Utter lack of discipline...

Well, so much for Monday being the start of the productive week...ended up staying up all night watching Simpsons, munching on Flaming Hot Cheetos and Reese's mini cups, going through old photos, IMing with a friend here and there, shopping notebook deals, and generally being confused on days and dates of things.

Guess Tracy isn't the only vampire out there...

Lazy Sundays...

Not much to relay at this time, didn't end up sleeping 'til Tuesday, obviously. Got about six hours' sleep, 11a-5p. Kel stopped by, we chatted for a bit about this and that, so I had my social interaction for the day. Heard about some winter storm warning, so we plotted to go hot tubbing, but that plan didn't come to fruition, unfortunately...made plans to hang out Tuesday, if I can remember to call her between now and then.

Got a call from Colombian hottie Jessica, she's back in Jersey and claims to miss me, talked about possibly having her down for a visit in March or April, will have to remember to keep at that. Good to talk to her though, she's still as darling as ever.

It was very odd to be home on a Sunday, makes me wonder what I used to do with my Sundays prior to this year...

Watched the first few Simpsons episodes of the current season, the writing's not as bad as I remembered from the few episodes I'd seen here and there of last season, but also nowhere near as funny and relevant as I remembered.

Need to get going on trying to find Laura a deal on that notebook...

Really ought to be productive this week.

[yawn.] Starting tomorrow.

Words fail me...

OK, it's 8:30 in the ante meridian, I'm just arriving home for the night with my dinner of a sausage, egg, and cheese McGriddle, ONE hash brown (bastards shorted me a hash brown, damn them all to hell!), and crappy biscuits and gravy. I'm all aglow, despite having left the house over eleven hours ago, and my contacts are doing their damnedest to chemically bond themselves to the surface of my eyeballs. In what may well be the best night of my insane life thus far, (that is until we discover what next week proffers), I've solidified some existing friendships, unearthed brand spanking new layers in others, and finally, forged altogether new ones, all while managing to (I think) not piss anyone off.

Evening began at 9:30ish, headed out to meet the gang at our usual haunt, timed it perfectly, ran into P (of P&K) in the gravel pit of a parking lot, almost got run down by Skip (and A (of A&L)) on the way up the slippery slope (actual, not metaphorical) leading out of the pit. Once inside, was greeted even more warmly than the last time [week] I was there (I swear, this is as close to a "Cheers" kind of bar-type place I've ever frequented, even if I am known as "the Asian guy" rather than Gene...it's a term of endearment, I'm sure. Anyway, it beats "asshole", "moron", or "'tard" any day of the week.)

Once inside, saw J (of G&J, rhymes with "Bill and Nancy", their preferred aliases), didn't realize that I hadn't seen her since the super bowl party, she had to tell me that...couldn't believe it had been that long. I feel so close to some of these guys that I generally think it's been far shorter in between sightings/meetings than it's actually been. That or I'm meeting too many people and the social circle is expanding at a faster rate than I can keep track of...L (of A&L) looked great, but due I'm told to her heels, was MUCH taller than I remembered her...

Chatted, danced, schmoozed the night away...before I knew it, it was nearly 2am, and the first floor's clearing out. Not seeing anyone familiar, I was planning my next move when a couple introduces themselves as Chris and Julie. We instantly hit it off, after which I tried my best to introduce her/them around. I think they made a favourable impression.

Sat around the hall couches for a bit, watching people go by...Jam and Ham were definitely missed in their absence, especially during the hall couch peoplewatching portion of the eve. L (of P&L) and I discussed that, and how it's got a noticeable effect on the group dynamic when someone in the core group doesn't make it out. I definitely agree, and can only hope that I'm similarly missed if (perish the thought!) I ever missed a weekend...

Tried to steal away with Lin for a bit to watch the stars and/or waning gibbous moon, but we were interrupted by L (again of P&L) and J (of T&J), but then J wandered off, so only got L to stargaze with us...all I have to say about all that is: the Colombian eagle has landed, and Elvis has left the building! Booyah! Wait, am I mixing my metaphors again? Crap...

As some in the group are fond of saying, "Life is good..." ...unlike McDonald's biscuits and gravy...ick.

Goddamn, it's almost 10:30...can't believe these 6-8 pseudo-paragraphs took me 2 hrs to crank out...that's what I get for responding to IMs and getting hooked into those conversations...on the plus side, Koni's (hottie Asian chick from the photo with Laura, a ways down this page) coming back to the states in March, I think we've tentatively agreed to meet in Chicago for a couple days mid-March...hrm, gotta try and meet Laura in AK the week previous...should be an interesting month, to say the least...I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff too, but my brain is absolutely shutting down...Lack of Sunday recovery is messing with my system, too...it's going to be a lo-o-o-ong week. Here's to sleeping it away.

Salut, carpe diem, and godspeed. I for one, am a completely happy camper. Although I could totally stand to soak in a hot tub right about now...

Well, off to bed...Talk to y'all sometime perhaps Tuesday-ish, when next I wake.

Spastic white boys on E...

OK, I have to say that I don't really KNOW that they were on E, but they must have been...that or they're all closet epileptics...

For the second time in two days, Mapquest has completely and thoroughly screwed me. At least two people now think I have a totally faulty sense of geographic navigation. Bad enough I'm running so late (due primarily to having to spend all afternoon on the phone with my old man and Comcast tech support trying to get his &%$#@ cable internet working, thus completely negating my plans to go out and get cards for the birthday people, as well as a couple bottles of Veuve Cliquot and/or WhiteStar with which to toast the occasion) that not only am I fully precluded from properly shopping for the occasion, but I'm running so late that I'm late to pick up Kel, and completely rushed on the way down to the restaurant. Then, to top it all off, I'm zooming across multiple lanes of traffic on I77, then darting in front of numerous speeding cars to make my exit, only to have Mapquest place me like several blocks down the street from our intended destination. So here's Kel and I creeping up and down the same three blocks on the wrong side of Tryon attempting to divine a restaurant where there clearly is none. Fortunately, we eventually figure out where the hell we're going, and manage to arrive prior to the grand festivities:

Tonight's activities centered primarly on a grand birthday celebration, (Ham, Peter, and hot Allie (not that there's another Allie with whom to confuse her, but I just enjoy pointing out that she's hot)) a surprise dinner at the Greek Isles dining establishment, replete with authentic belly dancer, yum! And the food was mighty tasty as well, thanks primarily to Kel, who was instrumental in identifying what Greek specialities would most likely be high on the delicioso factor.

Despite many near slip-ups and opportunities to screw things up (I very nearly wrote in yesterday's entry that today was the "big day for group birthday dinner, which, of course, would have resulted in my instantaneously becoming persona non grata with several of my favorite people) by letting one or more cats out of their respective bags, all the appropriate parties seemed suitably surprised upon arrival...all well spaced so as not to infringe upon one another's "SURPRISE!" entrance. Although I did hear tell of the hostess(es) very unslick-ly asking at least one birthday couple "oh, you're with the party of 20?" That's not the slightest bit suspicious at all, hearing that when going to what's supposed to be a quiet dinner with your SO around the time of your birthday...

Dining at one loooooong table, coupled with the belly dancer's moderately loud music made for conditions fully inhospitable for conversational purposes...as stated, food was outstanding, will definitely be back to sample more of their culinary delights. Points off for no tiramisu, though! Bastards! Had to order a crazy-ass baklava (odd that that's the second time I've mentioned baklava in like a week) on steroids, what with the giant-ass scoop of ice cream and chocolate syrup accompanying. Bizarre.

After some impromptu mini-champagne toasts in the freezing-ass parking lot, (thanks Sam n Allie) roll our happy asses down to Sky, an alleged hookah lounge for some more drinks and dancing and general revelry. Walk past the perfectly acceptable trance/euro room in favour of the thumpy, kind of industrial back room, where we claim a bed/rug area for our focal point. I casually ask about the alleged hookah (which I hear is the absolute shit to try when you're out and about), only to be told that it's "too busy", and that they might get damaged. Damnation! WTF?! I wanna hookah! Oh well, alas. Bastards! Meet Allie's hot bartender friend ("they're real, and they're MAGNIFICENT") whom she apparently roomed with in college, (and yes, I asked the question you're all thinking, "did they see each other naked?" The response was too look at me like the 'tard that I am, followed by something like "duh, all the time, how do you think I know they're real" (or something like that, I couldn't hear for shit in there, and my mind might have wished/inserted a few choice words here and there, but that's not wrong, is it?)) Needless to say, Jam rolled her eyes and told me that I was incorrigible (or something like that). I suggested that they make out to prove to me that they were, in fact, roommates, but I think they both agreed to pretend that they didn't hear me. Regardless, something in this exchange prompted our new friend JoDee (what is it with southerners and the need to randomly capitalize a second letter in their first names? To be fair, I'm not altogether sure she's from around here...) to get our first round. Naturally, some of us felt the need to tip her generously after that (to the tune of 200% I think)...gotta love having an "in" at these kinds of places!

Kel seemed to be well-liked by all, and she likewise seemed to enjoy the group's company, spent a goodly amount of time chatting up Ham, Peter, and pilates chick...Vicky(?) Here's to hoping that she'll be hanging more often. Enjoyed chatting with Lida a bit about random things here and there, found out she lives down the street from Kel...small world. Ditto the conversation with Allie, with whom I copped to having a tremendous thing for, she reacted by saying that that was "so cute", and "good for her ego". Then she felt up my hair. Hrm. Need to work that angle...

Skip and I debated what mind-altering substances some of the club kids might have been on, but no doubt whatever it was, it completely and fully removed all cares that one might make an ass out of oneself on the dance floor, as some of these whitebread kids got out there and had their little full-body dry heaves set to music, without a care in the world, god love 'em. Not to be outdone, Allie and Lin took the opportunity to get very thoroughly re-acquainted. Some seemed to be intently fixated, whereas others were far too deep into their respective hazes to even notice, but suffice it to say that it was nothing short of magnificent.



