Old for My Age

I had an interesting evening tonight. In the end, I have re-affirmed that I am too old for my age. Not even 25, but feel utterly out of place amongst people my own age. Tonight we did our nightly patrol around the complex, and noticed people hanging out at the gazebo. Which is actually fairly unusual. So we decided to load up a hookah and head out. We set up on the deck near the gazebo and let the small cluster of young people engage us as they wanted to, not intruding. As a side note, we've got confirmed orders for at least three hookahs. Yay business! The average age of the group was probably 21 or 22. As is wont to happen when a little alcohol and the hookah is involved, conversation on a wide variety of topics ensued. Which, as would be expected, lead to politics and religion. Which lead to a mostly silent and irritated me. Young people full of "new" and "radical" ideas, severe distrust of the government, liberal though, dislike of an unpopular war, etc. Not unusual for the age group. And they were all well read and articulate. Likeable enough people, really. But frustrating for me. More and more I find I just don't understand or identify with people my own age. Got called a racist by a white person (dwa?) until I repeatedly explained that my dislike of urban culture has nothing to do with race, but the culture itself. The style of dress, the general attitude of zero personal responibility, the glorification of the objectification of women (that was a mouthful), the "music" and all that. I don't care if they have something intelligent to say. I can appreciate their wordsmithing, and do. But unlike one of the guys we talked with, I do care about what they say, not just how they say it. I also believe in not dressing like a clown. But. As I said, they were agreeable enough. Well-spoken, well-read. Cultured and intelligent. Just...well...kids.

When did I get this old?!

today's music ain't got the same soul

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!

Thief! THIEF! THIIEEEFFF!!!!

refer here for object of theft

Just Stop

I think I should learn how to become an automaton. I think it'd much easier than my ever-hopeful self. Because that ever-hoping crap is only going to end in disappointment. Again. As always. Rah.

there she goes

Weekend Update, with Norm Macdonald

I've been away from the box for while. Just checking in. My mood's been stuck somewhere between melancholy and depressed for the last week or so. No discernable reason, other than maybe just the end result of months of crap at work and a rather vaccuous hole of a social life most of the time. But I don't think that's it. Probably just a bout of the ol' chemical imbalance rearing its ugly head. After tomorrow, I'll no longer be in Geek Squad. I hate that it came to that. I'll still be employed at Best Buy, and at the same store, just back in Car Audio. I should be working through Thursday of this week, but that changed while I was at work not 10 hours ago. Two weeks ago, I had 37 hours this week upcoming. A week ago, unchanged. Even when I went in to work at around 3PM for my closing shift, I was still scheduled a full work week. But between the time I got to work and the time Renny left, I had no hours. Zero. None. But everyone else, full or part time had full time hours. Huh. Letters to HR will be written tomorrow, oh yes. If Scott or Renny are there, I might raise a stink. I'm leaving anyway. They have no power over me now. No fear of reprisal hold me back. Which is what I've had for the last two weeks. But that's beside the point.

I've been writing, though. Just not here. Working on the Chronicles of Jed, working title. A lot of good ideas for the tale, which continuously evolves, came to me this week. For example, Jed, the main male character, is part demon. His mother was an elf of a certain tribe. She was assaulted by, what amounts to, an angel of death. Twins were the result of the assault. Jed, and Drandor. The mother, however, being an elf, was able to discern which of the two was the "Good" twin and which had a disposition more like the father. She was able to separate the essences of the children so that the "Good" twin got the noble heart and the demon blood whilst purifying the other child, but leaving the dark heart. I like the dychotomy. One's flesh is evil, while his soul is pure. The other is a pure being with an evil soul. That leads to another dynamic. The pure female priestessy character always gets treated rather tersely by Jed. There's no immediate explanation for this. Later on you discover that while Jed is, indeed, usually an asshole, in this particular case, it's something much different. Jed's demon blood is repulsed by holy things. Being in churches and around general holy things makes him uncomfortable in a non-specific way. Being around someone who is part celestial/holy being actually causes him physical pain. Like, say, a 5 or 6 on the 0-10 scale of pain. Constantly. This is a little bit of self-reference. I, on a normal day, because of my leg, can usually expect a pain level of 3 as a constant. There are times when it is lower than that, or even a 0. 3 is not bad. That, as near as I can tell, is the equivalent of just have a stiff back, or a head-coldish sinus pressure. Not bad, usually ignorable, easily remedied with low dosage of medication like tylenol. But this is everyday. And I don't like relying on pills. It's just a fact of me. My leg is kinda screwy because of how it was broken 11 years ago. I deal. But whenever there's a significant weather change or if I get in a "mood" the pain jumps to around 4 or 5. Which is what I equate with, say, the flu kind of achiness or first hard workout kinda sore and stiff. Which means I'm cranky. This week in particular, I got the double whammy of weather and moodiness so my leg has been most unpleasant. I have naproxen sodium for days like these, which help. But I don't always remember to take it when I get up. So if I'm ever kinda barky at you, take into account weather and such. It's probably not you so much as I hurt. Kinda like animals. When they're in pain, they tend to snap and bite. But that's Jed, too. Being around her causes him a noticable level of discomfort. But there are other things, far more epic and grand than mortal and identifiable characters. Like dead gods and dark cults trying to resurrect them. Avatars, angels, demons, mad wizards, dragons, AIRSHIPS!(ZOMG!!!1), meaningless death, redemption, resurrection. I know that when I get moody, the mind starts working funny and a lot of ideas flow forth and most of it is slag, but from the slag comes the occasional nugget of worth. And that is the one silver lining to the moodiness is an increase in creativity, even if it does tend towards dark and morbid things.

i'm gonna get free

Grand Opening!

I am now, officially, co-owner of the Sultan's Tent Partnership, a subsidiary of Shaw, Johnson & Jones Solutions and Consultations. Our "Grand Opening" is Friday, September the First, in the Two Thousand and Sixth Year of Our Lord. We'll be having several hookahs set up, probably grilling, most likely drinking. You are all invited.

takin' care of business

Rah.

And I miss her
And I miss her
And I miss her still

Got tired?

Man. Tuesday? Tuesday was a good day. Slept in. No work, as I twisted my knee bad enough the night before that being on my feet for 8 hours was a large no-no. I was well-rested. I finished cleaning my room. My room is now nigh-unto spotless. Very presentable. On top of that, my England World Cup soccer, I meant "football", jersey came in the mail, and it is very spiffy. And being an "authentic" replica (jumbo shrimp? wha?) it's actually an Umbro X-Static jersey, making it very comfy. It's washing right now, but I'll try to get some pictures of me in it. Being not made in or for the US, the sizing is actually more like it should be, but I'll rant on that a little later. My new bracers also came in. And man. Are they sweet. Medium brown leather (I'm switching over to all brown leather since my old boots finally gave out.) with, get this, copper plates on top in a scrollwork pattern! So very pretty. Check them out here.

Today? Wednesday? Not so much. 10 AM shift. Mornings and I have never gotten along. This one was no different. It didn't help that there was a line formed outside BEFORE THE STORE WAS EVEN OPEN!!! Jesus, people, it's not that important! Go home! Sleep in a little longer! Something! And there was no mid coverage today. Two openers, and then everyone else came in after 1. Which means the guy that came in at 7AM didn't get his break until two hours before he was supposed to leave. What kind of schedule is that?! The only reason the day wasn't a complete shit-fest was because I lucked up and managed to already be working on some new pcs when the new orders kept coming in. So after lunch all I did was new computers. And I pushed out about eight in that time. Bearing in mind, that a new PC setup with restore CD creation takes about three hours, and I had four hours left after lunch. So I was working on six new computers at a time at any given moment during that time. But at least I wasn't at the window so I could actually get something done. And I'm not the only one in the department wanting out. The two new guys are already asking what the heck is going on with our precinct. All I can do is shrug and point to the leadership.

Clothing Rant, Go! So Chris got some black military-style cargo pants a month ago when this whole night-time security gig started. And normally I wear an XL shirt, so Chris, trying to be thoughtful, got me some XL pants. I'm willing to bet that if I were to buy a pair of, say, sweatpants I'd buy an XL. But the military, at least, knows how to size things. Shoes, for example. I wear a 13-14 in commercial sports shoes and boots, etc. My new jungle boots are a 12 wide. Are size 12's not as big as they used to be or do the army numbers run big? And my new soccer jersey is an XXL. But wears just like all my XL t-shirts. Are we so fat here in America that we need to adjust our sizes to make us feel better as men, but the adjust our sizes so that a, say, size 12 dress is what most people would consider fat, even though Marilyn Monroe wore a 12? What's going on there?

