My Addled Brain

Happy birthday, baby. The space of miles between us feels both small and great today, but I’m thinking of you.

Sure, my updates are sporadic at best these days, but hey, I’m trying to keep busy! Do you know how hard it is to find a job when you’re constantly trying to dodge responsibility? Well, actually, I’m not trying to dodge it, it seems to have an easy enough time avoiding me all by itself these days. Ah well, it gave me enough time to blaze through the latest installment of Harry Potter and the Something or Other. Pretty good read - the series gets darker with each book, and Harry finally became something other than a lost-in-wonder kid - he became a self-absorbed teenager, something that annoyed me greatly at first until I realized that ALL teenagers are annoying and self-absorbed.

Dateline, Kansas: Finally, Erky has decided to do something for others that doesn’t involve lap dances or beer. Well, it might involve beer. He’s Bowling for Kids’ Sake, benifitting the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Kansas City, a group that has far too many capital letters in their name to earn my respect, thank you very much. So please, give early, give often. And never, ever, let him forget that you gave. Bring it up daily, in completely unrelated conversation. He likes feeling indebted to others. Makes him feel not so worthless.

It might be a bit early to bring this up, but what with the Democrats holding a virtual online primary, I thought I would pass on my thoughts regarding our future as a nation. Personally, I don’t see anything even remotely resembling leadership in the horrid mess that is the Democratic party. Yet, strict conservatives scare the bejeebus out of me, and while W is a great wartime leader, his fiscal policy outright blows. I say, it’s time for a change…real change. And there’s only one person in the universe who can effect those changes - General Zod! And conveniently, you don’t even have to elect him…he’s already appointed himself leader for you.

Saw The Hulk this weekend. You know what that means…

The world’s first comic
book art film. HULK SMASH PUNY
FAT MOVIE CRITIC!

I bet you people wish I kept a post count or something. Keep dreaming. Post counts only encourage your kind of tom foolery.

The good news is I had my first interview Friday. I have utterly no idea how well it went, much less when or if I’ll hear from them again. But it was an interview, which is better than none.

So Erky is telling me that there’s a Danger Bob reunion going on this weekend. I got invited to come out to scenic Lawrence, KS to see the show, but this whole not having a job thing left me with no choice but to miss out this go-around. For the uninformed, Danger Bob is a band featuring Erky’s brother, a man who makes up in game what he lacks in height. They play pop rock…but it’s pop unlike anything you’re heard before, what with songs about grandmas and video games, the Real World (Pedro! Rachel! Pedro! Rachel!), and The Hook. It’s disappointing to me - seeing the Bob live is something I’ve been wanting to do ever since I heard Jamie’s poor, abused copy of “The Joshua Tree” (no, not the U2 one) so many years ago. Ah well, hopefully I can catch them on the next reunion.

Went to Islands of Adventure this Sunday, with MCG, Emily’s Mom, HRC, the Brat, the Turdlet, and the rest of MCG’s in-laws. That park is a LOT of fun. Not 55 dollars fun…but fun. The Hulk is killer, but blows it’s wad in the first ten seconds, so I fail to see how it’s the best roller coaster in the world. Spider-Man is similarly cool, but again, is not the end-all-be-all of rides that it is made out to be. The Popeye rapids ride is the best one I’ve ever been on, but the warning signs are misleading. They say “You may get wet”, when they should say “Just jump in the water now and save yourself the trouble”. You get absolutely drenched on that ride. However, they do have a very cool compartment where you can store your shoes and socks that’s waterproof, thus avoiding the one thing I absolutely hate about water rides - walking around the park the rest of the day in wet socks. Ripsaw Falls is also good, and as wet as I got on Popeye, I think I got even more soaked on Ripsaw. Dueling Dragons is fun. The Cat in the Hat is Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride on LSD. Each of the little islands is done superbly. You feel like you’re in a Dr. Seuss book on that island, or you’ve just stepped into the Welcome Center in Jurassic Park. They did that place up right. We finished up with dinner at Margaritaville, where we set Adam up with ten, count em, ten young, attractive, out of state girls. You go, stud monkey.

My computer blew up tonight. It was a good day, I found a very interesting job doing, more or less, what I would like to be doing, with great pay and benefits, wrote up a killer cover letter, and sent it in. Got some cleaning done, and took care of a few other things that needed attention, and settled in to play some EQ.