Just prior to leaving, during our obligatory (but yet fully enjoyable) goodbyes, Allie noticed how warm my cheek was...since it was far too loud in there to have any semblance of a conversation, I chose to not regale her with the tale of the Asian flush syndrome at that juncture. Likewise, I'll not bore y'all here with same, but I have done a little research on the matter, and perhaps that's a story for this medium on another day...

I'm super buzzy...time for bed...viva la weekend!

...and once again, happiest of birthdays to Ham, Peter, and Allie!

Cherchez la femme...

"Look for the woman" [as cause of a problem] -Alexandre Dumas, my hero for the week.

On Dumas, pere: "His writing earned him a great deal of money, but Dumas was frequently broke and in debt as a result of spending lavishly on countless women and high living."

Ah, we should all be so fortunate to live the good life such as Monsieur Dumas.



Interesting evening tonight, went to meet a friend at an unfamiliar location...due in equal parts to bad directions, unfamiliarity with the area, thoroughly retarded planning/flow of a US highway, and my complete inability to read signs when I'm running late due to asinine factors such as those just described, I almost completely missed out on a fabulous time. Ended up being nearly 30 minutes late, and through completely dumb luck, just happened to see her car go the other way while lost and trying to get my bearings. We end up on an isolated, dead-end road, under a viaduct (don't you just hate it when people pronounce that word "viaDOCK"? Drives me absolutely up a wall, although I seem to hear it less here than in the north...maybe because there seem to be fewer here anyway.) on the hood of my car, watching the stars and freezing our respective asses off for easily the most enjoyable 45 minutes so far this week. And now the weekend's here. Life is good.

Now then, there seems to be a total blog post drought going on...several of the ones I keep up with have been all but dead for days! Come on guys (chicks too), let's get going! Do what you need to do to stir the creative forces within, let's get writing! I'm bored!

[cue crickets]

Sheesh, fine...I'm going to bed, then...

A certain childlike innocence...

If you ever want to find out just how uninteresting you really are, get a job where the quality and frequency of your thoughts determine your livelihood.

-Bill Watterson, in a Kenyon College commencement address (1990)



My find (don't you just love how little effort it takes to "discover" something these days, thanks to the internet?) of the week is this page, a chronological archive of every Calvin and Hobbes comic published. The internet is a wonderous thing, non?

Growing up, Calvin and Hobbes was probably my all time favorite comic strip. It's still one of the few things from my childhood I'm able to enjoy equally, if not more today as an adult. What better way to impart the teachings of John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes, than through the eyes of a six-year old kid with a genius-level vocabulary and his beloved stuffed tiger?


While I wouldn't compare their relationship to that of Jack and Tyler Durden, there are definitely deeper philosophical undertones.


Talking to Laura, I've learned that INSEAD where our good friend and proponent of physioeconomics, Dr. Phil Parker is on staff, is regarded as home of the top MBA program in the European Union, and somewhere in the top 10 worldwide...so it appears that our good friend isn't the hack he appears to be. She's apparently impressed that I got a personal reply from the guy...I suppose I was too, since he's in charge of the project, and despite the weakness of that particular reply, the site is still a major accomplishment.

I also got a moving e-mail from her vaguely alluding to some juicy news she has for me, more of the baseless but completely touching flattery she insists on lavishing on me (I love you for it, cherie!) and more potential readers for this fluff I crank out. I'm unceasingly amazed by the calibre of people who choose to have me in their lives. It's really quite a statement about the nature of people, what kinds of characters they run with.

It appears that MasterCard, via their proxy in the ad agency of McCann-Erickson, has made a travesty of one of the most classic moments in film history, the excruciatingly funny phone-call scene where Mikey calls Nikki after he gets her number at the Dresden in Swingers. Who knows how much money they paid to these guys to just rip something off? I could so do that and start an ad agency...oh wait, I have something slightly resembling ethics and couldn't ever, in good conscience, blatantly steal and butcher an idea like that, unless in genuine homage. (Which this definitely isn't, as it sucks compared to the original.)

I'm watching season 11 of ER, and it's not bad so far, but I have to say that I'm increasingly alarmed by the portrayal of Asians in today's media (yesterday's link notwithstanding). Don't get me wrong, they say there's no such thing as bad publicity, and they should get credit for eschewing the stereotypical roles written for Asians. That being said, they've introduced two characters in an episode, a man and a woman, Korean, and while they're not overachieving soft-spoken pillars of the community, they've maybe gone a little too far in the opposite direction. They're incestuous 'tards. Nice. This "teen" girl comes in, has a baby, is in complete denial, they find her family, and it turns out her "developmentally challenged" 23 year-old brother is the father. Hrm. I'd almost be more comfortable with the "Kenneth Park, class of 2005" version, sheesh. Guess we'll see where they take this, but I can't see it ending anything other than farcically poorly.

OK, they didn't make them incestuous, thank god...but it's still goofy...

Ah well, gotta go read more Calvin & Hobbes...

Zero-sum days...

Since my peers are discussing dreams, I'll go ahead and get on the bandwagon and tell of mine from a couple mornings ago. First off, I don't normally dream much, and when I do, I don't generally remember anything about them, and then it's never for more than a few minutes into a waking state, nor is it ever really about people I know. That being said, here's one weird example:

Skip and I are, for some unknown reason, driving in Manhattan. He's in front, driving, I'm in the back directly behind him (does that make him the catcher?) We're heading North on Central Park West, with the park on our right, as though we're heading to Tavern on the Green. He's shirtless, lord only knows why, and while we're driving, he turns almost all the way around in the seat and hangs his elbows over the seat back to say something to me, while gesturing with his hands. Naturally, I'm mortified, as the car's still hurtling down the road, and we're fast approaching a large moving type truck. I'm barking (figuratively) at him and gesticulating pretty frantically to turn the hell around and pay attention, we're bound to hit something. He dismissively waves me off with a "Yeah, yeah" kind of hand motion. He finishes his point, turns around, sees that we're about to hit a guy loading a motorcycle onto said truck in the middle of Central Park West, for completely unknown reasons. He then very nonchalantly brakes the car at about 110% capacity, and manages to all but stall it, but hauls it down to where we just barely tap the ramp in this land barge of an old American car we're driving. WTF?!

Granted, it's probably got the most latently homosexual overtones of the dreams I've heard about recently, but I'm hoping it really means the opposite, kind of like they always say the death card in tarot doesn't really mean death. Hrm...why can't I remember the ones with the hot women?!

In other news, had quite an extensive conversation with Amy today about my lifestyle choices and the repercussions it's had on our friendship. It was a sobering discussion, to say the least. Talked to a couple fir friends about it afterward, and they both asked how it made me feel. Naturally, it got my defenses up, and we weren't able to have a meaningful conversation, but overall, I think it was a push...I feel better for having spoken to her about it, especially if it bothers her, but I'm concerned about the lasting effects on our relationship. Guess we'll see how it goes.

Also spoke with another longtime friend, who learned of this link, and claims that as she read it and saw the associated criteria, I was the first person she thought of...who knows, stranger things have happened! Maybe I'll put in for it, but that would just further play into Amy's "sex addict" theory...

I really need to do my taxes, before I lose another year's worth of refunds...

I wonder if there's some yet-undiscovered condition that's the procrastinator's version of OCD/OCHD, because I'm pretty sure I have it. Ah well, I'll look into it next week.

Well, it's now well after 0800, and I'm not tired...maybe I should stay up and try and do something...bleh. Who are we kidding here? G'night....

Newfound/Rediscovered lubricity...

Lubricity...after having looked it up, it's even more appropriate than I could have hoped for...

Well, this weekend was very interesting, even more than the one before it, which in turn was more so than the week before it. It's gotten to be like the inverse of the cultishly famous Ron Livingston/Peter Gibbons quote from Office Space, “…every day you see me, that’s the worst day of my life.”

Saturday night was pretty happening, met yet more new friends, and caught up with some old, had a good time despite not having substantially indulged. I think that the sober partying is a good idea for me with my funky metabolism. More research is called for and experimentation in differing quantities and combinations is probably just the ticket there. Findings as they become apparent.

Sunday craziness…what more is there to say other than that we continue to outdo ourselves? So much appreciation is due our ever gracious host and hostess, it’s a thankless job having weirdos coming into one’s house making a mess, waking the neighbours at all hours of the night, and molesting one’s dog (you know, teasing with non-dropped food and assaulting with baby talk and such).

In other news, (and this has been done to death elsewhere, but I thought I should mention it, since I'm the asshole): Vandalist is NOT a cult, a painter of a certain artistic period, nor is it technically, a “word”. Sheesh, I was just saying! No need to obsess over it, people! Second, there are only five fifths in a whole, beware of recipes calling for more than five fifths of anything…and last but not least, “morror” is a foreign alternate spelling of “mirror”, used primarily in non-English-speaking countries, everyone knows that. Duh!

In her blog a day or two ago, D makes reference to having a “thang” (my inserted southern twang, not hers) for Vin Diesel...babe, I never knew you liked him! You SO should have said something sooner! As it turns out, I have his mobile phone number, it's 310.279.6312...why don't you try calling him up and seeing if he can hold your conversational interest? Just remember that if you end up running away with him, who it was that brought you guys together...

Not that I'm only willing to hook D up! If any of y'all need any celebrity contacts, just let me know...as it turns out, I'm people who know people! Who’s number would you like? Christina Aguilera? Done. 310.917.9191. Fred Durst? 310.948.0808. How about Eminem? You couldn't pay _me_ to call him, but it's 917.776.7643. OK, maybe some of you are more highbrow...what about David LaChappelle? 917.513.2859. Didn't someone this weekend mention that they like the slim blonde waifish type? Call Avril Lavigne at 613.532.4092 or Ashley Olsen (Mary-Kate is stingy with the digits) at 310.760.1996...I KNOW someone mentioned Lindsay Lohan, 347.596.9990. Having legal troubles? How about retaining Robert Shapiro? 310.556.7886.

