Wednesday, December 31, 2003

No rules in the animal kingdom

Well the party has finally rolled to a close as Mike returned to NYC today and I returned to work. It wasn't too bad, although work was a little dull. Had a decent dinner with Trip and hopefully tomorrow will be a cool New Year's Eve thing at his crib. I'm hoping to get out of doing much work. I have a column idea I'm going to work on so I don't have to actually chase down a story.

Monday night was cool. We returned to Greensboro for some more poker action. Nick took us to his his friend Brandon's place and we got our game on. Nice place, he got a nice poker table for X-mas and we had nine players to fill it. I made quite a run to start things off and was probably up $40 bucks an hour in. Then I got a little conservative and started to have my winnings chiselled away. I ended up up $24, making my winnings for the weeked $44. Not a bad haul for a novice poker player. I know have to win some money back from trip so I can get totally into the black and have him stop lording it over me.

After work I went to Wal-Mart and spent too much money. Never shop hungry...it's bad. I did get the Lord of the Rings Risk game that looks pretty cool. I'm off.

Monday, December 29, 2003

Fish heads, fish heads

Now watching: Newlyweds (cut me some slack, she's hot)
Soundtrack to the weekend: The Darkness

So It's been a whirlwind of a weekend. Lots of drinking and having a good time. Saturday night I went to Greensboro with Mike, his girl Shannon, Greg and Mike's roommate Christian, we had an awesome time. Met Nick and Abby down there and hit a couple of bars and actually talked and laughed. Much better than the usual bar hopping until we end up at a club where chatting is impossible.

Sunday we all played poker at Nick's and that kicked ass. I doubled my money, taking home $40. It was pretty sweet. Nick made over $50 (I'm jealous) but I'm pretty pleased with my results. Much better than last time I played. I'm tentatively scheduled to play again tonight, but I'm not sure if it's going to happen.

Anyway I don't really feel like writing much now. I'm still recovering.

Saturday, December 27, 2003

I believe in a thing called love

Now listening to: The Darkness

Well Im a little drunk and eating a granola bar. Mmm granola. Went out drinking in Roanoke and had a really good time. Lots of attractive women out, not that it did me any good. Drinking wise I stayed on the top shelf and feel better for it. Honestly if you buy cheap liquor, you end up paying for it the next day. The good stuff is worth it.

It was cool to hang out with Adam, Mike and Greg. We had a good time and I'm definitely glad Greg was driving, we got pulled on the way home because Mike had to stop and pee. The cop saw us and stopped us. Greg had taken the time to sober up before driving and we didn't get a ticket. Sweet relief.

This morning I was forced to get up early and take a photo for work, it sucked. After that I came home and slept late then proceeded to watch the World Poker Tour all day. I love that sort of thing. I enjoyed watching Devil Fish Ulliot winning, he's got style you've got to give him that.

I think I have a poker game set up on Sunday. The gang seems interested and I'm always down for some action. Hopefully I can bounce back from my last ignominous defeat.

Thursday, December 25, 2003

Beyond the nog

Now: bored out of my skull at work

Well it's another X-mas at the Bulletin. Woo. I managed to power out my pages for tonight already and am now surfing along the internet wishing I could just go home.

I've been pretty lax on my posting this week. I've been a little busy with the holidays and whatnot, people coming in, shopping and work. Plus let's not forget I'm incredibly lazy.

I finished reading Christopher Moore's Coyote Blue last night. It was ok, but not exceptional. I have now went back to The Buddha of Suburbia once again. It's slow going. I also borrowed The Minotaur takes a cigarette break from Kevin and am hoping it's good.

Last night Mike forced me to hit the Dutch Inn. It was the first time I'd been there since they remodeled after the fire and it's a pretty nice set up. Too bad they couldn't change the normal clientele to something more upscale. It was karaoke night and that was annoying. I got pretty bored but enjoyed checking out the attractive women (all three of them).