One last thing for you guys. I have to admit that I'm finding iTunes to not suck. Not the music store, I'll have none of that. But the player itself handles my mp3's just as good as winamp did, but with far less frequent needs to update. And when it does need to update, it does so automatically. Which I like. I like stream-lined computer use. Screw micro-managing my PC. That's what Linux users are all about. I'm not a Linux user. But I also recently discovered iTunes internet radio. They have a classical guitar channel. Classical guitar! I fell in love with this particular type of music years ago when Billie first started going to the NCSA. I will admit that if it weren't for my affection for her, I might never have discovered or developed an appreciation for it, but I did. I have many fond memories of going to Escape the Daily Grind and getting a large espresso smoothie and listening to Billie play for a couple of hours, or hanging out with her at her parents' house (her still living there and all) and listening to her practice. I miss that.

Sigh.

still my guitar gently weeps

OMFG!!!1

I CAN'T GET TO SLEEP! OMG!!! >.<

who needs sleep, never gonna get it

Group!

I don't get to hang out with my brother nearly enough. Which is why it was super awesome being able to hang out with him in the whee hours of the morning. All thanks to World of Warcraft.

Thank you, World of Warcraft, for bringing my family back together.

How has World of Warcraft changed your life?

How could World of Warcraft change you life, even today?

Join us at the First Church of WoW, every Saturday night. Raids and instances to follow service.

raiding for Jesus

Tax Free is very taxing

Day one the three day onslaught that is Tax Free Weekend (end...end...end...) has come to a close. I...am tired. And I hurt. This is all the fault of poor management on all levels. And there's no real relief in sight. Our old GM, Alvin, has left for better positioning in the new Kannapolis store, where he's closer to home and has the opportunity to make great things happen, yadda yadda. So we're a ship without a captain. And lots of bickering officers. And the only people who know what they're doing in engineering are the enlisted men of little or no rank. Our sargeant, our lieutenant and the executive officer are ALL from logistics and supply. But feel they have the training and skills to tell us how to do our job. Whee. I do have a couple of leads on some better jobs, at least. But I need to find something before the holiday season. I am done with retail. Or at least, I'm really feeling done with the Geek Squad department in my store. But I say that every few days or so, don't I? It's just really hard to let go of the benefits at the location. I do have friends there. I just don't like what my bosses have caused to happen in the department. And no one cares but us. Rah.

So I've joined a guild in World of Warcraft. I'd link the site for the guild, but I haven't made it yet. Yes, that's right, I'm something of an official in the guild and the only person who knows enough code to make a website. Am I in high school again? I thought everyone knew HTML?! Yeesh. The guild itself, Phlinx if you're interested, is new. Like last week just created new. So I don't know how cool or not cool the guild will be. But I'm willing to give it a shot. The tabards don't look too bad, and there's plans to schedule raids and instances and fun community stuff like that. I just have to survive tax-free weekend so I can make the page.

a killer in me is a killer in you

Ulthwe, for the win.

Another long day for the persons.

Y'know, I started to write this blog, then had to walk away after writing that first line and now I have no clue where the heck I was going with that. But I'm going to leave it. On a whim. Sucka.

Today was another pretty good day, despite having to be in at 10AM. (When will they learn?!) Work was actually rather blah. I got a few things done, but not really enough. Mostly because of the lack of help going around. See, even with the new full time employee, we've got a part-timer getting the heck out of dodge. And this new guy knows his stuff, he was even a Double Agent, but he doesn't know precinct work. So we've got to teach him the methods we use. I hate teaching. Renny was 45 minutes late today. Which is bad enough. But this story goes back a little farther than that. See, there was a blood drive today. And Annie and Amie were getting people signed up to give. I figured I hate avoided it long enough, and it was time to bite the bullet and just give. So I sign up for 2:45 in the afternoon thinking that surely I would be able to eat lunch before giving blood. Enter Renny. See, Renny should have been in at 2PM. Enabling me to immediately go to lunch, get cleaned up and give blood. Remember that 45 minutes late I was talking about? Yeah. Renny got there just in time for me to give blood. On an empty and growling stomach. So I'm lying there on the almost comfortable chair thing. That was designed for someone much smaller than me. Now, I can stand the sight of blood. I can handle the sight of my own blood. But apparently, I'm not so keen on seeing a dark red tube hanging from my arm. I've still got to twitch and shake my arm thinking about it. And they took from my right arm. Not my best arm. But back to the empty stomach. About 3/4 of the way into it, they notice me being visibly pale. I'd have said something, but speech was a little more than I could do at the time. Thinking was fine. Moving wasn't. So they immediately pump me full of about 4 cans of Pepsi and some crackers until I'm done. I don't think the nurse liked me too much. There appears to be a lot more donor involvement than I thought. And in situations like this, I prefer to just kinda nap through it and zone out. I think I would have been okay if I had eaten before. Even right now, though my right arm is still weak. I don't know if I'll give again.

In other news, Jerod is up for a day or two. My Eldar now stand, technically 2-0. Though these victories have been very narrow. But it's nice to win. Eldar tanks rule.

There's more to tell about the day at work, but I'm going to turn in "early." Still kinda tired.

sephiroth! sephiroth!

A day of rest.

Aaah. Sleep. How I have missed thee. So far, my day off has been restful, unproductive and all around fantawesweetastic.

I played WoW until around, oh, dawn or so. Because it is, in fact, very fun to do so. Especially when you're running around kicking ass as a Paladin. Mmm, Paladin. I just learned the Ressurect spell, so I am well on my way to becoming a very viable party member.

I only ended up sleeping until around 11:30AM today. Which is far earlier than my usual 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon. Heh. But it was a very nice six or so hours of sleep. I felt very well rested when Chris came in to wake me up to deliver some really good news.

See, we've been muttering to ourselves of late. Along with many plans we're putting into the works, we also came up with the notion of making a proposal to the apartment complex about being on-site, in-house security. Our plan is to make regular nightly patrols until a fairly reasonable hour. Flashlights, pseudo-tactical clothing, duty logs, incident reports, all that. We were going to ask for a small concession on our rent. Around $300 a month for the three of us. Chris went in with his proposal today, laid out our ideas. They agreed to everything but the concession. The offered HALF OFF THE RENT with the garage for FREE!!! That's right, instead of $400 a month a person ($1200 a month for rent, garage, water), they're talking about $600 a month for a 1,400 square foot apartment with three bedrooms. $200. A. Person. Holy cow.

Hugh is on his way out up here and we plan to celebrate with some fine Japanese cuisine.

now you feel like numba one, shining bright for everyone

I'd Forgotten

It's been a really long time since some on called me self-righteous. I'd forgotten how satisfying that is to hear. Especially if the person is trying to mock you when you're trying to offer support to someone you thought was a friend. I guess they all really do hate paladins.

*sigh*

Who are you people again?

Tired. Hurt. Too much work, not enough play. Rah.

Also? The smell of pot being smoked makes me sick to my stomach. If I had been thinking a little more clearly, I'd not have gone over there. I knew the guy smoked pot. But I didn't expect 12 of his stoner buddies to show up and begin to pass around the stuff. Which is pretty dumb. Most stoners only hang out with stoners. They being the only people that can really stand pot smoke. Perhaps I made the incorrect conclusion when I thought that it was a sometimes thing he did, not an Every Day After Work kind of thing. Eesh. I also made the mistake of complaining about said upset stomachness to some co-workers. Who glanced about and made sarcastic comments indicating that they, too, dabbled in the marijuana. Just another reason I want out of the place.

I've been enjoying World of Warcraft. Shut up, I'm new to the game. Anyway, I created a paladin, which is more fun than my warrior in many aspects, mostly survivability. Until, of course, level Ridiculous opposing characters (two of them) storm into what amounts to the Newbie Area and kill. A lot. I died at least a dozen times just trying to contribute to the defense of the area. Being level 11 at the time, going against what was later determined to be around 50, seems foolish. But there were many of us. But it was foolish. I didn't have to go, I could have gone along my merry way, but I like to play true to character. Paladin. Honor. Defense of the Realm and all that. But it was still fun helping bring them down. Eventually.

Going back to work, I am tired. Too much work, not enough days off. In a row, at least. By the end of this week, I will have had two days off in a row at the very beginning. That's it. The progression of the 21 days will have been as follows: off, off, WORK, WORK, WORK, WORK, WORK, off, WORK, WORK, WORK, WORK, WORK, off, WORK, WORK, WORK, WORK, off, WORK, off. And off the 15 days there I'm working, 11 were openers. I haven't worked a mid shift in weeks. I'm better at closing. I struggle when I open. Struggle to be in on time, struggle to perfom, struggle to give anything that even resembles a rat's ass about customers, their computers, managers, budgets, anything. But still they schedule me to open. Why?!?!

where is my mind

"Weekly" Post

I really meant to post something a few days ago. But I am a lazy fart. But here's the skinny, yo.