OK, not really. (And I hope that y'all tried a couple of those numbers...if so, I want stories!) I'm sure most of you have already heard of this (dunno how much media coverage it's received, but if you stay on top of your Drudge report, you know for sure), but I'm going to exploit it anyway, so that I can at least look cool to those who don't know: it appears that someone's hacked Paris Hilton's T-Mobile address book. If you're curious at all, the link I was given is here, and as of 07:30EST Tuesday morning, the link still works...once it's down, you're on your own. Me, I'll be calling Anna Kournikova first, maybe see what she's doing Sunday. If she's busy, I'll try Summer Altice, then maybe Rhona Mitra...barring any of that action, I KNOW EG Daily (she used to be cute,) will be happy to have anyone calling her, she's gotta be hurting for attention. And work, for that matter.

All kinds of accounts on the web of people calling from Sunday on and making crazy-ass classic crank calls, some even with the foressight to record them, this should be great blog fodder for soem time to come...I hear most have already changed their numbers, disconnected, and/or voice mailboxes are full...on the plus side, since Paris is on T-mobile, I can call her for free on my plan...too bad she's not all that hot, as celebrities go...

My personal confirmation on this comes in the form of a friend of mine mentioning it, and as it turns out, she casually knows the Mayor of San Francisco (Gavin Newson), and thus has his cell phone number (well, had, since now I have it too...). She's verified that the number appearing under his name, 415.722.9876, is (was) in fact his actual personal mobile number.

I spent the evening catching up on key Law & Order (and spinoff) universe updates. I need to tread lightly here, as if I'm not careful, this is going to turn into some kind of loser TV critique blog, eww!

That being said, first, I partook of the last two episodes featuring Elisabeth Rohm. With regard to these, the only two things I have to say are 1) what is it about her that's so hot on this program? I saw one episode of Angel with her as some kind of cop or something, and she wasn't the slightest bit hot in that. 2) I have never laughed harder at this particular programme. I'm not sure why she left the show, but they wrote her character into a getting-fired situation, and she's kind of teary-eyed and shocked in response, then blinks and says "Is it because I'm a lesbian?" I about spit little chunks of hot wings onto my monitor. WTF?! While the idea of her getting it on with some equally hot (yet ficticious) lipstick lesbian makes me all tingly, as a plot/dramatic device, it pretty much flopped. I'm sorely disappointed, and feel like the original series might be slipping into third place among the franchises in my book.

Also watched a the episode of L&O: Criminal Intent where Chris Noth comes back on to the franchise as Mike Logan, that could be my new favorite with him back on...although they need an unrealistically hot cast member to balance out all the sausage.

Musical find of the week: FC Kahuna - Machine Says Yes. I've had FC Kahuna recommended to me before, in the form of FC Kahuna - Hayling, and I liked that song, but for some reason, never downloaded any other songs from them as I generally do when I hear of a new artist. Imagine my surprise when, at Skip's, this kick ass trance/ambient song comes on, I go check the iPod's pretty backlit display, and what name should come up but FC Kahuna - Machine Says Yes. this song is so not for everyone, but the vocalist has the most haunting voice, and it's got just the right touch of trip-hoppy flavour (probably not the right technical term, but I know what I mean) that I can totally see a little head bobbing to it at a club-type setting.

In other news, apparently FA Amy never knew I had a motorcycle...interesting. She attached a comment to one of my myspace.com photos with the comment: "you have a bike?! how come i was not informed of this?? i sooo want a ride sweet ass!!" Oh yes Ames, you'll get a ride, alright...



Finally, in honour of our new friend, who I find highly reminiscent of my dear, dear friend Laura, I offer the following photo, taken in June of '04, in Hong Kong, overlooking Victoria Harbour, if I'm not mistaken...unfortunately, I was not able to be there to take the photo, or get in between these two lovely ladies. I present my beloved Laura and Koni [snif]...I miss you guys! (Even though they are alleged to have talked shit about me the whole time...they are mutual friends of mine who met through me in my absence...does that make sense?)

Sometimes, even I'm amazed...

Award for manna-from-the-heavens good news of the day is that my newly discovered Greek goddess seems to have formed (oddly enough, considering I said all of probably eight words to her in about 12 seconds before I ran for my dear, pathetic life) an exceptionally favorable impression of me (lord only knows how or why). Apparently, she's somehow come to the conclusion that I'm intelligent (ha!) and/or some combination of witty/charming (ha ha!), as well as "adorable" (who the hell even knows what that means!)

I'm sure that some, if not all, of it is Elsa's (roommate) combination of talking me up and/or some natural tendency for women to bolster the egos of their friends by saying "oh yeah, so-and-so thinks very highly of you," etc. In fact, come to think of it, I guess a lot of people do that to some extent...some of it based on politeness, some looking out for your friends, hoping occasionally to merge different groups of friends, sometimes just to mess with people, etc. I think the majority of the need-to-hook-people-up is largely the domain of women though. She goes on to tell me this, that and the other thing about her, suggestions and recommendations on how to continue to make a favourable impression, yadda yadda yadda. I listen intently, take what mental notes I'm able to (yeah right), and try to formulate a plan.

I've confirmed that she is, in fact, moving to Char in the near future, so I've volunteered the services of my lazy ass as well as the pretty-likely-to-be-more-helpful use of my truck and/or crappy trailer, so we'll see how that goes...much opportunity for chit chat and sneaky groundwork-laying, seed-planting conversation. Not that I'm plotting anything...

I really can't emphasize enough how attractive this woman is...allegedly sharp as a tack, too. [swoon] Updates as they occur on that front.

OK, the above was written earlier, before I headed out for the evening, say around 6pm, prior to my departure for the evening. It is now very nearly 5am, and I'm just arriving home, mind utterly full with things I need to commit to electronic paper before I forget every last shred of what I want (or don't want) to go to press...

What started out as me just swinging by the club to talk to the powers-that-be there that the Friday night scene possibly isn't my thing, and maybe I could help out, lend a hand and volunteer/work Friday nights. I figure it'd give me something to stay busy, I could get to know people there, and I wouldn't necessarily be subject to the weird Friday night vibe (that granted, I could just be imagining). So I'm there without any intention of hitting on anyone, and as it turns out, it's kind of dead anyway...there are maybe a dozen cars in the lot, and I think to myself, "OK, it'll be deserted, and I'll just go in and talk to whomever I need to talk to, have a drink or two, and be on my merry way." Sure enough, upon entry, I speak to the first person I see, I'm given instructions to email the appropriate parties, and that's that. Get inside, and true to prediction, it's a ghost town...swore I saw tumbleweeds and everything. I've never seen this kind of dearth of partygoers since I've been attending these functions, but then again this is only my second Friday, and the weekend after a big party, so it's likely to not be a huge crowd to begin with. I run into the two PJs, chat with them for a little bit, get introduced to the people they're chatting with, all very nice. Walk around for a while, debate leaving, figure I'll stay a little, tiny bit longer. I did accidentally get introduced to this way creepy guy, Jerry? Jeffrey? I think Jeffrey. Pretty much spent most of the evening watching him flounder about. He somehow managed to get a few girls to dance for/with him, but I think it was more pity than anything else...he was quite...uh...let's say "enthusiastic". Did the whole classic follow-any-girl-around-like-a-lost-puppy-who-doesn't-shoo-you-away thing, don't know why they let him take half the unwelcome liberties they did, but eh, who knows.

Anyway, some time later, these two very attractive women walk in together, notable because they're unescorted, other than by one another, they're fairly attractive, and they're getting there pretty late, even for this place. So they're dancing, drinking, having what appears to be a great time. I think I detect one or the other looking at me at various points over the course of time, and of course, I try to not avert my gaze and smile, while having a very pleasant conversation with the PJs. At this point, it's maybe 1:30? or so am, and the place is clearing out (relatively speaking, it was never that crowded to begin with). I get up to get a drink, and who should I nearly bulldoze, but my soon-to-be new friend S. We chat a bit, I apologize for nearly steamrolling her, and she tells me about how she and her friend T have been watching me, and debating why I hadn't been over to introduce myself yet, and what was I waiting for? She proceeds to tell me that T's of the impression that I must obviously be gay. I don't immediately disagree, in the hopes that "gay and therefore non-threatening" could potentially be my "in". We head over to their table, and I meet the lovely T. Chat a bit, let them convince me to dance, both together and separately, chat some more, somehow manage to lose T, decide with S that she must be upstairs, and let's go find her. Find T downstairs just prior to going upstairs, and yet we all decide to go up anyway...

Bleh, I'm tired, its goddamn 6am! I'll tell you the rest when I see/talk to you.

Suffice it to say that my completely stupid lifelong streak of dumb luck continues unabated. This exceptionally fortunate turn of events might even have the added side effect of taking care of my #1 issue, as identified by Ham...hrm. And the weekend has only just barely gotten started! To that end, I sincerely hope that each and every one of y'all reading has twice as much luck as I seem to be idly stumbling into. Bon weekend!

Hope springs eternal...

I can't believe I completely forgot to mention that on the way out for the evening last night, I met my roommate's good friend Marika, who was over for a dinner visit. My word, this woman is a Greek goddess if ever there was one. I've seen her photo on the fridge, and I thought that looked good, well it doesn't even begin to do her justice. She's blonde and got a cowboy hat on in it, and was sporting a business suit and long, flowing brunette locks last night...she looked like a completely different and even more attractive woman...yum. If I was thinking, I'd have snapped a couple candids of us with the digicam sitting uselessly in my pocket, but alas, brain function in the presence of hotties is not a strong trait for which the male condition is known. Statuesque, stunning good looks, killer body, bright, piercing eyes, tangible sex appeal, obvious confidence, it was everything I could do to stammer out a greeting and vacuous compliment. And here I am in full "jobless bum" look...jeans, t-shirt and my old "Gene" name patch blue mechanic shirt. Nice. Had I not had an equally compelling prior commitment, I'd have stayed home and thrown myself shamelessly at this woman. If memory serves, I'm told she's moving to Charlotte soon, so here's to adding one more intriguing layer of filo to the already-shaping-up-to-be-amazing baklava of this upcoming spring/summer (thanks to Skip for inspiring me to be freer with the ethnic metaphors.) Opaaa!