I smelled the burn, but didn’t think anything of it. While this isn’t the oldest apartment complex, it’s old enough to have the occaisional odd smell that doesn’t waft from either my dirty laundry hamper, my bathroom, the kitchen, or me. Silly me. Only when everything went dead did I realize what had happened. Fortunately, the hard drives seem to be working normally. However, I’m not sure if the culprit is my motherboard, my processor, my memory, or my power supply, and I can’t really afford to experiment here - that computer is my damn lifeline these days to my future, sad as that may sound. So I’m buying replacement parts tomorrow.

This would not ordinarily be such a big deal - should cost me about $250, and I’ll end up with a 2.4GH AMD, mobo with built in firewire and USB 2.0, and a 300 watt power supply…but I haven’t received any of my promised checks for two weeks. I’ve fired off a short, pleasant e-mail to my former employer inquiring as to their whereabouts. I’m sure it was some sort of mix up, somebody forgot to push some button somewhere that sent the message to the people who send money places. Or something. Fortunately, my rent and my car insurance have already cleared, so all I have to do is wait for the checks to arrive so I can drop them in the bank, and breathe a little easier.

And that sucks. I hate the fact that my life is now tied to the whims of others. I long to be self-sufficient. Part of me wants to learn how to forage, and go live in the woods somewhere, living off the land, where I am my own master and have to rely on no one for support. Of course, I would last all of three hours before I start to wonder what Spongebob Squarepants is up to, and toddle off for home to crack open a soda, turn on the tube, and get my Slashdot fix. So I leave myself shackled to these things I do not truly need, yet cannot seem to get rid of, a victim of my own small desires and unwillingness to shed myself of what may is unnecessary, huddled safely in a corner awaiting my next glorified welfare check, my thank you for services rendered, appreciated, but no longer required.

I didn’t realize I was this frustrated. Not totally sure what I’m going to do about it yet. But it starts with new computer parts.

And you people say I’ve got a strange imagination? After what I’ve read from your comments on the last post, I’d say I’m the straight man in the room.

Yeah, I know, been a while since I’ve updated. I guess there would be more to talk about if there had been something that occurred recently of any sort of significance. But other than donating my life savings to Verizon for long distance calls to Coeur d’Alene, there hasn’t been much. So let’s talk video games, of which I seem to have plenty of time to play lately…

Got my hands on Enter The Matrix. Looked cool - made by the same people that made the film, including all the actors, ties directly into the movie’s plot, can do all those fancy Matrix moves and generally kick butt, right?

I think I turned it off after about 10 minutes of the driving AI (I played the guy, who is a gunner in driving mode) bouncing back and forth between two buildings because it couldn’t figure out that if you went slower, you would easily make the 4-lane street BETWEEN THEM. Horrible framerates (and I turned off all the fancy extras, even though I have a GeForce4 and 512MB), and choppy (at best) movement. Played much better on PS2 at MCG’s house - seems to me the PC version was more of an afterthought than anything else. It has been uninstalled and will now take it’s place among the pantheon of games that have stolen time from me that I shall never recover.

Splinter Cell, on the other hand, kicks major ass. I enjoyed playing Thief, and the idea of subterfuge being greater than an Ah-nold style blood bath appeals greatly to me. Fantastic graphics, cool weapons, and nary a lagged frame to be found. Oh, and the main character is voiced by one of my favorite Hollywood hard-asses, Michael Ironside. Get it.

News Flash: be prepared for a battle all the way to the Supreme Court, in a titanic struggle of a lone, dead bird in his fight against the man. Presenting United States of America v. One Stuffed Great Gray Owl. No, really.

More random linking: aZn pRyDe iN dA hIzOuSe~!!!!1. Speaking of Asian Pride, you think those rice burners that tear down the Interstate have Bling? They ain’t got nothing on these. I think I saw Optimus Prime in there somwhere. Every government seized vehicle now comes standard with 200 pounds of marijuana! Good news everyone! Our tax cut bill is working wonders on the economy! And finally, what day would be complete without Mike Tyson making a complete ass out of himself?

This deserves its own seperate section simply because it’s so damn cool: Augenblick Studios has some hilarious and kick-ass animation. If I could draw gooder, I would draw gooder like this guy.