So my phone came in this week, and so now I have a cell phone. Unfortunately, I don't have anyone's number anymore. So if you know me and have/had my cell phone number, give me a ring sometime so that I might re-add your phone number into the list. Or message me. Or whatever. It's a pretty nice phone. Been on the market a month or so, maybe. KILLER battery life. I've had it on since Wednesday, and I've got 3 of 4 bars of battery power. And this is WITH the heavy amount of talking on it that I've been doing the last couple of days. Well, heavy for me anyway. It's black, and it's a flip phone. Not a ROKR, though. So I've lost my iTunes on a phone capability. I'll manage, somehow.

I also got a hookah all of my own this week. It's the Vicinity two hose model, offered by Southsmoke.com. Her name is Galadriel. She's a very pretty item, too. I got some nice tobaccos with her, too. A small sample of mint and a mix called Winter Flower, which combines mint, rose, apple, and cola. It's a very nice perfume smelling smoke, with a unique taste. But it might take a little getting used to, as it's not the immediately sweet flavor that we're used to. I'll have to take some pictures of her, soon, as the picture on the website doesn't really do her justice.

World of Warcraft. I am now a paying member. I like it, what can I say. I wish more MMORPG's offered free trials WITHOUT having to buy the software. I paid $39.99 for the "activation" and a "free" month's service. Whereas I could have paid $50 off the shelf never having tried the game at all. It's a very slick move on Blizzard's part, and I applaud them for it. But the game is really fun. And on top of that, it's very easy to start a new character and succeed with it. I'm tempted to start a new character, though I am loathe to toss away the work I put into my warrior. Always had a soft spot for the paladin class...

Today I had a rare weekend day off. Which I promptly spent sleeping in a bit then hitting the pool for three hours. I forget what a nice summer afternoon feels like, constantly being chained in my underappreciating job. Got a little sun, enjoyed the pool. It was nice. Though with the highs being in the mid-90's all week, I'm kinda glad I'll be indoors during the hottest parts of the days. Downside? I have to open almost all this week. This does not make Justin happy. Not one bit. Tomorrow/today promises to be a long one.

i still hate ipods

WoW

World of Warcrack.

A few days ago, I found a link, though I forget where, to a free 10 day trial for World of Warcraft. And, of course, I opted to give it a try. At first, I was loathe to delve into the game. It's artwork and colors are all very stylized and cartoon-like, full of bright colors. I guess I had grown used to Final Fantasy XI's more 'realistic' and muted colors and design. I was also somewhat put off by the fact that you can only learn two main professions. Which, in reality, means you choose one profession, and then have to learn the gathering skill for that profession. It wouldn't make any sense to make a Skinner/Blacksmith or an Herbalist/Leatherworker. But free? We can give it a shot for free. We can handle that.

And so far I'm liking it well enough. It's a lot (a hell of a whole lot) easier to level skills, professions, and class. Which is a double-edged sword. I remember it taking months to level to 18 in FFXI, but in the span of about three days of playing, I'm halfway to level 14. My profession skills are maxed out until I can find another trainer NPC. It's fun, though. And solo-ing is a lot easier to do, I've found. The drawbacks are there, though. The Looking For Group chat is constantly spammed with Chuck Norris Facts. And people yelling at the people spamming the LFG channel. And the people yelling at the people yelling at the people... A level 60 character is a little diminished in WoW, though, because it denotes a significantly less amount of time devoted to the game than, say, FFXI. If you saw a level 70 ANYTHING running around Vana'diel in FFXI you knew that cat had been around a while. Though, really, I think the highest level I've seen in my playing is around 25. I'm still in the n00b area, but my few trips into the main city, I haven't seen a whole lot of higher levels. I think I'm in a new server, but I haven't researched it or anything.

But if you play WoW and see a human warrior named Iustis running around on the Aerie Peak world, give a shout.

cry holy, holy, LORD

Ah, food.

First "real" meal I've cooked in ages. I've been pretty good about the nutrition of late, but not when cooking so much. Granted it centered around one of those pre-packaged box meals, but that's just the foundation. Made up two boxes of chicken/mashed potatoes/biscuits in our big ol' casserole dish. Then cooked up some corn and peas with a box of mac and cheese. And I made some goooooood mac, I tell ya what. Added 5 oz. of milk, instead of the 4 it asked for and then made up for it with a whole lot of parmesean and american cheeses added to the cheese sauce mix. While it maybe wasn't, ah, slimming, it was, at least, nutritious. And no seconds. A full plate, true, but just the one plate. Which means that I have plenty of leftovers. Nothing like an easy lunch!

And a Cheerwine for "dessert." Mmmm, Cheerwine.

and they call me mellow yellow...

Sorry, Lenore

I got a haircut today. Bigs news! Stop the presses! Not just a trim either. Back on down to the old standby haircut I sported for many years. Buzzed down on the sides and about an inch on top. Truthfully, I already miss the length, but I'm glad I did it. Thought, originally, I went in for just a trim. Talked everything out very specifically, and the trim was exactly as I had asked, and while it looked ok, I decided to just go ahead and lop it all off. My plan, however, is to see if I can not cut it again until December of '07. 18 months of grow. With the rate at which my hair grows, that should be enough for about 9" of length. If I can tough it out that long and I don't like it, that's enough to give to Locks of Love. If I do like it, then I'll keep it.

Mostly, though, I just think I needed to clear it all off. Most of the girls who voiced a liking of the long hair aren't available. In fact, I think all of the votes for me keeping it long came from the taken list. Kinda discouraging, really. I had a reason to grow out the hair, but I don't have it any more. And I've been having to stiffen myself again as of late, and this helps with the hardening process. Besides, I look better in my contacts if I have short hair. And these glasses are long since done.

Now to see if anyone wants to go out and eat tonight. I got paid, and I'd like to hang out with friends and eat.

And in a related story, Steven brought about one and a half gigs of jazz music to work this week and I've ganked it for myself. Mmm, jazz. Ray Charles, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Etta James, Wynton Marsalis, and Louis Armstrong. Good stuff.

born to lose, i've lived my life in vain

Buh Lah

Yawn. Dullsville around here. I'm ready for the weekend. Work is long and draining, as always, but at least the numbers are good! OMFG YAY!!!1 Rah. Good surprise though, is that I did the math wrong and I get paid today instead of next week. Money is being the useful. Need to hit the grocery store tomorrow, pay for a doublet. Just enough left after that to sit on. Yaaaay. But I open in several hours, and Saturday is off. So hurrah weekend. Jerod's coming out this way Saturday night, so I might do something really crazy and break out a hookah. Gasp.

Also? I'm still debating the whole haircut thing. What's wrong with me?!

georgia, georgia

8 days later...

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the planet. Just a whole lot of not much to say of late. Work's been...well, work. Things seem to be improving in general, which, by sheer coincidence alone, means things are getting a little better for me. But I'm still waiting to see what Adam's got for me. Marquis and San are both gone as of this week. So next week should be reaaaalllly interesting. In that not fun kind of way. I imagine some fecal matter will be hitting some rotating blades very soon. Hopefully this time the management fall out won't cost me my job. Which, admittedly, would be a very pleasant first. Jerod came up today. I don't get to hang out with my brother nearly enough. But we had a good time. Ate way too much really good spaghetti, watched some Hustle and did the usual gazebo thing. Though I am ticked at the weather for ruining the Evening at the Pool I had been trying to piece together. Ah, well, my fault for not consulting the forecast before making plans. Maybe next time.

Also? Oblivion still owns me.

in the ghettt-ttoooooooo

Video Killed the Radio Star

But some punk took the radio out of my car.

Yes, that's right, some idiot decided he deserved my 6 year old beat-up CD player more than I did. And I didn't even have my windows rolled down like I normally do! The irony is that my car spent three days alone and unsupervised in a parking lot out of gas, and no one took the radio then. The NIGHT I get gas in it and get it home, no more radio. Between 11PM and 8:45AM this happened. I had been meaning to replace the radio anyway, but really. That's just sad. Left my CDs, my baseball bat, my hats, the two quarts of oil and the change in the ashtray. Just the old and tired CD player. And you can't even use half the functions because the remote got missing almost a year and a half ago. But good for you, hoodlum kid. You have a bright future in Prison Occupation. Congratulations. I hope taking my radio made you feel better about your 3 inch penis. At least the doors were unlocked so they didn't bust my windows.

who steals a radio out of a piece of crap car like mine anyway?!

Random Catch Up

There's been a goodly amount of stuff going on that I've neglected to post. I blame the intense focus on the suck of late. But there's quick bits.

This past weekend, was, overall, a pleasant experience. The bachelor party out on the lake was fantastic. I miss gaming with people. Stupid not-so-much gaming roommates! But! It was Thursday night that the unforeseeable awesomeness happened! I beat Jerod's bugs! That's right, my first time commanding an Eldar force, I won! Though, to be fair, it was just barely. Essentially, everything got wiped off the table except my two unharmed tanks. But that's 360 points out of a 1000 army. So not so bad. There were a handful of bugs left on the table but all blasted to well below half strength. A moral victory, but no much else, as all of my foot soldiers got et.