In doing a little reading on the troupe we saw last night, come to find out that "talking baby" bit they do has been featured on MTV2 for a while...haven't had a chance to read up on the specifics, but it appears these guys have been around for some time and have a bit of notoriety to them. Good job guys, keep it up.

Started watching Las Vegas today (I know, last thing I need is another show to get hooked into, but I figure this one will help abate my need/urge to actually go and gamble). Las Vegas is a good candidate primarily because of the people in it: James Caan, who, like Dennis Farina, does the good heavy/mob guy/boss persona (but in a completely different way) Molly Sims, who I've yet to see act, but is really easy on the eyes, and Nikki Cox, who used to be really hot, is not aging terribly well, and is a horrendous actress, but is still good eye candy. Next up is the Sopranos, for which I have 5(?) seasons to catch up on, 4 of which are downloaded and ready to go, I just need to give up on the rest of my life, barricade the door and do the full Howard Hughes insane hermit route.

OK, halfway into the first episode, I'm a little appalled at the ease in which people are implied to have hooked up...the several times I was in Vegas, supermodel hotties _never_ threw themselves at me. But I suppose it IS in the name of television T&A, so I can suspend a little bit of disbelief...damned if every long shot of the strip doesn't absolutely drive home just how long it's been since I've been there. I think that easily the top ten hotels in Vegas now have been built since '96, and I haven't set foot in a single one of them, much less blown thousands of dollars there. [sigh]

Like mother, like daughter...

Spent the evening with D and Mo, had a lovely time...I am completely and hopelessly enamored of these two, I really am. They're both absolutely amazing (and by amazing, I mean gorgeous, intelligent, witty, funny, charming and all those types of things) women, and they're unbelieveably adorable when you get them together...it's endlessly fascinating to see their similarities and commonalities. I have the most incredible time out with them, there's never a dull moment, and one only runs the risk of just the very slightest twinge of carsickness... [sigh] I will eventually kidnap them to Europe, mark my words! Wandered Eastland Mall for a bit, that was an interesting little place...never seen an ice skating rink in a shopping mall before, let alone at the bottom of an open three-story atrium. Tres bizarre.

After an aborted attempt to hit Tremont for some sort of mystery concert (although it did seem pretty dead there), we hit The Perch at the Charlotte Comedy Theatre for an improv show, which was side-splittingly funny, much more so than I would have guessed. A lot of racial (surprisingly high Asian percentage in there too, the funny bastards) and a LOT of overtly gay humour, but some of it was really quite clever...may even try and make it back next week...In fact, it was funnier than the last time I was at a comedy club, which happened to be in Manhattan a little over a year ago. We're at this random club there, near Chinatown, and who should come on stage like later in the evening, but Ellen Cleghorne, possibly the least famous (perhaps also the least funny...coincidence?) SNL alumnus in recent memory. No one ever knows who she is when I mention her, it's quite sad, really.

Earlier in the day, (right after I got up, as a matter of fact!) I did receive a reply from Professor (Doctor) Phil regarding my economics password query. Thanks to Rusty for his efforts to reach me with his suggestion...a good one, but incorrect. here's Dr. Phil's reply:


Hi,
The word is "physioeconomics". I was having fun coming up with adult
questions, I indulged myself a bit there. The word can be found on the site
on "the editor" page:
http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/credits/editor.html. The word is
mostly used by non-English speakers, especially in Russia, and a few obscure
academic areas. It does not even have a definition page yet.
The truth is, this is the first edition of the site. We will be adding about
400 languages and timelines, and some higher quality content soon; esp. for
medical and historical references. The site today has alot of "filler" until
we do a full update. We will also let people set preferences so they can
choose what they see, etc. Thanks for using the dictionary and spreading
the word.
Cheers,

Phil

Philip M. Parker, Ph.D.
Editor, Webster's Online Dictionary - The Rosetta Edition
Eli Lilly Chair Professor of Innovation, Business & Society
INSEAD
Bd. de Constance
77305 Fontainebleau, France
www.insead.edu

Academic email: phil.parker@insead.edu
Secretary: Joelle Fabert 33-1-60-72-4977
joelle.fabert@insead.edu


So there you have it, straight from the proverbial horse's mouth...here's the short text from the link he references:


The Editor

Philip M. Parker is the instigator behind Webster's Online Dictionary: The Rosetta Edition (www.websters-online-dictionary.org). Phil is an avid collector of dictionaries and encyclopedias with a special interest in those published during the French Enlightenment. In addition to being a bibliophile, he is the author of the Cross Cultural Statistical Encyclopedia (which includes Linguistic Cultures of the World: A Statistical Reference, Greenwood Press), and Physioeconomics: The Basis for Long-Run Economic Growth (MIT Press). He is currently the Eli Lilly Chair Professor of Innovation, Business and Society at INSEAD (Fontainebleau, France & Singapore). He has taught courses and been a visiting scholar at Stanford University, MIT, Harvard University, UCLA, UCSD and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He received his Ph.D. from the Wharton School of Business and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences from the University of Pennsylvania.


Turns out he's written a book by the same title, so he's just in a way plugging his own work. But still, I have to say that I'm impressed that the head guy actually wrote me back and in less time than it took me to sleep. Not too shabby. The answer/word itself is a bit anticlimactic, though, especially since we had all those man-hours into it. Hell, you'd think ONE of us would have plugged physioeconomics in just on a hidden-in-plain-view/captain obvious kind of guess. Alas, maybe we can get started on world peace next.

Good job on all the help, we'll have to come up with something else to keep all those overachiever brains in top form...

So I'm watching Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and the episode from a couple weeks ago has the bad guy as the soft spoken, unassuming token Asian guy...who just so happens to be a murderous kinky swinger sex fiend! Nice. In all fairness, I HAVE only watched the first half, so it could still end up not being him. But the damage is done, I can't even look in the mirror anymore without thinking "Murderer! Pervert!" My Twinkie Asian self-image is ruined!

Getting ready to type this post and hit the sack, when who should IM me but Cali Jen...chatted for a good couple hours, THEN got this post together, and will be snoozing "here pretty quick", as my Iowan friends used to say.

It's been an interesting sort of day, indeed.

Forgery on the rise...

OK, crap...it's 4:45 and I'm just sitting down to try and write something to post. [sigh] Why do I do this to myself? Normally, I try to jot potential topics down on indeterminate numbers of little slips of paper, sometimes that helps the writing process, but then I run the risk of misplacing said slips of paper. Other times I'll start a notepad document with little bullet points, since I barely leave the house during the week, and it's just as easy to go over to the computer to type in a thought or topic...

Today, however, was a complete bust. Apparently, it's everything I can do to wake up, shower, feed myself, have a couple IM and phone conversations, and watch a half a dozen episodes of Law & Order spinoffs. (I'd forgotten that the (redhead?) ADA on SVU was fairly hot)

I did finally chat with Laura briefly before I went to bed yesterday, she's going to be on our side of the pond in mid March. Perhaps we can coordinate a meeting...but I think that would entail me going to Arkansas...and unfortunately, as I recall, that's a bit of a hike. I need to help her research buying an iBook or Powerbook to bring back with her.

Plans to See D and Mo tomorrow, possibly for coffee or something, it'll be good to see them...had a lot of fun doing the mallrat/dinner thing a few weeks ago.

Oh yeah, finally broke down (after about an hour more fruitless internet searching) and wrote an e-mail to the websters online dictionary people about the economics question that's been driving me absoultely batty for a week now. Here's what the e-mail said:


Hello Ms. Fabert;

I'm a recent fan of your reference site,
www.websters-online-dictioonary.org, and have been referring many
people to the site.

I have what I hope is a quick and simple question that I hope you can
answer, as this is the only contact e-mail I could find anywhere on
the site. If you are not the correct person to whom this inquiry
should be addressed, I ask that you please either forward this inquiry
to the appropriate party(ies) or supply a contact e-mail where I may
redirect the inquiry. Thanks for your cooperation.

In normal use of the site, I've encountered the "age check" page where
a password is required. I was able to determine the answers to
questions 1, 2, and 5 (Bono, three, and dijon, respectively), and was
informed of number 3 (Tonkin) by a friend. For the life of me, I'm not
able to find the answer to number 4, "The theory that physiology and
physics are drivers of economics (15 letters)"

Please help. I've chronicled our plight on my blog
(http://vueaskew.blogspot.com) and a number of us have been
exhaustively researching the matter, to no avail. Granted, none of us
are exceptionally acute researchers, and most of us are many many
moons removed from our days of education.

Might you or one of your staff members grace us with the answer to this query?

Thanks for your efforts in supplying a valuable service and
indispensible tool for the masses!

We eagerly await your reply, thanks again for indulging a few word-geek fans!

Respectfully,

-Gene Chang



One completely useless thing I did do involved some odd commercials I saw on TV while watching the L&Os. Since I'm such a sucker for marketing, I feel that that makes me uniquely qualified to comment on it. I've always been a fan of clever advertising, and one of the last times I was at the resort, I happened across one of Skip's trade magazines. Only had about a minute to flip through it beafore Iw as distracted by something else, but it had some absolutely amazingly clever ads displayed...don't remember what it was called, but it was gorgeous...nice heavy paper, excellent print quality, the whole deal. Gotta have a closer look and remember to ask him about it. Anyway, saw these two ads that definitely kind of drew you in, and offered websites.

The first was esuvee.com. The commercial features these CGI stylized buffalo/wooly mammoth-looking things, with headlight/grille type facial features. Turns out it's a PSA/public awareness campaign for SUV rollover prevention. The site itself looks good, but is pretty vapid when it comes to content: basically the message is keep your tires inflated, don't overload, and don't speed. Is this really such a massive killer, maimer, or such a source of concern though, that all this money needs to be spent on basic, common-sense messages? Don't get me wrong, ultimately, I admire the efforts put forth, like I said the site looks good visually, and the commercial was very nicely done, as it got me to go and look at the site, but I was definitely let down when I got there. But who the hell is paying for all those national TV spots? Site srates that the "esuvee safety campaign is sponsored by the offices of the Attorney General and consumer protection agencies of all 50 states..." Lovely, government funds. Couldn't the money be better spent elsewhere? OK, gotta stop now, I'm starting to sound like Michael Moore or Ralph Nader or something...oh, and the "sound off" (I read that to mean "turn the annoying sounds off") button doesn't work...guess they must have run out of site development funds to enable that feature.