Still trying to get a poker game going, but not sure about my chances.

Monday, December 22, 2003

Call me beardy

Now listening to: Talib Qweli (Quality)

Well it's been an odd weekend. Friday night i was aiming to go to the basketball game and get to trip's relatively early for some poker action. Of course, the game was uncooperative and went into double overtime. I should have taken that as a hint of how my luck was gonna be, as I went on to lose my ass off to Trip in poker.

Saturday work was pretty decent. I managed to do very little and it went fairly quick, a nice change. I also watched dumb and dumberer on Sat. Not as bad as i thought it would be, but not great either.

Today I slacked off for most of the day and then went to see the new farrelly bros. movie stuck on you. it was ok, nothing special. Trip didn't think it was mean-spirited enough, which is amusing to me. After dinner I came home, watched a little tv and then played some fire emblem and some Final Fantasy VII.

Oh, due to my not having shaved in several days I'm gonna try and grow a beard. Why not? I'll get that rugged vibe going. Oh yeah.

Friday, December 19, 2003

ESP — it's a jellyroll

Now watching: SNL reruns

Well I am absolutely giddy. I got my cool new poker chips in the mail and all is well. I'm scheduled to hook up with trip and danny later and get some hold 'em action on. Woo. If only that basketball game wasn't there to slow me down. Oh well.

The title of this post is taken from Doyle Brunson's Super System, a book on poker written in the 70s and considered by many to be poker's bible. ANyway Brunson is a World Series of Poker champ, who practically helped invent the modern game. As he grew up in the steamy underbelly of Texas gambling, he has a particular vocabulary that amuses me. I'm now intent on working the term "jellyroll" into my every day usage.

I fell asleep on my arm

Now listening to: The Aquabats

So while trip and I were debating the relative significance of LOTR vs. Star Wars, we passingly mentioned movies that are better than both, which naturally made me start thinking in terms of a list of my all-time fav. movies. This is a tough list, but here I go:

5) High Fidelity- Well this movie has everything I want. Hot women, John Cusack playing his typical semi-nerdy good guy, Jack Black and really, really awesome music. How I'd love to own a record store. Did I mention that Nick Hornby wrote the book it was based on? Well he did and it was awesome too.

4) Natural Born Killers- I know this movie gets a lot of flack for being over the top, but really that was the whole point. Mindless violence, carnage and an in-your-face presentation. So many different types of film used, animation mixed into the regular footage with no rhyme or reason and a soundtrack put together by Trent Reznor for a total assault on the senses.

3) Royal Tenenbaums- this Wes Anderson movie is one of the best movies I've ever seen. It's just what I want from a movie. It's not really overly exciting and really aside from the impeccable suicide scene not a lot really goes on. It's all understated. It's like a Salinger story pumped up a notch, with wonderful set designs.

2) Caddyshack- The single most funny movie ever. It has genius after genius in the movie. Bill Murray the funniest person to ever walk the earth. Chevy Chase, when his schtick wasn't played out. Rodney Dangerfield, who you can't help but laugh at and then you add his off color comments oh man. Let's not forget Ted Knight as Judge Smails...oh man is he funny.

1) Fight Club- This movie was a complete surprise and simply awesome. It has everything, a snarky sense of humor, incredibly violent scenes and a premise that won't quit. I can't explain how wonderful it is. It's the quintessential male movie. A touch of twisted romance makes it a little softer, but only a tad. Oh and the ending of exploding building set to the Pixies' Where is my mind...it made me feel warm all over. And so it tops the rankings.

Other notables that just didn't make the list: Mallrats, Reservoir Dogs, Animal House, Empire Strikes Back, You've got Mail, Billy Madison, The Matrix, The Seven Samurai, Any of the LOTR movies, Swingers...I could go on all day. I think that's enough.