To top off all the crap from Monday, my car ran out of gas not half a mile from a gas station. Not that I had the funds to pay for the gas, mind you. The schedulers at my store have seen to that. But I was frustratingly close to everywhere I could want to be. Rah. And thanks to that, I didn't get to swim yesterday. Which sucks. And I closed today, so no swimming. But tomorrow, I am the off, so swim I shall!

In other news, I'm getting frustrated with my hair. I've been trying to grow it out for a while. If I didn't work in a retail environment, I wouldn't care so much. But I do work with the public. And even I care a little about my image. The scruffiness of face, meh. But the hair, even if it looks unkempt, should not be curling up and out and forward, so that if my hair had it's way, I'd look like my face was in a bowl of hair. That's just no good. That and I am horribly impatient. I just want to cut it all off and go back to my old hair style, all short and low maintenance. I miss the low maintenance. Thoughts?

my "i" key is slowly dying. i weep.

Jumping Ship

Yeah. So I'm getting out. Too much BS. I don't blame Best Buy. I don't blame Geek Squad. I don't blame the store or even most of my co-workers. I blame Scott Horton, Services Manager at Best Buy store 155 in Greensboro. Today I found out that we have moved one of our best techs out to the computers sales floor as a Computers Senior and in his place took one of the best Computer sales guys we have OFF the floor and made him a Geek Squad senior. What the hell. And with Marquis leaving very soon, I'm going to have nothing but sales people as bosses in a services department. How does this possibly make sense?! It's like I work in the motor pool for the Army. Similar things, fixing and maintaining equipment. Only the powers that be saw fit to replace all the leadership in the motor pool with supply officers and sergeants. People with no technical experience. And I have to answer to these people?! How in the nine circles of hell does this possibly make any sense?!?! Christ! So I called up Adam this evening and tomorrow he's going to see what's open where he works. Or how soon an IT spot would be open there. Because I have GOT to find something better than this. And it really burns me up that this one manager is making want to leave Best Buy. The company has been pretty good to me. Decent pay, good benefits. Just one asshole ruining my job.

here comes the new boss. same as the old boss

First Time for Everything

So we got kicked off the gazebo tonight. For the first time ever. What appeared to be an off-duty deputy who may or may not be the one that lives in the complex came out as we were setting up. A parrot he was.

him: "Poo' close a' teen."

us: "But management has never had a problem with us before."

h: "Poo' close a' teen. No akahaw at da poo'. Poo' close a' teen."

u: "That's fine, but we're not at the pool."

h: "Da's fie. No akahaw at da poo'. Poo' close a' teen."

So. We pack up the crap. And Chris will be having a long and heartfelt conversation with the management. Maybe get us some hall passes or something.

In other news, yet another wedding! This time my cousin Tony is getting married and I'm a groomsman. Rehearsal tomorrow, bachelor party type thing Friday, wedding Saturday. This will make three weddings I have been a part of the party. This does, however, mark an interesting passage. Of all of the cousins on my dad's side, I am the third oldest. And as of Saturday, my two older cousins will be married. Marking me as the next, if one goes by ages. Though my younger brother seems to be ahead of me in the realm of relationships. Shouldn't I be next? Soon to be wed, plans for kids, oldest son to oldest son to oldest son and all that jazz? Sigh.

nobody knows who i really am

Amusing Distraction

Grey -- [adjective]: Benevolent to a fault 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Day 5, The Voyage Home

I'm currently squatting about a concourse in Atlantan Internat'l airport waiting for my flight. I got here around 4:30PM, Atlanta local. My flight leaves here at 7:50. Bleh, he said. But I'm almost home, and that's a good thing. All told, it was a nice trip. I did learn some things, though. The first and most important is that I need to learn to travel a little lighter. But I always was one to over prepare. I blame the Boy Scouts. Be Prepared, indeed. Two, I really wish I had booked an earlier flight home. I don't have jet lag or anything, but I do have travel weariness. And I'm going to have to get up early and call in to see when I'm supposed to be in. Though I have this sickening feeling I'm going to have to open. Sigh. I did get a few thing to bring home, though. I finally found a St. George flag. I was also left with some alcohol to bring home. Jameson that I had got, some Smirnoff, and some scotch Alene had brought. I tried to get her to take it back with her, because it was a lot, but she never did get it from me. And she even dropped me off at the airport! I guess I was just meant to have it. Hehe. Kae got me a CD by one of the OKRF musical acts, the Bedlam Bards (ye gads, baudy guys), that was inspired by Firefly. Promises to be good! Not all was fun and games, though. I lost something every day there, other than money. The first day there, my cell phone vanished. And that sucks the most, I think. Friday, I lost my sunglasses, Saturday a scarfy thing someone had made for me, Sunday my clip-on sunglasses. Today I haven't lost anything, at least. And my clip-ons and sunglasses I found again. But man. Cellphone. I miss it already. It was so much fun! Yargh!

Home. Sleep. Bleh. Never thought I'd appreciate May weather in North Carolina as much as I do now.

I drifted away from somone, though. Not because I wanted to, though. Maybe I needed to, but it still sucks. I got a little closer to someone else. A balance is maintained?

Oh yeah, Chris, you'll appreciate this. According to Alene, Jake calls me her internet boyfriend. Ha! I laugh.

Above all things, remember your veterans and those who have died for this country, whether or not you agree with their wars, their mission or their sacrifice. It's not the soldiers that choose to fight, it's the government. Don't blame the fighters for the politicians actions. Your freedoms were bought with the purchase of their blood.

from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli

Day 4, a day late.

It's a day late, but yesterday was just so busy, by the time I got back to the room, I was just too tired to post anything. But I've got even more pictures for you!


This was a two story eating type place. Picnic tables and benches were upstairs as well. Pretty cool! We need one at CRF.


King Henry VIII on his carriage. Note the lack of professionalism in the royal guards. Tsk, tsk.

Town garrison guards. This is as sharp as they looked the whole time I was there.


Siege weapons a-plenty!


I was able to go out on the joust field for some close-up shots of the falconry show. The Harris Hawk there flew right on to that little girls arm. It was awesome!


A shot from the "hedge line" of photographers on the field as Lady Valkyrie the Harris Hawk flew up close and landed on another volunteers arm.


A local Oklahoma vineyard had a booth based in another two story eating area building. CRF really, like, so needs one or two of these. Yay shade!


The stage the belly dancers used. There in the distance you can see one of them undulating pleasantly.


One of the royal guards. There were two there guarding a princess, I think. Guards without weapons? Yeesh.


That's Kae's vendor tent in the middle there and the guy in the blue over there is the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Too many "real" people about.

the hero of canton, the man they call jayne

Tulsa, 3rd Day.

Hot. HOOOOOTTTTT!!!

It was a little warm today. Just a little. But I looked fabulous in my new doublet. I snapped a goodly amount of pictures. Tomorrow I will take a larger number of pictures. OKRF has a pretty sweet site. The town is portioned into different "quarters", such as the Celtic Quarter, etc. I met Adam and Laura, who invited Katherine to help them in their vendor booth. Laura is a quieter woman, but Adam is an...interesting guy. Amusing, though. Tomorrow, lighter clothing. I made the visual presence, time for a day off. Now: pictures!


The local birds of prey show had a constant street presence. That's the first one I saw. A very pretty bird, she is.



This guy's act was a little stilted.



That's me all formal and buttoned tight in my spiffy new doublet. Mmm, custom made grey suede...



A pretty good shot of the May pole right outside Katherine's vender tent.


Ruuuubbyyy!


Another fine trebuchet on the site.


Me a little looser and a lot cooler.


On the site there's a shaded boardwalk. It was a beautiful (and cool!) little hideaway. I will say this about OKRF, it's an awesome site.


And lastly, a pretty good profile shot of me hanging out in Kae's vendor tent. Look at that hair!

i just want one more moondance with you

Day 2, Tulsa

Not much to report, so far. Slept in, which was nice. The Super 8 I'm staying at isn't much, but the king size bed is fantastic. I can lay out alond the width of it and only my feet dangle off the edge. PLENTY of sprawl space. Grabbed some grub at a local greasy spoon called Metro Diner. I think it was one of the places Alene mentioned she liked. Hopefully, We'll all be free to head out to a pub Alene knows and likes. Sounds like an awesome place.

Last night, Katherine and myself were hanging about with Alene at her place when we were all invited to eat barbeque by her parents. And they are a fun bunch, I tell ya what. Alene certainly makes a little more sense now! ;) Snapped a couple of pictures of us playing Scrabble (the excitement!) to share, though.


Here's Alene after I get my crap all settled in the room. She's glad to have finally been able to hang out with some Browncoats, having missed the North Carolina Big Damn Movie Premiere Party.


Scrabble! Sport of Kings! And that's what my draws usually looked. Maybe a vowel. Lots of consonants.


Katherine placing a word. Boy, I tell ya. Scrabble. You can tell we're a bunch of wild ones.