The second one is less of a kvetch, more of a fun little distraction. The premise of the commercial starts off showing typically misspelled knock-off product: Kalvin Clein clothing, Ray-Boon sunglasses, Rolek watches, Cucci watches, etc. Reminds me of the "Sorny" and "Magnetbox" product placement on an early Simpsons episode. They go on to show various cars with Union Jack-adorned roofs, white mirrors, racing stripe-adorned hoods, bumpers with extraneous foglights, while the narrarator goes on about the newest of hot counterfeit products, the new Mini Cooper. the site seem pretty new, there appear to only have been 3200 visitors (can that be right?!), the reader's submissions page only seems to have about 20 or so photos, and the mock cops-style film clip is dated 02-15-05. Hrm...

A presumably government agency is introduced, the CCC, or Counter Counterfeit Commission. They've allegedly been around "for some time" and have shifted their focus to the especially heinous crime of Mini counterfeiting. The absolute absurdity of the commercial is both endearing and hilarious, and some of the examples are pretty well done, complete with testimonials from "consumers" who'd been "had" by these shysters. The site they refer you to is counterfeitmini.org. I've always loved just about every aspect of the advertising surrounding the reintroduction of the Mini, probably as much as I love the car itself. It epitomizes cute, the performance versions kick ass, and they're relatively cheap for what you get. Never mind that when I went to BMW's Mini site some time ago and "built" a Mini to my preferred specs, the sticker price doubled the base model's MSRP...I must really like a fully-equipped vehicle. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a girl car, and the only way I can justify having one would be to get a serious girlfriend/fiancee/wife, ostensibly buy it for her, but then "borrow" it all the time to go autocross or otherwise race it. Hrm...

Anyway, the various mock Minis (and here, I especially like the two motorcycles duct taped together at the bottom left of the first page there) inspired me to fire up Photoshop and play around a little, to see if I still had any skills in that program. I haven't done any serious tweaking in it in some (9? sheesh...) years, and I definitely don't know a lot of the current version's trick new features, but it IS fun to play with. I did a quick inventory of pictures of my car, ran a quick Google image search, and in a couple hours, cranked out the following: (Don't make fun!)



I know it's hideous, but it's tongue-in-cheek, and gave me a chance to polish up my rusty-ass Photoshop skills a little. Heck, I might even do up one of the Land Cruiser...if anything, that one should be easier since it's basically the same shape as the Mini to begin with...trying to get some of those shapes properly "Free Transform"ed into the proper forms was a pain in the ass.

So I submitted it to the "Citizen Watch" portion of the site, let's see if they publish it...

So yeah, this is what I do instead of being properly productive. Nice, huh? Oh well, it just took me an hour an 15 minutes to come up with this entry...I should keep track of how long it takes me to crank these out, I'm sure the information could come in handy someday...

Toasting the opposite sex...

Goddamnit, I've been beaten to the headline punch again! Why didn't I think of "Valentine's Day Massacre"for yesterday's headline?! Crap! It's perfect! Oh well...

Watched some home video over the weekend that featured a couple interesting toasts. By way of odd coincidences, I'm a closet Willa Ford fan, and one of the songs I've just heard by her today has the following toast, which is easily adapted to go either way (I won't spell it out for you here, but the more mentally nimble among you should be able to work out the how-to):

"Here's to the men we love, here's to the men who love us, here's to the men we love who don't love us...fuck the men, let's drink to us."

Well, it's not going to inspire any new religions, but I thought it was mildly amusing.

Was up by 10am to take a call this morning, got to chat about some things, people and things and people, with a dear friend whom I'm learning to appreciate more and more every day. The discovery part of any relationship can be highly enjoyable, especially when there are shared elements, be they experiences, thoughts, opinions, perspectives, and/or outlooks, and nonconventional/nonstandard relationships, in my opinion, only free us to explore the myriad possibilities with even fewer constraints and restrictions than society is typically tolerant of.

Mike's settling into his apartment, but I still question the soundness of renting a place in the building where you work. In my case, I'd definitely be tempted to work myself to death, but at least the commute's dreamy. 30 seconds on an elevator to get to work? How can you argue with that? (Although the very real possibility that you'll be made into the de facto office bitch is a large downside: [ring] Hey Mikey, I think I left my porn screensaver on, can you be a bud and run upstairs and shut it off before the boss comes in in the morning? thanks bro!") I've always tried to live near my place of employ (when I am a contributing member of society), and have gotten very accustomed to not having to endure long commutes, despite only having lived in fairly major metropolitan areas all my life. I've done this as a concession to my quasi- pseudo- workaholic mentality. Now I know what some of you are thinking, surely this word does not mean what he thinks it means, as he's the laziest bastard I/we know! But it appears that I go through these stages of long-term laziness, and invariably, the people I meet during these highly sedentary periods are shocked to no end when I go back to work for 60-80 hours a week, despite sometimes only being paid for 40. Conversely, the people I work with, are appalled at how quickly I devolve into the total bed potato who can't be bothered to go downstairs and pick up the mail every several days.

Chatted briefly with ATL Ames, she seems to be doing well, perfect score on a recent test, gets her wings on Friday...sent me a photo in-garb with one of her cute blonde classmates...I asked for, and am holding out for ones of her naked with just said wings...she countered by telling me of risque shots with neckerchief and white button-up shirt only, but with the caveat that I'd never see them. Women ARE evil!

Laura e-mailed and texted me in the last couple days, I SO need to call her sometime soon! I'm so bad about communication...You'd even think that with the hours I keep, that calling London would be a piece of cake, as I'm probably more synchronized with their "normal" schedule than any of the time zones in THIS country...sorry Laura!

A moment of silence, please, as it appears my dear Elisabeth Röhm has departed the cast of Law & Order. [sigh] Although on the other hand, I haven't watched much of the show lately, but think Dennis Farina is a good addition...his trademark gangster caricature roles in movies like Snatch, Big Trouble, and Get Shorty, just crack me up...couldn't really see him as a serious cop, but he pulls it off admirably.

It's funny how packaging makes all the difference in marketing a product. Just saw some Jennifer Lopez video (I suspect it might be that same song that I criticized here not too long ago, featuring her as the bad drag queen, among like 15 other characters), repackaged with a new "remix" version. This one's infinitely more aesthetically pleasing (they've eliminated the whole "club" theme and all but two or so of her confusing and pointless wardrobe changes and the dreaded drag queen look,) and as a result, I can now just barely bear to have it on just for eye candy's sake...and I wouldn't even consider myself a fan. Normally I don't see what all the hype is about...she's attractive, to be sure, but by celebrity standards? There are plenty who are hotter than she is. Of course, it could just be that the remixed version really is better than the original version, but I suspect the improved T&A factor is the underlying cause.

By way of proof of the above concept, a Three Doors down video comes on a bit later, and while I'm fairly ambivalent about these guys, I've never paid them much heed. So I'm fast-forwarding through the video, until I see the warm and comforting environs of a topless bar flash (no pun) by. Hrm...[rewind] Anyway, after having tried and completely failing to decipher the "storyline" and divine the "message", I'm none the wiser for having watched it. But the chick was kinda hot, and I don't hate the song, possibly as a result. OK, maybe I do now, since they played it AGAIN in less than 30 minutes. WTF?! And there's far too much overlap between MTV and VH1 playlists, while I'm bitching.

The moral of the story? It's been far too long since I've been in a strip club, and I need to rectify that. Soon.

Had a wonderful conversation with one of the Js tonight, we have the most deliciously eclectic conversations, only far too infrequently, and of completely inadequate durations. I need to kidnap this girl for about a week or so and pick her brain, I've yet to determine whether it draws me more than the deadly combination of her stunning appearance and completely delectable body.

D's blog today talks about racism (which seems to be popular of late) and her thoughts on that topic...I felt compelled to make an effort to comment, as her entries generally don't allow for the input of us humble readers. Here's what I wrote on the matter, if anyone has any inkling of what the hell I might mean, please feel free to weigh in with your observations. Pity she's not more comfortable advertising/making public her page, as she's painfully intelligent and has some brilliant insights on the human condition, having lived a very colorful and vividly experiential life that belies her tender age. (That's a story for another day; I have yet to learn the depth and breadth of it all myself, but I'm endlessly fascinated by her tales.) While I have yet to determine exactly which half of her is Portuguese, I've only just begun to explore, and don't have any plans to become less thorough...


Finally! The monkeys get a voice!

[flings poo]

Now, where was I? Ah yes, ethnocentric idiosyncracies...

My take on it is that everyone is inherently racist, and it's just a matter of how much and how well we hide it. While I'm at it, we're also (quite selectively) biased against everything we claim not to be: sex, creed (what the hell is a creed, anyway?), personal tastes and preferences, politics, religion, et al...you get the point. It's impossible not to be. Human nature exists to categorize and pigeonhole, and race is but one item on the vast steamtable upon which we feast and feed our inner hateful gluttons. We seek to polarize, to unify, to obfuscate, clarify, persuade, dissuade, incite, endear, bore and excite others around us, and depending on what one is selling, one uses people's inherent biases for or against any random thing to hopefully shape their thoughts, behaviours, tastes, and/or actions.

Hrm, OK...I just completely lost track of where I was going with that...but it certainly was grandiose and flowery, non?

Certainly, you and anyone who's been around me more than a couple times has heard my diatribe on the inequalities of the damn-near-universal Asian woman fetish and the disturbingly correspondent lack of anything resembling a specific, let alone universal fetish, or even a discernible preference for Asian men. Alas, such is the burden we bear...

