are crap. Even the good ones. Heh.
That being said, if anyone has movie suggestions - I'm open. Just because a movie is crappy or a waste of time, doesn't mean I won't watch it. (And probably even enjoy it, in some way) So, yeah. Any flicks out there that you wanna recommend, bring 'em on. Ooh! I know! I can do movie reviews periodically as well. That will eat up words. Yes. Excellent. And so on.
Okay. I've been typing (off and on) for about 15 minutes now. I'll cut and paste this baby in Microsoft Word, do a word count, add some HTML, and post. Yay!
Happy New Year, everyone! Welcome to 1992!
What? It's not 1992? Why not? Says who? Oh, you're right! It's only the year 29. No? Oh. Two-thousand-five, eh?
This 2005 nonsense is simply because everyone has agreed. But what if everyone didn't?
So, yeah. It's the middle of the first decade of the 21st century. The Ohs, as the masses like to call them. I prefer The Aughts. Heh. Aught. You ought to as well! Heh.
I wonder what it is, exactly, about puns and wordplay that make my brain so happy? And I know that it isn't just my brain. I mean, other people enjoy stupid groan-inducing puns as well. Something in our hardwiring, is my guess. But what? Why?
Smiles are strange things. In any other animal (or, most, I should say. I don't know if it's true for ALL of them) showing teeth is a sign of aggression. But in humans (all primates?? Jupe, have any insight on this?) the smile seems to be pretty universal as a sign of happiness and friendship.
You can most likely tell that I'm simply doing the stream-of-conciousness thing. Expect a lot of that this year. If I'm going to accomplish (HA HA HA!) or even come near (ha!) or even make any sort of mark (acceptable!) in this goal of 200,005 words by year's end, I'll have to make all sorts of long, rambling, not truly connected types of posts. Or lots (and lots!) of shorter ones throughout the day. Or both. Oh. And fiction. Must remember to type up stories and whatnot. Yes.
I almost wish it were 1992. Then I'd have so many more years to work on my Perth story! I might even get it finished if I had 14 years to write it. Might.
So we joined Netflix! Which is cool. It'll be nice to actually see movies again. Um. At least, in theory. Because we were looking at the Netflix list the other day, and, even though I'm always saying, "Oh, there are so mnay movies I want to see"....there really aren't. I mean, thre are some. But a lot of movies SUCK. Really really bad. I'd say, even, that MOST movies are crap. Even the good ones. Heh.
That being said, if anyone has movie suggestions - I'm open. Just because a movie is crappy or a waste of time, doesn't mean I won't watch it. (And probably even enjoy it, in some way) So, yeah. Any flicks out there that you wanna recommend, bring 'em on. Ooh! I know! I can do movie reviews periodically as well. That will eat up words. Yes. Excellent. And so on.
Okay. I've been typing (off and on) for about 15 minutes now. I'll cut and paste this baby in Microsoft Word, do a word count, add some HTML, and post. Yay!
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