Ok. So maybe we're at least a little crazy.


Then we all went back to my huge ass room and had long drunken philosophical discussions on FireflyFans.net, Browncoatism, Star Wars, brutal removal of the male genitalia and religion. It's going to be an interesting weekend.

there must be an angel

LIve, from Tulsa

I'm coming to you live from my motel room in Tulsa! Excitement! I survived the cramped spaces and the 6:35AM flight time from Greensboro, no worse for wear. I did have a tasty, if rushed, breakfast consisting of a chicken sandwich and fries with a pint of Guiness(from the tap! TAP!) during my layover in Cincinnati. Cincinnati, by the by, has an amazingly awesome airport. I am, however, less impressed with Greensboro and Tulsa. But oh well. It's 2:25PM, Tulsa local. I'm getting ready to go grab some food and fun for the afternoon. I'll be reporting back in later.

she sends a cable coming in from above

I Kilt a Man in Reno

Jules posted her pictures from Mike and Beth's wedding the other day, and I thought I'd share a couple of them with you!


That's Jules there next to me. She's a demanding photographer. Took four takes and three people behind the camera to get one good enough for her. I forget I have tree-trunks for legs sometimes. But isn't that a smashing kilt?


And here we have Sparky running over an old, kilted man with a cane.

You can see the rest of the album Jules shot here.

just to watch him die

The Countdown

In less than 36 hours I will be on my way to Oklahoma. This is a very exciting time! I find myself having trouble concentrating on work, imagine. All my thoughts are geared toward getting ready to go! I need to clean my room tomorrow, and then pack some things. Then pack all my toiletries and such Wednesday night. I plan on being at the airport at 5:30AM. Why? Because my flight is at 6:30AM. But Justin, you say, you hate mornings. I do indeed. But it was $150 more for a later flight in the day. Yeah. Save $150 and get up early. But I'm a little nervous. I've never flown all by my lonesome. And the last time I did fly was with my dad and family pre-9/11. However. It's 2006. And I'm not a terrorist. I did check and confirm that I can take my sword so long as it is in my checked luggage and declared. So yay that. 31 hours, 30 minutes until my flight leaves.

This weekend was quite fun, all told. Mike's wedding was, perhaps, the most fun I've had at a wedding, ever. It didn't hurt that I was amongst a lot of friends. All the groomsmen looked smashing. Black tuxes with long coats and high collars with old-fashioned western-esque ties and vests in a deep red. Mike had the vest, no tie, and a Mandarin collared jacket. The bridesmaids had simple black dresses with a white and black silk/satin shawl. Beth lookd absolutely gorgeous. A simpler snow-white strapless dress. The top portion had bead-work on it. The dress flowed out nicely with a short train in the back. Mike was smiling the whole time, of course, with this curiously red complexion that I could only assume was nerves. But they were a fine picture of young marital bliss up there. I remembered, also, how much I miss Sacred Heart. It's the Catholic church Mike and Beth had their wedding in. It's a beautiful building. I've always felt very much at ease there. My kilt was a bit of a hit amongst most of the ladies there. Which is always fun for me, not usually being the center of female attentions like that. Nothing serious, but a lot of that age old question. Heh. The reception was fun, but being held at Mike's church, lacking in the open bar. But that's ok! After the reception, I hung out with John and Lenore, and saw their comfy little house, then back up to Greensboro. There we joined Chris, Doug, Hugh, Fisher, and Tim! at TGIF for terrible service! Then out to the gazebo for a drink and smoke with everyone, which was lots of fun. Also during the course of the day, I took apart, cleaned and reassembled my cane-sword. Seems the handle and tab had shifted, causing the inability to open the thing I had been troubled with for so long. But fixed! And it was really good to see so many people from back home. I even shook hands with Seth Farris. For those who know me, that may come as a shock.

Sunday. Work. Hungover. But that's what happens when you drink too much for too long and have to open the next day. Also, the allergies started to hit me Saturday. That didn't help the morning any. But I survived. And then I fixed Doug's PS2. It's always fun being able to do things like that. But I love taking apart electronics and reassembling them. And I discoverd a fruit juice cocktail concoction. Half a glass of cranberry cocktail and half a glass of OJ. Yum!

they got me on some medication

Birthdays

24. Not usually a significant number to reach in years. And it's really not. But it is another year. How did I get this old so fast? Wasn't I just 21? I'm not old enough to be 24. In recent weeks, I've been looking back at my years since high school. All the wrong turns I took, the mistakes I've made. In the last year, I think, I've finally started to turn things around for myself. I've started to correct the mistakes I made. But, of course, it's a lot harder and longer than if I'd just done the right thing from the start. But I'm ever stubborn, which, ultimately, could spell my downfall if left unchecked. But enough of that.

Sunday was a pleasant enough day, I think. I called my mom, since I couldn't make it home. Then she came up after I got off of work, and I got to have dinner with her, Randy, Jerod, and Jenna. We all came back to the apartment, opened cards, laughed and hung out for a little bit. It was pleasant, if low-key.

Monday, work. Boy. Got into an argument with Scott, who instead of just making himself the boss over Renny and the Geek Squad is now actually the boss over Renny and the Geek Squad. Oy. Because the ENTIRE REST OF THE STORE is incapable of selling Geek Squad services, causing us to not make budget, Scott is determined to ignore the rules and MAKE us go out onto the floor to pick up the rest of the store's slack. And still do our jobs. With less hours. And poor coverage. Set up for the fail! Yay! But it's ok. I bought the DVD of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Glee! I came home, took a nap. Yay nap! Then Chris and I hopped out for a bit so I could buy some boots. See, I needed a taller than flat shoe for my kilt. Because I plan to wear it to Mike and Beth's wedding on Saturday. I don't get to break out the kilt near enough. I need to fix that. So I found me a pair of nice, brown, steel-toe clod-hoppers. I prefer the term shit-kickers, but that's not as clean in wording, is it? And crap-kickers is just lame. Waffle-stompers! Yay Doug! I miss that cartoon. Then I came home and ate the leftovers from dinner Sunday night. Mmm, Chicken Alfredo. Went to bed early for me.

Tuesday. Slept until 4. Man. My bed was sooooo comfy. Cool sheets, the fan, the darkness, the weightless-y feeling of the firmwave waterbed. Though I suppose I could have gotten up at 1:30 when I first opened my eyes. I had intended to just sleep a few more minutes. But that turned into 2 1/2 hours. Like it always does. But I'm well rested! Chris cooked some turkey and stuffing veggie bake in a box stuff. Nothing special, but tasty. Went out to sing some karaoke, and I actually sang a song. Gasp! It was Stevie Ray Vaughn's Sky is Cryin', by the by. And then I came home and watched Advent Children. Whee, what a day.

I'm pretty much costing for the rest of the week. Mike's wedding is Saturday, and I'm excited about that. Mike and Beth have been together for years now. It was about time anyway. And I'll get to see everyone down Salisbury way, which is always fun. And I don't dress up often, little call for it, really. So another rare chance for me. Then it's a few short days of work and next Thursday it's off to Oklahoma for 5 days! Whee!

can't ya see the tears roll down my nose

The Cat Who Liked Ranch Dressing

No, it's not the title of the next Cat Who... book by Lilian Jackson Braun. What it is, however, is my cat's strange tastes. He won't drink leftover milk from a bowl of cereal, like the rest of the cats I've ever owned do. Nor does he like ice cream. But he will, however, engorge himself on the bits of ranch dressing leftover in a salad bowl, or any left over pasta sauces. Silly cat.

So Adam got me a copy of Elder Scrolls VI: Oblivion. Oh. My. GOD. Such a sweet game. And the first game to ever give my Radeon X1300 Pro a workout. Granted I am dealing with a setup that's around a year out of date for top of the line. I've maxed out the hardware I've got. But my word is it pretty. With a guest voice spot by Patrick Stewert, even. Which, really, you can't go wrong there. And the story is shaping up to be as thick and complicated as Daggerfall and Morrowind were. Which is just excellent as far as I'm concerned. The only problem I've noticed is that the ridiculously realistic environment and my resolution, it makes it realistically difficult to see everything! Jiminy! Go buy it!

love at first sight

pwn'd

I am such a loser. No posts in, what, a week? Sheesh. Is my life so boring? Or could it be that I've actually found things to do that aren't my computer? Pah! Blasphemy!

Updates for everyone! My promotion is assured, provided the powers that be don't do something incredibly retarded and bring someone from outside the department, (or worse, the store), to take over the senior position in Geek Squad when BOTH the current seniors take the big vaya con Dios in about 30 days or so. Adam's last day is this Saturday upcoming and the other senior is in Colorado training for his government job because his temporary security clearance passed. Security. Clearance. Government job. Yeah. He's not long for Geek Squad work. ON TOP of that, San, the first Geek Squad Supervisor cum Double Agent will be moving back to California to go work for the video game company he used to work for out there as a project manager. Lots of room for the young upwardly mobile professional! I could be the DCI( Geek Squad Supervisor) within a year, if things go like the seem like they might. And that would be totally sweet.