So to answer your question, yes, you're racist. But far less so than most, you're mind-bogglingly sexy, and you do it in such a way that I benefit, so keep on doing what you're doing, it works for me. And in the end, isn't that really all that matters?

Actually, don't answer that...but here's to hoping you keep the comments section open for business...some of us don't have anything more pressing to do than to lazily stalk you via this page, and need a way to leave the occasional hpahazard thumbprint that we secretly hope will be discovered by the object of our attentions.


It seems that blogspot has no provision for people who leave comments to edit their remarks, but only to delete them, and then it still counts the comment and leaves the timestamp and byline in place, but adds the text "This post has been removed by the author." Since I noticed a couple typos after posting, I figured I'd just delete it, fix the typos and repost it, and no one would be the wiser. Instead, I've horribly disfigured that page, and can't ever fix it. Here's what I appended to the comments page:


Damnation...

I really didn't mean to make it look like I wrote something, thought the better of it then deleted the comment, I was really just trying to fix typos that I made in the first posting. You'd think they'd have some way you could do that without coming across like a moron.

And I fucked up "haphazard" toward the end there, too, totally missed that on the reread...crap...

I'm sure there are typos here too, but I just have to learn to let it go...I refuse to have people come on and see "923 comments" only to find 922 deletions and one remark.

Here's to the inner OCD freak in all of us...


Just to give y'all an idea of how bad it was, for the first couple weeks of this endeavour, as soon as I posted a new entry, I'd compulsively read it, followed by every entry that went before it, in their entirety, just because I couldn't stand the idea that something with my name attached to it had glaring mistakes for all to see. I don't do it any more, as the length of some of these entries has made that little indulgence time-prohibitive. But knowing that that very first entry got read about 18 times (and probably still has typos in it), while these recent entries are just as likely not to even get one post-posting review is hacking away at my last nerve too. And with their length and my ever-declining typing skills, believe you me, it's not a matter of if, but how many are out there.

Wonder if the local asylum takes reservations...

Strapping on the feedbag...

[Sigh]

Another weekend has commenced and concluded in the blink of an eye, and in keeping with the trend, it was even more fun that the one that went before it.

Saturday plans involved attending a Valentine's hotel party at a Ramada just over the state line into SC. Headed out that way early, say 8ish to scope the scene. Turns out there were some pros and cons...well, mostly cons, as the consensus was that, at least while we were there around 9-10 or so, it was basically a high school prom gone horribly, horribly wrong. The music was odd, crowd seemed largely much older (although that could have just been the earliness of the hour) there was only one little tiny bar (that was packed three people deep even while the party was dead), the whole place kinda smelled funny, but the one saving grace was the SC serving laws, which specifies all hard liquor served at bars be sold via little airplane bottles (thus, in conjunction with the airline industry, I'm told singlehandedly (doublehandedly?) keeps the little bottle making cottage industry in business.) The end result, since they use regular-sized glasses/cups to serve, renders the mixed drinks more potent. Some bars apparently will hike up the drink prices to make up for it, but these guys were fairly reasonable. It was all a moot point, as having decided that the hotel party was lame, it would be in our party interests to cruise over to our regular Saturday night digs.

Once there, we discovered a much more happening party, very nearly wall-to-wall at 10pm. Saw some people I haven't seen in several weeks, met some new friends, saw some more recent acquaintances, had a few incredibly engaging discussions with some, learned stuff about others. Probably the thing I love most about is the demographic cross section...so many different and disparate types of people in a relatively small space, and I've yet to see any real disagreements, arguments, or altercations. It makes for spectacular people-watching, something which is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me.

Allowed myself to get dragged out on the dance floor by three latina hotties (representing Colombia, somewhere I can't remember at the moment, and Mexico), tried not to make a complete ass of myself, but it was an incredible experience, and that was before being groped!

Got a chance to chat with Allie, who is super cute, and a lot of fun when she's drunk...unfortunately, I've nothing to compare it to, as of both times I've been around her, I believe there was very little sobriety involved. But she had hotter boots on the first time. I do feel somewhat bad about having to mislead her a little about the proximity of Bobby (a rather persistent would-be suitor) a couple times in order to con her (and continue to con her) into making out (however briefly) with me. It was very nice. :D I was later informed though, by a perhaps biased third party, that she was the one bamboozling me, and not the other way around. Perhaps more research is called for.

Left around 5am, back to the hotel to catch the afterparty; the scene seemed somewhat dead upon arrival, but eventually, a party room was found, and met some really wild people, most of whom wandered in after us. More good times, new friends, festivities wind down around 9-10am, very very bright out...finally slept well into the wee afternoon hours, which, thinking back upon it, really wasn't enough.

Sunday recovery at the LKN party palace...brought some delicious Old Bay steamed shrimp (They do it right there for you in-store, it's great...no added cost, tastes great, and no messy cleanup! I've been jonesing for some pretty bad of late, but never seem to get up and out in time to make the seafood department's 9pm closing, drat!) from Lowe's, my new favorite greengrocer. I'm told that it was started by one of the family members of the Lowe's hardware empire, but I'm finding the story a little hard to believe...remind me to look into that. (Speaking of research, still need to find out what the "The theory that physiology and physics are drivers of economics (15 letters)", as it's still driving me nuts. What did I tell you about my complete inability to let that go?) Not a huge crowd this week, only...11? individuals presnt, but it was probably the best time I've had there in the short time I've been going. Every time, it just keeps getting better and better...not sure how it can continue, but this summer should be interesting, to say the least! People always bring good food, there's no food structure or scheduling, you're just free to chow down, sidle up the the trough, strap on the feedbag, or just graze all day long as you please. Yum.

I had at least one "Don't touch me!" directive blurted at me by a certain female, who will remain nameless...see what I have to put up with?

In music news, the musical discovery of the week credit goes to Skip, who inadvertently introduced us to Ms. Toby Lightman by way of iPod randomness. Toby is a cute blonde from Australia, who apparently writes and performs her own work. So far, the album kicks ass, except for the questionable cover of the R&B "Real Love" (Mary J. Blige?). What gives, Toby?

Part of the challenge now that more and more people in the crowd are blogging, is to get the thoughts out in a timely fashion, or risk getting "scooped" by these vultur...uh, I mean my peers. Not that they're going to pick the ideas right out of my head, but I'm loathe to speak on topics that someone else has already broached, even if it's in a different context or approach. Seems to smack to me of a certain derivativeness. Maybe it's just in my head...

Ham had a good post title for me, but even after having fully affirming that I had it committed to memory, now that I sit down to write this, it's completely gone. Sorry bud. there was another one involving Spam, but it escapes me at the moment as well.

Monday evening activities entailed swinging by Lowe's to obtain more Old Bay steamed shrimp, I swear I'm addicted to the stuff (plus, they have a particularly nice, tasty batch of large 16-20 count jumbo ones in stock, gotta get it while it lasts, seafood counter findings can be so iffy). Upon arrival home, ran into hottie fitness Kel, who I haven't spoken to in weeks (and was feeling rather guilty about). She was on her way to yoga (of course), but we chatted for a few, and she agreed to swing back by after yoga. She was looking particularly hot, and brought back a friend, Mel. Sat around chatting, the girls dove into this Mad-Libs type "generic Valentine's day letter" thing from the Observer, further cementing the fact that women are infintely worse than men when it comes to getting together and talking shit...the filth that went in those little blanks would have made a trucker blush, I swear. We've both pledged to make more of a concerted effort to get together and hang out...we both seem to be not be great at keeping in touch, and it's far too early in the relationship to be going weeks without seeing or hearing from one another.

I seem to have gained back half of the 20 lbs. I thought I'd lost, not sure what the deal is with that. Should also try to be some kind of productive this week, let's see how that goes..wish me luck.

At least I'm a happy drunk...

Well, I finally ventured out to the club on a Friday night...granted it was an unusual Friday night, what with it being Valentine's weekend and all, but I figured it'd be a nice change from the usual Saturday night fare, and I'd be able to try my hand at being there without the gang. It definitely turned out to be a different dynamic, and while I knew some people and made new friends with others, it was an affirmation that it's really more the company one keeps than the venue in which one keeps them.

While prior to tonight, I was under the impression that I had a dubious inability to get drunk, that my natural tendencies were to go from buzzed directly to sick, without the blissful haze that so many are able to enjoy. Suffice it to say that that myth has been debunked, and I may no longer be bringing beer to the club anymore...clearly, more research is called for, findings as they are unearthed...

Did get to chat up Wendy for the better part of an hour I believe, and damned if she isn't the cutest thing! One of the other staff members even suggested that we made an exceptionally cute couple, that we should just go ahead and get married, then name all our children after her for bringing us together in the first place. I'm not sure I'd go quite that far, but getting to know her a bit better wouldn't be terribly objectionable...

Probably the funniest drunk typist I know has got to be Amy, and I naturally have to bow to her experience in the field...We love you Ames, keep the good times coming!

I had originally planned, with the best of intentions, to drunk type an entry, for the mutual enjoyment of all concerned, and so that I might have something to compare and contrast with those of others I know, possibly in a more sober frame-of-mind, but lo and behold if at the stroke of 3:30, if I don't get a most welcome surprise goodnight call from a dear dear friend, wanting to know if'n I'd had a good time tonight, and to send me off with an extra special "goodnight". Seventy-five minutes later, we've said our goodnights, and while my head is unusually clear, I've nary an amusing, enlightening, enriching, inspiring, or even marginally amusing tale to tell.

Plus, somewhere in my happy haze, I seem to have misplaced all the evening's memories and anecdotes. Alas. Wait, I DO remember that Pam totally came up with something that seemed to be an endlessly amusing thing to write about in this forum, but I'll be damned if I can remember what it was. Crap. Little help, Pam?

So here's to hoping each and every one of you has a joyous and love-filled Valentine's day weekend, talk at y'all soon...I am SO going to sleep like the dead tonight...right after I have a few more slices of my beloved honey ham and aged cheddar wedges...

-Gene

Sleep scheduling gone awry...