The tube is civilization

Now listening to: more Electric Six

So today was fun, I got up (relatively) early and caught the early matinee of The Return of the King. It was everything I hoped it'd be. I honestly now rank that trilogy above the original Star Wars movies. That's right I said it. Trip disagrees, but I think it's merely his bias against fantasy comign into play. Well that and some serious nostalgia.

But point in fact, each of the Lord of the Rings movies was a masterpiece, with them getting better with each one. On the other hand, Stars Wars peaked in the middle and The Return of the Jedi was a little lackluster. My hatred of Ewoks is well documented. Trip's argument that the Hobbits were as useless as the Ewoks simply doesn't hold water. The hobbits stay in character, weak, but nimble with hearts like lions, while Ewoks somehow overcome the Imperial Shock Troops guarding the shield protecting the Death Star (a project that is more than a little important to the Empire as they've built two).

Also the story represents the ability of the little guy to come through despite his shortcomings. I know you'll say that the ewoks could represent the same thing, but no it doesn't make sense. The hobbits were capable of the same level of thought as everyone else, while the ewoks were a primitive culture of teddy bears still in the stone age.

Moving along, I am now relaxing, sipping some single malt scotch on the rocks. It's ok...the more I drink the better it gets, but I'm not quite converted into a scotch drinker. I've heard from a reliable source that it can make you belligerent, which makes sense when you consider the Scots reputation for fighting.

Thursday, December 18, 2003

I met my baby in the darkness of the night

Now listening to: Electric Six (Fire)

Today was a nice laid back day. Got up late, watched Winged Migration, which was very good. Lovely scenery with beautiful birds flying through it. The only part that sucked was the scene where the baby penguin was attacked by skuas and the parents couldn't protect it. Sad. I'm not one to advocate any sort of violence against Penguins (my spirit animal).

Anyway work was pretty decent, watched a pretty good basketball game and wrote a pretty decent story. So I came home and have been fooling around online since then. Checking out Gamespy's best of 2003 stuff. I can't believe that Wario Ware is a better game than Final Fantasy Tactics, but whatever.

I think I am coming down with something. My throat has been scratchy for the last couple of days and I fear it's a sign of things to come. I've been drinking loads of fluids to hopefully try and flush out my system and stay hydrated to forstall the illness. That's right, I'm trying to drown the motherfucker. Die germs, die. (That's "the germs, the" in german)

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

Adrift in blase behavior

I didn't really do much today, slept in later than I would have liked and then watched tv. Of course, work was less than fun, but it wasn't too bad. Just one of those days, nothing exceptional. Now I'm not quite sure how I want to spend my few remaining hours of conciousness. Video game? Book? Hmm.

I watched Sex y Lucia last night, which was pretty good. Nice story and very sexy. Why is it that all the good sexy movies I'm seeing are all foreign movies? Is this a statement on the flagging american libido? Or is it simply our puritanical roots showing...hard to say.

I started reading the Buddha of Suburbia, but it hasn't really grabbed me yet and I haven't really put much time into trying to get it. I'm just not in the mood for it right now, maybe.

Monday, December 15, 2003

More's the pity

Now listening to: Rolling Stones (Exile on Main Street)

Well today has passed and I succeeded in doing nothing not involving my sofa. Woo. I watched lots of football, some fine Fox programming and Pirates of the Caribbean. After two days of total slackness I now have a really great look. It's my derelict chic to the nth degree. My wonderfully warm bedroom slippers, black gym shorts, gray hooded sweatshirt, black stocking cap not completely on my head (i.e. plenty of goofy looking material flopping on top) and 3-4 days of beard growth. Also the lack of bathing has left me with a nice musty odor. Lady killer, oh yeah.

I had a two glasses of wine with dinner (a nice chianti, 2000) and now I have a slight headache. What happened to the good old days where full nights of drinking didn't leave me with this much of a hangover. A little water before bed and all was well. Now a little wine=headache.

I also put a little time into reading "Jakarta inside out" one of the books vishi sent me. It's pretty good, it makes me want to go there and see it. It also has a nice even feel, covering both the good (partying and cheap cost of living) and bad (man-girls and slums). I'll probably finish it up tomorrow.