In other news, Chris' band had a gig Friday night. Though technically I could call it Chris and Lani's band, but no matter how awesome Lani was Friday night (which she was. She totally wailed.) I'm still inclined to call it Chris' band. And they rocked. Lani's debut went swimmingly and she did a bitchin' version of Alanis Morrisette's You Oughta Know. Many people from across the land came out to the gig. Our friends the Sheltons made an appearance as did my brother. And we had an awesome time, as Jerod and I usually do when we get together.

Which brings up an interesting point. How is it that my brother and I get along so well when so many brothers(es) I know don't? Most brothers I know bicker and quarrel almost constantly, never seeing eye-to-eye, never getting along, persistently jockeying for position and superiority. Is it maybe that Jerod and I worked that out a long time ago and never even realised it? I think he knows I can take him in just about anything. I'm bigger and stronger and most probably (though only by the tiniest bit) more intelligent. But of those things only in the littlest bit. I'm only a couple of inches taller, a shirt size broader in the shoulders and torso, marginally tougher, a few points of difference in the IQ. He, however, is more socially skilled ( or rather, practiced), and more amicable. He's cuter, though. He's the Face of the two of us. The Aaron to my Moses. We're both retardedly lucky in how gifted we are in all things. Appearance (even if he is Face, I'm no Steve Buscemi), strength, intelligence, wisdom, charisma, health, toughness. I've often stated that there is no foe that could stand against the two of us. We are brothers and friends, we work well with each other, compliment each others respective gifts. Are we so weird? Food for thought I guess.

it's not fair to deny me the cross I bear that you gave to me

Head Splitter

So I think I just experienced my first migraine headache today. Or maybe it was just the mother of all headaches. Woke up and dragged myself into work. I wasn't in pain yet, but I remember waking up and thinking 'Man. I got a bad feeling about today. Maybe I should just call in.' But I'm trying to be Good Little Work Ethic Boy. So I went in at 10 like I was supposed to. Then it hit me. Around 10:30. Felt like someone had wrapped piano wire around my head and was tightening it. On top of the stabbing pain all up and down the left side of my face. I was finally able to track down some ibuprofen around 1PM. And it was about 1:30 before the mind-numbing pain turned to a dull throb. I was able to go home a couple of hours early because Steven came in from working the Furniture Market for a little while. And I promptly slept for four hours. Woke up feeling much better, though occassionally the dull throb returned for a few minutes throughout the evening. Whee. But I survived. I've had worse headaches, but those were combined with ear infections and high grade fevers. Certainly made work unpleasant. And man. My neck and shoulders. I need a massage. Any volunteers?

she named me Dale Darrell Waltrip Richard Petty Rusty Austin Bill Irving Gordon Earnhardt Smith Johnson, Jr.

Shock!

What type of Fae are you?

Boom. That is all.

Find your Celestial Choir

Ugh. More of the Tired.

This week at work has been utterly craptastic.

Sunday - Day off. Not on the schedule. Still have to come in at 8 bloody AM for a freakin' meeting. And Renny still gives me crap about not being in uniform. Rah.

Monday - Closing essentially by myself because the person who is supposedly closing with me feels the need to go work the computer sales floor leaving me the sole CIA in the precinct.

Tuesday - See Monday.

Wednesday - I had to spend half my day working in Car Audio. Because, apparently, no one else in the ENTIRE GORRAM STORE knows a GORRAM thing about Car Audio but me and their closer called out. God forbid they try to get someone to come in and cover the shift. Instead a collection of managers and the girl who opened decided, in committee, to send me over there. One of the managers was Renny. The Geek Squad supervisor of Stupid. He knows that sending me out there is going to make the precinct short-handed. Does he care? Does anyone who is making the decision without even asking if I want to go out there? Hell no. Why would they? There is a small silver lining to all this. I closed with Adam. Which means we got a whole lot done, even with me being gone half my shift. Also, working with Adam means talking to Adam. Talking to Adam leads to the mention that, get this, my Geek Squad Senior training (so as to replace Adam when he leaves) starts Saturday.

Oh yeah. Imminent promotion and raise. But I'm still worn out. Blah.

I started taking a multivitamin today. I still need to eat better, but this will help keep the nutrition there. We'll see if this has any effect on my being in a few days after it's really hit my system. I'll certainly be pleased if it helps me feel less worn out all the time.

do you -you!- feel like we do?

New Toys

So my old Chieftec power supply was getting, well, old. And I needed a new mouse. So today after clocking out I went and took a look at what we had to offer in price for a new power supply. The old box was a 2-80mm fan 430W PSU. All told, a really good power supply, especially after I replaced the crap fans that came with it. But my box has grown beyond the scope of efficiency with the power supply I had. Enter the Antec Neo HE550. 550 watts of power. MODULAR design, which means I don't have a bunch of power cords I don't need that I have to tuck away somewhere. There are many benefits to this power supply.

1) The modular design means there's less crap stuffed in my case, so there's more air-flow, which helps keep the temperature down and increases the efficiency of my machine.

2) More wattage. Power supplies work best at around 60-80% load. More efficiency, less power needed. Also, this is a higher efficiency model, so it produces less heat AND runs more quietly than my old unit.

3) Getting the unit meant I had to unplug everything in my rat's nest of a PC. So I went with that all the way and took out everything, motherboard included, and blew out the whole case, clearing out all the dust. Then I rearranged all the cords to tidy things up and help the flow of air.

All told, I think Skywarp's pretty pleased with the arrangement. And my mouse is pretty rockin', too. Supposed to last 6 months on 2 AA batteries. We'll see if that holds true. But my old mouse I was pretty happy with when it lasted a few weeks before the need to switch, especially with the rechargable batteries. But hey, 6 months is 6 months. And it came with a pair of Energizers, so it frees up ALL of my rechargables for other things.

In money news, comfort is mine! The employee stock purchase program has netted me an extra $700 or so, which should be arriving my way sometime next week. I need to do something productive with the money, but I don't know what, yet. But if nothing else, this check has guaranteed my trip to OKRF in late May. Huzzah!

love and darkness and my sidearm

Wireless Optical Mouse the First, RIP

Let us all observe a moment of silence for my wireless optical mouse. It is dying and serious fast. Annoying, but timely, actually. I've only had the thing for about three years, so really, it was about time. Most real mice only live this long. And this is older optical and wireless tech. Weaker, flimsier. It has served me well, but even after disassembling and cleaning the unit it's still not working right. But I get paid in a few minutes AND I work tomorrow, so I can get a new mouse to replace. I still like wireless and optical, so that won't change. T'was a good mouse, English.

i alone tempt you

Tired. Is it the Weekend Yet?

Gads, am I tired. Don't got to church for so very long, and then BAM! Sunrise service AND the regular service. Like, holy cow or something. Then, of course, I get home and stay up into the wee hours and get up and open on Monday. Then I'm up till 6 this morning, two hour nap and open again. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to my midshift tomorrow. Noon thirty. Oh yeah. Sleep is good.

Easter candy is also good, but very bad for me. I need to be rid of it swiftly so I can get back to trying to eat better.

Oh! And I bought the new (well, not-so-new, but new to me) Franz Ferdinand album. It is good stuff as was the last one.

you could have it so much better

A Fear of Dreams

I'm dreaming again. Real honest to God dreams. Not the prophetic images of the mundane future, no Signposts. Just...dreams. Which might explain my seeming abject refusal to sleep. I don't like these dreams. They're to potent. Hopeful. And ultimately painful. Oh sure, while I'm in them, I'm taken back to a less...complicated...time. Old wants played forth in a fairy tale world. And I smile. Just in time for it to whisk away in a cloud and I am left alone and bitter, a slight taste of bile in the back of my throat. I thought I left these dreams in my old hometown. I could have sworn that I had finally accepted the reality of things. I'd really much rather my subconscious, which was so laborious in it's attempts to remind me of reality when I believed in these dreams, would pick a story and stick to it. I don't need or want these dreams anymore. It's hard enough living my life without the added weight of hoping for the impossible. My heart's just not strong enough these days. I'm too set in my ways, too aware of the truth, and too afraid to defy it. But who could I tell these dreams to? Who would understand? Most would scoff, and tell me I'm a fool for these dreams. Well meaning, yes, but I know the fool better than anyone. And I don't ask for the dreams. Or better yet, let me tell her about them so I can pick at the wounds that are just starting to heal. Yeah, you know, the ones I made? Yes, that'd be brilliant. Oh! Or better yet! Allow myself to fall into hypocrisy! "Hey, yeah, just wanted to call after not calling you for months because you never return phone messages to anyone, really, to say I've been having dreams about you again!" And immediately, I become that creepy, awkward 17 year old wuss-monger I used to be in High School. Yeah. That's a brilliant plan. It all is.