It started off innocuously enough, stayed up all night, as usual...blog posting 'til around 8ish, after which I got IMed by a couple people I haven't talked to in a while, due primarily to them having jobs and being up in my prime sleeping time. Chatted away for a bit, and before to long it got to be 11:00...started to get hungry, when one of my new friends extends an invitation for lunch. How serendipitous! Dined on typical Chinese lunch fare, had a great conversation, learned some things, had a few laughs, came home, and promptly crashed at around 2pm. Slept for several hours, awoke at I believe 5pm, checked e-mail, replied to a few IMs, went back to sleep around 6. Up again at a little before 10, ate far too much, sat down at the computer, only to have all (well, some) electronic hell break loose.

Apparently, XP decided it needed 10 "crucial updates", so I installed those, and upon the reboot, Winamp is erroring out on the startup...great. So I hit their site, and there's an update that allegedly fixes a "security exploit". Lovely. Download that, install it, but then the skins don't work right, and Firefox seems to be having trouble loading the Nullsoft/Winamp site, then won't load at all. Crap. To make a long story less long, it's now several hours later, and nothing's working right. Going to try and reinstall Winamp, then Firefox, andsee how that goes...if not, a full reload might be in order, but I definitely don't have the patience for all that...grr...

On the plus side, this weekend is shaping up to be both fun and interesting...

Amusing "away message" of the day goes to soon-to-be flight attendant Amy. We chatted a bit earlier in the day, and some time later, I discover that her away message was this:

littlegens (5:25:40 PM): naked and wet.... thinking of gene?

How can something like that not put a smile on a guy's face?

Happy lunar new year...

Well, technically, it's now the second of the year, (you've gone and made a liar of me, happy?!) but since this is a continuation of my Wednesday, y'all are gonna have to make do with the day-late tidings. Also, I went back and forth between calling it Chinese New Year, but I think I like the sound of "lunar" better...not that I'm ashamed of my heritage or anything, seriously...but damn, those crazy-ass Chinese! [snigger] Anyway, sincerest wishes for all of you out there that this year beats the pants off the 4,701 that came before it. Here's to the year of the Cock, (specifically, the wood cock [titter] seriously, you can't make crap like this up...) and all the cockiness it entails. Also, I hope no one took garbage out on Wednesday, it's supposed to be bad luck to take your garbage out on the first of the year. The Chinese are a superstitious ass lot, they are...crafty bastards too, I'm telling you.

I have to agree with D's post on www.websters-online-dictionary.org pretty much being the absolute rockingest thing out there for word geeks (like us...she's so much cuter doing it than I am though!) I've been throwing words and phrases at it all day, and for sheer informational overload, you can't beat it. Sorry to keep misappropriating your links D, but you're just better at finding the cool stuff...go ahead and think of some way for me to make it up to you... ;)

Anyway, as far as neat things discovered on that site go, one new feature of this here page, Unmitigated Ramblings, is an instant define function. Just highlight any word or phrase, hit the letter "D" (and let it serve as a mental reminder to thank D for turning me on to these guys), and voila, like magic, the word's definition, etymology, and other random info, will appear. This might not work if you have a particularly effective popup blocker, I had to enable popups for just the blogspot page for it to work, but it's bad-ass...trust me. I'm fairly certain you won't get other random bad popups on blogspot anyway, because since they're run by Google, who's notoriously against doing things that are "bad", malicious popups will never be seen.

In fact, why don't you go ahead and try it now, I'll give you a word: niggardly. What's interesting, and this is the first time I've run into it, is that they're returning this page. What's weird about this response is that a) I don't think that niggardly is an adult word or in any way inappropriate for children, so what gives? And b) they have an interesting approach to the age check: this is the text of the page you get:


I'm sorry, the word you requested may be inappropriate for children
We require a password to view the page.
The answer to any of these questions is a valid password for this page:

1. Cher's former partner's last name (4 letters)
2. The cube root of twenty seven (5 letters)
3. The "incident" before the Vietnam War (6 letters)
4. The theory that physiology and physics are drivers of economics (15 letters)
5. A good mustard (5 letters)


Off the top of my head, I only know numbers 1 (Bono), 2 (three, but I like "the seventh root of 128" better for the question there), and 5 (dijon, or perhaps honey, a last-minute contender). So what are the other two? Number 3...Korea? Too few letters... Watergate? Too many. Sino-Japanese war? Boxer rebellion? Way off! WTF? Number 4? Heavens, I don't even know where to begin on that one...Going to have to appeal to my intellectual readers here (ironically, reading this crap probably saps brain cells and now I'm asking for help? That's rich!) to help me answer these burning questions! I don't even know where to start looking for info online! But my point is that I know plenty of "adults" who couldn't answer any of those and are then excluded from finding out what "niggardly" means. And arguably, those are the people who most need to know! Conversely, tons of children/minors/underage folks have heard and/or seen Grey (Gray?) Poupon ads, and could probably pull "dijon" out of their asses, so while the staff gets points for originality and good ideas, the execution is a little weak. Either way, help me answer questions 3 and 4...maybe there will even be a prize involved...if I can think of something clever, and largely depending on the gender of the prize recipient...if you know (or think you know), post the answer(s) in the comments, as others might be curious as well...and this way we'll have a record, in case the prize end up being bitchin' and the inevitable disputes should arise.


Please try and refrain from intentionally picking ones that are misspelled, as that just makes me look bad...and I don't need any help in that area, thankyouverymuch. But now aside from the obvious typos, y'all will be able to spot my mistakes, using the wrong homophone, typos, etc. But don't take this as an indication that I want to hear about it or will fix it, but its something entertaining for you guys to do as you read. Call it a gift. Have fun with it.

Don't ever get oxytocin and oxycontin (oxycodone) mixed up (or say one when you mean the other) in the presence of nurses...turns out despite the caregiver mentality so many of them exhibit, they're kind of merciless when they're laughing at you.

I wonder if Colombian hottie Jessica is back yet...I should give her a call...

Holy crap, there are some filthy hotties on myspace...damn...they're crazy with the network invites, too...but then again, when I was on friendster, there were tons of attractive women there, too...but they weren't as outgoing...hrm...

OK, disjointedness rising...hour latening...time for bed.

Guten Morgen...and oh yeah, it's my late Mother's birthday today; she'd have been..let's see...57. [tear] Happy Birthday, Mom...miss you. [bawl]

Statistical eventualities...

I'm sure there's a web page out there somewhere that states "for every X number of days a blogger fails to post, s/he stands to lose Y readership, and it would take the enticements of Z naked women" to bring that readership back into the fold. Well, the size of the petty cash fund here at the Unmitigated World Headquarters seems to be in exact proportion to the motivational fires burning under the ass of the primary content provider, me. So as it stands, with the already-diminished posting frequency of the weekends, coupled with a general lethargy that seems to kick in on Tuesday, our current readership, as of today, should be...lemme get my calculator here...roughly 1.18 readers. Hrm...guess I won't be getting any Super Bowl-caliber ads OR rates...so much for that revenue stream...

Quick weekend rundown: Saturday night was a good time, Mardi Gras theme at the club, coupled with a pretty good-sized crowd...great socialization opportunities, met a bunch of great people, had some great conversations with people, some new (too many...can't remeber all their names!), some "old" (relatively speaking, anyway...no one's over 5 weeks in my frame of reference), really starting to feel comfortable and at-ease with this crowd. Saw Summer, which was a nice surprise, made some feeble attempts at laying some groundwork there, we'll see if that ever pays off...Had to park in the overflow lot down the road, but the main security guy offered to bring the car over to one of the rock star spots as they became available...a greatly appreciated gesture, not gone unnoticed! Took care of him at the end of the night, a guy could get used to this kind of treatment...one does what one can to keep it going!

Super Bowl Sunday (overdone cliche of the week) was great, with a sizable turnout for the LKN recovery, perhaps due in part to the glorious weather. Again, many opportunities to get to know some less familiar folks, food was c'est fantastique, (love that Turtle paaah!) grazed myself absolutely silly, and even managed to enjoy some of the game. Hearty group effort to right an upset tent-like canopy structure on the grounds, followed by the girls' best (although ultimately unsuccessful) attempts to corrupt the next-day work ethic of one of the quasi-responsible boys. Much to the chagrin and surprise of most remaining partygoers, the individual's cool steely resolve prevailed, and the soiree wound down in the relatively early wee hours of Monday morn.

Monday saw a late start, a leisurely screening of The Aviator, (overall a good movie, but the ending seemed kind of weak and anticlimactic...LONG ass movie though!) more grazing, a random phone conversation with a friend of a friend whom I've yet to meet, and a general lack of motivation.

Spent the better part of Monday night/Tuesday morning switching web browsers: from Maxthon to Firefox on the PC, and from Safari to Firefox on the Mac, due in part to this article. I'd heard of Firefox and used it for a while toward the end of last year, but ditched it in favour of MyIE2, now called Maxthon. Maxthon's primary feature (for me, anyway) is tabbed browsing combined with a resume-all-open-windows-on-crash/restart. My usage pattern is to have something like 20-50 active browser windows, and in the event of a crash or restart, I have no hope of reopening all the correct windows. Firefox is a much leaner, well-written browser, (read: fast as stink) that especially in the case of my extreme usage, is a much better-performing choice, but until I read the Wired article and learned of all these open-source extensions (that are available and do a wealth of things, all from within your browser!), I didn't think Firefox could meet my needs. Anyway, to wrap up the geekfest, basically now I can run the same lean browser on both the PC and Mac, I can FTP to the Speedtoys site, which for y'all basically boils down to "more pictures". In fact, in that vein, here are a couple to start...let's see, what photos should I post? Where to begin?

Since it's somewhat late, I'll just start with a few that are already on there, that saves me the hassle of finding, resizing, and uploading more photos:


That's Kate, my ex-girlfriend and I, circa February 1997 at the Chicago Auto Show.