See?! THIS is why I hate these dreams. Make me think a bunch of really stupid crap. Hate it.

there must be an angel...

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Over.

Right. Weather. WTF, mate? Sunday April 9th, 2006. Forecasted high: 61. Forecasted low: 34. The hell?!?!


you're as cold as ice

Weekend Update

Um...yeah. Quiet here. Rayne's moved in and starting to settle. All with no drama, thank the Lord. I've today off, which I promptly wasted away in sleep and laying out by the pool for the most part, whee. Now that it's warming up into spring, I'm ready for it to be warm enough to swim. That's really all I've got right now.

Wait, there's a little more. Yes, I'm fine. No, I don't want to talk about it. My previous entry was a public message on a private matter intended for one person as a public admission of wrong doing. They know who they are. There's no need for me to go on about it, so stop asking.

if i ever lose my faith in you, there'd be nothing left for me to do

Penitence

I'm sorry. Those are weak and overused words. Their power faded through abuse after abuse. I was supposed to be better than that. I really thought I was. I didn't know, I didn't realize until it was too late. I was so convinced that what I was doing was for the best. And then you showed it to me. That little trinket. And I realized, oh how I was struck by exactly how wrong I was. I commited a grievous sin, and I, of all people, didn't even know what I had done until after the blow was struck. Trust, shattered. A priceless friendship left in tatters because I didn't stop to think. I had forgotten. I took for granted. I became something I had always despised. Thoughtless. Callous. Calculating. The English language, I daresay any language lacks words with enough power, with enough resonance to convey the absolute horror I feel for what I have done.

And all this is just empty words in the face of what I have done. I wish to God I could take back what I did. And I lay myself before you, begging for a forgiveness I don't deserve. What else can I do?





I am so very sorry.

Wamr.

When typing, I'm usually an excellent speller; swift, too. However there are two exceptions to this case. The first is if I've had a little (or not so little) to drink. Then it doesn't flow outward as it should so much as stumble, requiring a lot more focus. The other case is if I've hit a Flow. That's where my brain is plowing forth a lot of ideas all at once at a rate my fingers cannot keep up with. It was one of these Zone Flow moments that I was, for an hour or more, unable to spell the word "warm." All the time it was instead "wamr." Anyone I was talking to didn't notice because I have a very swift backspace and edit skill. But and still. Wamr.

So it was warm today. (I'm still going to use wamr somewhere. As the name of some ancient hero or villian or relic or something. Sounds so very Norsey.) So very pleasant outside it was. I wasn't able to make it down to Salisbury today to see my sister and all associated family members because my brother's car got all broke on him today. Which sucks. but I was able to get a whoooole lot of crap done today. Cleaned the hell out of the bathroom today. Which is, by the way, my least favorite chore EVAR. When I say cleaned, I mean effin' cleaned. Scoured the tub, scoured the toilet, swept the floor, cleaned the rugs. Bloody mopped. The reason? Well, aside from needing it, Rayne's coming in Tuesday. And having two days off in a row, praise Jesus, I decided that today would be a work day. So I did. And the bathroom looks really good. For the next week. Sigh. But I was up as early as I was in anticipation of my brother's arrival so I was able to clean later in the afternoon after hanging out at the pool for a coupla hours. Not in the pool, mind you. 80 degrees outside or not, it was some cold ass water. That and all the goose poo. Seems the Canadian Geese that frequent the lake in the middle of Bridford Lake decided it would be a good idea to build nest aaaaaallll around the pool. There's like five geese nests around. And one, dumb goose, built in the landscaping around the pool RIGHT NEXT to the door to the girl's bathroom outside. Dumb. Ass. Goose. And because, apparently, the three dozen geese at our complex alone are still an endangered farging species, there's no tossing out of goose nests. Argh. Which means we can't use the pool for several weeks until the eggs hatch and they can have the geese chaser man or whatever come out and get the geese out from around the pool. But. That just means that the pool will have a chance to warm up a little first. And the complex has the part on order to fix the hot tub. Just in time for the punk ass kids to treat it as a heated jumping hole. And the dumb ass college kids on the North Bank to put soap bubbles in it and break it within a month. Yay. But they're still getting it fixed. And the gates. Which have been busted for months. But then, we've got a bunch of ignorant frellers living here that like to ram the gates open or try to follow behind in long lines and have the gate crash into their cars and get stuck open. I hate stupid people. Ramble. And I just got in from a drink and smoke. And Chris bought a bottle of Old Stone Vineyard for me for just this occasion. For those who don't know, Old Stone Vineyard is a vineyard local to the Salisbury area that has a store not half a mile from my mom's house. They make muscadine wine, which is a little sweeter than regular grape wine. But it's oh so good. Yum. And to top it all off, a thunderstorm is moving in. It's been a pretty awesome day.

Also? Girls. Still confusing. Just putting that out there.

EDIT: I also did some writing today. In a journal I've got. Paper journal. I'm old fashioned in that, I guess. I always write better on paper first when it comes to prose or verse. Blog entries are a little different. But it felt good to get back to The World That Is.

it's coming down, it's coming down

Tehanu, Writer's Itch

So I finally broke down and read Tehanu over the last two days. It's been so long since I've read something new! My mind must have been starving, given how swiftly it gorged itself upon the new text. This has had an unfortunate side effect, however. I've now got an itch to write something again, but I don't know what. So many ideas that are started and unfinished. *sigh* There are two significant stories that deserve to be finished. And one old, old story that maybe I should finally write. I'll let you guys in on the basic ideas.

The basis of this story is the legos my brother, Hugh, and I used to play with many many years ago. Ten, maybe 12 years. Almost a lifetime ago, it feels. But the world we created was inspired by the Steampunk fantasy elements of Final Fantasy VI(III). The main character is a young man named Falcon. Your stereotypical rural-raised orphan type with a stereotypical independent streak and a stereotypical mystic heredity. I've always appreciated cliches and well-known plot devices. But he escapes into a wood full of "savage brigands" from his over-bearing and rather malicious "aunt." These brigands turn out to be nice guys, a la Robin Hood, but brigands nonetheless. And so he is raised a brigand. He grows up tall and strong with an unexplainable noble air that inspires people to follow him. The brigand's leader is aging and gives the boy more and more responsibility, which he lives up to magnificently. Then comes the "Kill the Mentor" scene. The Prince's Men come into the wood in force, to rout out the brigands. Many die, including the old Brigand captain. But in his dying moments, he lets Falcon in on a secret: the location of his old airship, the Raven. Back when the Brigand Captain Leader Type was young he was a Sky Pirate, raiding this and that as he saw fit. The skies in those days was filled with airships and dragons and swashbuckling glory, etc, etc. So Falcon and his few remaining friends take to the skies! Pirating and harassing the king's men, but always with his noble air and sense of justice. Before long he is hailed by the lower classes as the Bandit Prince.

Here we zoom out from our hero into the world at large. There are three main kingdoms (whose names I have used and reused and overused over and over again): Hyla, the Dragearean Empire, and Falconia. It is a time of decline, a dark age. Hyla was once a great and bright kingdom, full of justice and peace, enlightenment. But the Old Kings have long faded from power, replaced instead by the Crown Princes. The rules and traditions of the land, and ancient magics, prevent the Princes from rightfully claiming the crown. This denial of the true rule of the kingdom drives the Princes to be cruel, each moreso than the father that sired him. Enter Princess Aila and her twin brother Ailen. Ailen is cruel and cold like his father, and his father, blah, blah, blah. Aila is fair and wise and kind. And is locked away in her tower. Which is still plushly accomodated, well tended. Because he's cruel and cold, but not stupid. Aila has power he does not. The power of the Old Kings to wield magic. So he dare not move openly against her. He allows her out into the world, but always with a thick guard of his most trusted me, for her "protection". It is in one of these forays into the world at large that her troupe is attacked by a suddenly descending airship. She, wisely, remains calm, while her guards do not. They are quickly gunned down by the rifles and bows of the crew. Falcon recognizes something powerful in her and in a dramatic gesture, sweeps her up into the ship, no doubt right before truly powerful reinforcements arrive. The crew is typically ragtag, with each member having a particular quirk or another. Falcon is the captiain of the Raven. His first mate is his fast friend and part-time rival since being found in the woods, and an excellent marksman with any ranged weapon, though he favors the bow. There is one who is a sort of mercenary/wandering swordsman. He's in it for money, sure, but his heart is true and he stays on the crew even when the money isn't there. He's also a good pilot for the ship. There's a mage on board, too. His primary skills are in woodland and nature based spells, imagine, but he knows more magic than he lets on. The ship isn't in the air long, because the crystal that powers the ship is old and weak, shatters, trek to find. There's also an old man in the crew. If the Bandit Captain was like a father to Falcon, the old man was like a crazy uncle. He's ancient, but has the best eyes in the crew, and spends most of his time singing old pirate songs up in his perch atop the mainmast.