That's us at my former roommate's wedding on Long Island, NY (Amityville, to be exact...and yeah, we drove by the house that was in the movie...during the day, it doesn't even look scary, pfft.) around May of '97. Note the crazy ass hair and the youthful appearance... I was 25 at the time...come to think of it, that may have been the last time I was in a tux...such a pup...


Me clowning around while waiting for slushy gas to pump. New Year's Day 1999 (I think), 8" of snow had just fallen and wasn't showing any signs of letting up...thank Jah for 4wd...I had just purchased that piece of crap truck, and as you can tell from the wheels being absolutely packed with snow, we were out having some fun. It was indeed fun.


L to R: Jules, who thinks she's Korean (she actually speaks it better than some actual Korean people I know, she introduced me to my Korean hairstylist in Chicago, and is married to a Korean guy now), moi, and Ausra, who is from Lithuania...I think she lives in FL now...She was sweet...this is maybe late 2000?


Romanian hottie Adriana. One N's? Two? Hrm, can't remember...either way, this is probably sometime in 2000...she's since been deported, alas...and oh yeah, she's insane. The hot ones always are. You can't tell from this picture (or any that I have, drat!), but she's got the most incredible body...I remember the looks she (and I, as the clown she was with) got when we went to this pool hall...


Tonight, I spent the better part of the evening at Loh's (that's the sibling's, not the home-improvement conglomerate's or greengrocer's...t'was a cause of some confusion when I said it to a caller) Whenever we're civil to one another, I feel this intense need to offer to help him out with various stuff, in all manner of ways. Although I have to say that I was initially quite miffed as t/he/y seem to be taking horrific care of the cars I have there for them to use. However, once Loh got home, and it was established that he was in a good mood, they extended an invitation to dinner, and I graciously accepted. We seem to have had a good talk (the non-issue-resolving, sweep-it-under-the-rug kind) To his credit though, he really did seem to be making a concerted effort, and was very gracious. Who knows, we might salvage this relationship yet...it's true though, a little hope definitely is a dangerous thing.

Picked up a couple things, most notable of which was the USB/ethernet dongle I'd been looking for for so long and thought I'd lost that I need to hook the second TiVo into the network so I can do the TiVo to Go thing.

Spent the later part of the evening putting my primary TiVo back together and getting it online for the software version upgrade, and it's puttering along nicely at this very moment, copying all the programs from the long weekend from the secondary unit in the living room over to my bedroom, where there's no cable jack) for my viewing pleasure. This is truly one of mankind's finest inventions.

There used to be a time when I could turn on MTV as background noise, but that time appears to be gone. Here are some quick observations:

-They seem to without fail manage to play the same 7 songs over the 60-90-120 minute show segment
-Sometimes as much as 3x an hour, wtf?! That's excessive no matter how you slice it.
-How can they not play ONE good song in 2 hours?! Okay, well the new Good Charlotte "I Just Wanna Live" IS pretty catchy. Think I'll go download it...still, one good song in 2 hours is pretty shabby
-You were right Amy, Ashlee really is quite a bit cuter than Jessica...

OK, coherence is plummeting...time for bed...hope it's nice tomorrow...

Lawyers, guns and money...

The only thing in the mail today was a CD from ATA Airlines, indicating it contained information on the company's 401(k) plan with the caption, "Have you thought about your retirement lately? We have." I'm not sure if there's a dig hidden in there somewhere or not. Not only do I not work for them anymore, but I wasn't there long enough, nor in a capacity sufficient to qualify for eligibility in the plan. What do they mean they've been thinking about my retirement? What have they thought? Bastards! Maybe I should send them back a card telling them thanks, but I'm already enjoying my retirement and they're too late? Perhaps when I'm bored next week, I'll open it up and see what's on the CD. It should be good for a laugh, anyway.

Not a terribly eventful Friday: met up with some friends for drinks at a local sports bar/pool hall type joint, chatted the night away, primarily about guns and cars (no lawyers at all, but money was peripherally involved, as it apparently requires some of it to acquire and play with both.) Guns are definitely something I could get kind of crazy about if I let myself, and/or hung out with more gun nuts. I don't think I have an addictive personality (although Amy said she thought I was a "compulsive sex addict" today, although we really didn't get a chance to discuss the hows the why whys, that's a topic for another day), but I do have this need to acquire things one isn't allowed to own (handguns while I was living in Chicago, absinthe, Cuban cigars, illegally modifying cars, are but a few that come to mind), and even though the assault weapons ban has sunsetted, (can you turn sunset into a past tense verb form?) I'd still want to buy things that are hideously difficult to get and thus astronomically expensive. I'm also prone to getting too attached to my belongings and finding various excuses not to sell (or discard outright) things that have long since outlived their usefulness, further tying up valuable cash that might be otherwise used for more noble purposes, like helping pay a dancer's way through school (or whatever they actually use the money for.)

I also learned about (and need to do more research on) what I think they called the "gunslinger laws" (?) wherein (at least my understanding) basically anyone is allowed to have on or about their person, provided it's plainly visible, and there isn't notification to the contrary by, say a proprietor, a loaded handgun. Hrm...this almost makes up for the helmet law! While I'd like to eventually certify for a concealed carry permit (not that I'd ever actually carry, like my buddy Mike's been known to do in Memphis), I haven't even legally established residency here, and it WOULD be pretty cool to be able to legally have a gun in the car (I have to say here again and emphatically, that I'm not a gun nut! But having grown up in the very non-gun friendly City of Chicago (Thank you Daley family!) it's gone a long way towards reinforcing the need to have it since I couldn't before), so the idea DOES have it's appeal. I should also say that I have a tremendous respect for guns and their potential for damage, and loaded guns still scare the bejesus out of me, so the likelihood that I'd have a loaded gun lying around or carry one around loaded is humourously miniscule, at best. I have read lately that shooting a gun releases the same hormones as kissing (D, babe, any way I can get you to cite a reference on that one? Not that I mistrust your interpretive abilities at all, I'd just like to be able to direct people who doubt mine)...and I DO love kissing, but firing a gun is, for me, a whole different kind of fun.

I checked my range (Carolina Sportsman) membership card today, and it appears that it expires the day before my birthday, August 5 of this year. So Rusty, (and anyone else interested in doing it or trying it out) get your trigger finger ready, we're going shooting! (A lot, as I need to get my value out of this membership...)

We also talked cars for a bit and it got me thinking about my old(s) '67 Cutlass convertible, my first purchased-with-own-hard-earned-cash car, and while I don't regret having sold it (it had gotten to be kind of a heap and a sinkhole for cash - I'd wrecked it and spent years and tons of money getting it back together, and I'm pretty sure that I could buy another better one for a reasonable price at any point in time), I do miss having the barge and the joys of convertible ownership. For that matter, I even miss the old rustbucket '64 Triumph TR4 that I had for years and was never really reliable or roadworthy enough to drive for anything more than quick runs around the block or to neighborhood haunts. I've always enjoyed the open-air experience (most of why I enjoy motorcycling so much, and got into it so early) and for the longest time tried to only drive convertibles or some manner of open-air vehicles...the Cutlass, the TR4, a Sebring convertible I bought for a girlfriend but ended up driving myself, the 280ZX with T-tops, the targa-roofed Supras, the acoutrements of youth...unfortunately, these all tended to be sports cars, and combined with my somewhat heavy right foot, resulted in a far-less-than-stellar driving record, which still haunts me to this day. I remember a time when I eschewed all things electronic, proudly proclaiming that "Goddmanit, I want to be able to tear it apart and fix it with my own hands if something breaks! Who needs all these computers and sensors and doodads! where's the soul of the car?!" On the other hand, I've since grown older, lazier, and quite fond of modern-day niceties like ABS, traction control, airbags, manumatic transmissions, ass warmers, 300+ horsepower (out of 262 normally aspirated cubic inches while delivering 20+MPG, meeting emissions, and making very nearly no noise, whereas the 330 2bbl in the Cutlass was anemic at best, got well under 10MPG, put out enough fumes that one of these modern ULEV engines could probably run on them, and rumbled through the dual glasspacks enough to sound car alarms), remote keyless entry, hundreds of thousands of miles of trouble-free service, no weird fluid consumption/loss/untraceable leakage, et al. Crap, I'm digressing again, aren't I?

I should try and put together a list of all the various crappy cars/bike/vehicles I've owned, wonder if I could even remember all of them...does it make me any less sensitive an owner if I can't remember them all, or in what order or when I owned them? Does it in any way diminish the time I had, or the joy/happiness/pleasure I felt with them if I can't remember every subtle nuance of my time with them? Should I have cherished the time more? Taken more photos, spent more quality time? Taken better care of them and/or more diligently nurtured the relationships? Could I have done it better given what I know now? Would I have made the same decisions? Wait, what am I talking about again? Lost my train of thought...hrm...the parallels in life...

Once I got home at, oh, 4am, I remembered that I'd promised to burn someone a CD of photos...while organizing the photos and compiling the CD (my photos are in an horrific disarray, possibly on par with Skip's post-catastropic folder loss) I went through literally thousands of photos, and waxed nostalgic for all manner of people/things/places/times, something that never speeds up the process nor helps one get to bed in a timely fashion, especially when one still has a blog entry to write. Photos are a wonderous thing when done properly, and I need to get back into the habit of taking more pictures. When I first got the Optio S4 two decembers ago, the novelty of snapping 4MP images just about any time lasted almost 4000 photos in the year I had it. Since I've replaced it with an S5i and a larger memory card, the magic of whipping it out and snapping away seems to have lost it's shine a bit. If a bunch of random shots taken all willy-nilly over time with no particular importance or signifigance are enough to stir the soul, imagine the power of truly precious moments encapsulated on digital celluloid, seen any number of weeks/months/years down the road once the memory has begun to or perhaps even completely fade(ed)...

Wow, I sat down with no clear concept of what I was going to write...so much for that...guess I do tend to ramble...and today wihtout even the benefit of humour, consistent and/or rational flow, or hot chicks. Sorry gang, better luck tomorrow...well, better luck for me tomorrow, anyway, as this page will see its usual dearth of weekend updates.

Bonsoir...