Somewhere along the way, the find Falcon's true father, the Archduke of Falconia. And old grizzled stone of a man. Falconia is little more than a shadow anymore, decimated by a costly war waged against the Empire. There is no king in Falconia, no royal line, anymore. Only closed off and huddled baronies with large open wildernesses that are haven to true brigands and cut-throats and, you guessed it, Sky Pirates. The Archduke has been wandering all over the wide world, fighting for whomever can afford him, just fighting. Outcast and exiled from his former land and power by the war he thought so necessary, though even he forgets the reason why. Cool, collected, powerful, skilled, and badass. He's even missing an eye. Hardcore, yo.

There are legendary swords and prophecies involved. And a climatic battle with an ancient and evil Great Dragon summoned byAilen to finally rid himself of Aila and Falcon.

Of course, it's all jumbled in my brain. But these ideas are over half my life old. I think that tamed the itch enough for my to finally sleep at least.

pour your misery down on me

Anonymous Poster

Does anyone here know someone who posts under the username Cygnus X-1? I got a rather vaguely threatening post on an old entry in my blog. The entry was made about and around the end of the festival season, which kinda leads me to believe it's someone festival related.

Here's the post, their comment and my reply: Aftermath.

If this is someone anyone is familiar with, please tell them to post in a manner that I can readily reply to. Telling me to be an adult about something, but then they hide. Yeesh.

Sorry if it's a truly anonymous poster with no affiliation to you guys. I'm posting about it in a couple of places, trying to track the person down. But whoever it is has knowledge of x-ray producing blackholes. Wtf.

your time is gonna come

License to Geek

Ack! I was about to have my Geekcraft License revoked! I got a new phone on Friday and I've not said work one about it! How lame of me! It's a Motorola ROKR E1. It's a little on the NOT BRAND NEW OMG! side, but it's still a sweet phone. Bluetooth and iTunes capable. While I'm not a user of iTunes, I can certainly put that MicroSD card to use with my music! I was able to get a "Qualified Upgrade" on the phone, so I was able to get it for $50. As opposed to the usual $200 price tag. So yay that! It's got a camera attached, too. I've already taken a few pictures for use as ringer ID photos. And this phone allows me to set a ring tone for individual phone numbers, which is kinda exciting to me. As soon as my little USB/Bluetooth adapter gets here, I'll be transfering a few mp3's over so I can have a plethora of ringtones! Yay!

sephiroth!

Ding Dong the Crackhead's Gone!

It is a time of leaving opposition for me! Glorious! Crackhead Mike was escorted off the premises yesterday. Good riddance to bad rubbish! Also? Babylon the Great is moving to British Columbia! The Left Coast! Canada! Almost worth the $50 she owes me to be that rid of her!

we'll all float on, alright

Interns, and Why They Should Bathe

So there's this intern. Scott decided, in all of his infinite wisdom, that Geek Squad needed to add babysitting to it's already growing list of responsibilities. So he gets us an intern. However, this intern isn't behaving like an intern. He thinks he's a hotshot computer qenius, who needs no instructions or knowledge from us. Even I can say I've been doing this a whole lot longer than he has. I've been building computers, FOR PAY, since I was 16. Almost 8 years ago. 8 Years ago, this kid was 10 years old. And he refuses to accept the Geek Squad way of doing things. So you've got to tell him over and over and over to do things a certain way because that's how Geek Squad wants to do it. But that's not the worst part about him. Oh no. See, the kid doesn't seem to understand bathing. Working with him today, he smelled about 3 days overdue for a shower. This wasn't an observation I made at a distance mind you. Because there's no such thing as personal space to this kid. He hovers. Almost right on top of you. Standing just beyond your peripheral vision just behind your shoulder. It drives me batty! You can't see him, but you can sure as hell smell him! His skin, his face is covered with oil and acne. Shiny from the grease. Dandruff flecked hair. And fingernails that extend about 1/4" to 1/2" beyond the fingertips, yellow and cracked. I just want to punch him in the face every time I see him! It's nerds like that what give us geeks a bad name!

they're just dyin' to meet you

St. What's Day?

I am somewhat sad. I, for the most part, missed St. Patrick's Day. My Geek Squad uniform is forbidden to have such individualisation that any St. Patty's Day decorations might be. Can't change the color of the undershirt to green or wear a shamrock pin or sticker. And because I had to open yesterday, I couldn't drink much. Chris and I shared a solemn double of Jameson over ice. Speaking of opening, I've been doing far too much of it of late. For the last week, I've been doing naught but open. And I've got two more days of it ahead. Later today is a meeting at 8AM, and tomorrow(Monday) I have to be in at 7. It's been months since they've given me that duty.

And in the "So What Else Is New?" department, Crackhead Mike is ever closer to dismissal. Our admin is looking into the ramifications of each of us making written statements as to his lack of quality as an employee. And speaking of Crackhead Mike...

It seems that Scott, the operations manager, has decided that the Geek Squad needs an intern in his never-ending quest to ruin the Greensboro Geek Squad precinct. This intern is like an uneducated, unskilled and socially retarded version of our uneducated, unskilled and socially retarded Crackhead Mike. They get along famously. However, Nicholas has a nasty habit of second guessing us when we tell him to do something a certain way. I don't care if you think not doing the optional updates will cause upset customers. Best Buy and Geek Squad procedures are to do the High Priority updates. No more, no less. I don't care what you think, I don't care what you say. It is done this way. Do it this way or go away. Also: It is not in your best interest to butt in and second guess the agent at the counter talking to a customer. We are in the uniform, you are not. We are paid professionals, you are an unpaid intern here against our will. Shut. Up.

In happier news, I rearranged my room. I had a clotting problem at the foot of my bed as a result of my desk and chair being right in line with the bed in the middle of the room, with my tv being in the corner to the right. So I switched out the desk and TV, creating a whole flow to the room. I moved my dresser next to the bed, added a fan and replaced the overhead incandescent with a flourescent one, making my room notably cooler and more open. Yay! Now to go about making all the furniture in here of a dark cherry color. Hmmm...

wake up maggie, i think i got somethin' to say to you

I want to go to OKRF

Ok(ha!), so I want to go to the Oklahoma Renaissance Festival. Not the least of which revolves around someone I want to see who will be working a booth there! But it looks pretty big. There's a castle. And around that castle, the Ren-Fest town was built. You can in the castle, and there's things to do! Right now, the best deal I can pitch together through Expedia comes to about $630 for just me. Ouch! I changed the same flights and hotels (in Tulsa, I might see if I can get better deals on rooms in Muskogee, where the Faire is actually located) to two people and the price comes to $425 a person. While still a chunk of change, this is coming into Tulsa on Friday night, leaving Monday around mid-day. Three nights hotel and flight for $425 for two people. I think the tickets come to about $233 round trip. This is for the weekend of May 20, which is best for me. And the hotel I picked is an Embassy Suites which allows for four people per room, so the cost per person would be like $300 a person for a group of four. Plus food, rental car, the faire itself. Unfortunately, you have to be 25 to rent cars in most places. I'll be turning 24 on the 15th of May. Not quite old enough to rent a car. Sigh.

On the other hand, Muskogee is right off I-40. Anyone feel like a road trip?

on the road again...

Weather Phenomenon

Johnson's Law of Directional Precipitation - Whichever direction the driver's side window pane of Justin Johnson's car runs perpindicular is the direction from which any and all precipitation shall fall, resulting in the driver's seat being soaked while leaving the entire passenger section of said conveyence completely dry.

Mo' Money, Mo' Money...

So yay me! I got a raise! Back dated for this next paycheck! Huzzah! And more of a raise than I thought I'd be getting, too. I can deal with that. I won't say how much more here, but if anyone is dying to know how much, just IM me.

squeee!

Who? What? I was listening!

Wow. So where have I been the last six days, huh? I was worried sick about me. I don't call, I don't write. I'm not the man I met a year ago.

...

Or something.

Yeah.

More likely it's that I've been doing the work or sleep routine for the last six days. Gorram retail. Though, really, I can't blame retail. I can blame StaffWorks, which is the scheduling software BestBuy uses. We hates it. It doesn't look at week A when making the schedule for week B, making it so that a full time employee might work, say, Tuesday through Saturday of one week, and then Sunday, making a total of six days, with a ONE DAY OF OFF, then right back to the slog mines. Argh. This will change soon. I have spoken with the Supervisor. If that doesn't work, I'll just change my availablility to make the program give me two days off. Rah. But it's Sunday. So I was home before 8PM. And no work tomorrow, thank you Jesus, just some chores. And I close Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I'll finally be able to get some sleep in. Holy crap.

Oh yeah! I had my review today. I will be getting a raise. I don't know how much of a raise, but a raise. And we like raises. Yes, precious. Who knows, maybe it'll be keyed in by my next paycheck. That'd be pretty cool.

i walk the line