Sunday, December 14, 2003

Lazy days

Now watching: Cowboys at Redskins

So I've been slacking off again today, although at least football is on. I watched the Colts kick the crap out of the Falcons and now I'm actively rooting for the Cowboys..how did this happen? I also watched the last few minutes of the men's soccer national championship, where Indiana held on to a 2-1 victory over St. John's in the snow. What is it about snow that makes everything more interesting? It's so cinematic.

It's been kinda fun being totally lazy the last two days. I'll admit I got a bit bored yesterday, but these stress-free days will make next week much easier to bear.

Ice storm and cognac

Now listening to: Tom Waits (Mule Variations)

Well it has been a pretty dull day. The weather did in fact put the kibosh on my Mephistmas gathering, so I ended up sitting around the house all day. I watched some of the Aquabats DVD Jeff got me and it was pretty damn cool. I also watched the final few episodes of Futurama with commentary.

After all that excitement I needed a nap and so I took one for a while. After that I watched Pappillon. It's a movie about a guy's escape from Devil's Island, all the failed attempts and his years spent in solitary confinement. It did a good job of conveying that sense of imprisonment and suffering, as it seemed to last for-fucking-ever. It was two and a half hours of grueling entertainment, not bad just waaaaay too long. And once I start a movie like that I have to finish, it's just how I am.

Anyway after that marathon, I flipped around until SNL came on, it was ok. Nothing exceptional. Now I am surfing the web, sipping cognac and wishing I had something else important to do. Maybe I'll do some reading in a moment or play Gladius. Yes Gladius sounds nice. I'll kick some gladiator ass. Man I need a life.

Saturday, December 13, 2003

Pictures of you

Now watching:Celebrity Poker...again

Well it's the weekend and I'm very happy to be off work for a change. Yesterday I spent most of the day lying around and then went to a basketball game. After that, a visit to Trip's where we watched some episodes of the Tick, which were pretty funny.

I then came home and watched Rounders, which was good. I don't really have much else to say. Songbook continues to be interesting, although really it should come with a cd of the songs he's talking about. Some are kinda obscure and where would you find them?

Anyway today the plan is to slack off for while then head to Kevin's for a X-mas gathering. But that only happens if the weather is likely to cooperate. At this point, that is heavily in question.

Friday, December 12, 2003

Stella Marie, you're my star

Now listening to: P.J. Harvey (Dry)
Watched earlier: Whale rider

I've been very emotional lately. Not so anyone would notice it really, I'm pretty good at putting those thoughts away in public most of the time, but the holidays alway do this to me. When I'm having a shitty time, I'm thinking about how it's the holidays and you're supposed to be happy and my life isn't meeting those expectations. So I get even more depressed and it's a downward spiral. When I'm having a good time, it seems really good because those expectations are being met and for once I am fulfilled.

But I've also been thinking a lot about how I feel about things in my life for some reason. Usually I just chug along and only later realize my real motivations behind things, but lately I've been pretty cognizant of what I'm doing on an emotional level or, more importantly, what I'm not doing. That sounds weird to say, I know, as a lot of people are ruled by their emotions. I tend not to pay attention to them at all. Never really felt that they mattered, especially not to anyone else, so why bring them up? Anyway I'm hoping that this indicates some new awakening, where I can move on with my life and change this status quo I'm stuck in. As I've said, I'm ready to be an adult now, or at least closer to one than I've ever been before.

Completely changing gears away from my new age-y chatter, I've noticed that I have a ton of reading material lately, that is exceptional. Now I can always find stuff to read, I'm just good at finding it and even if I don't find something new, I'll re-read something good that merits more attention. (I've been meaning to re-read Catch-22 for a while but haven't found the time.) But today I got a couple of books from Vishalini, my beautiful friend currently residing in Jakarta. That's a couple more books I know are good stacked on top of my ever growing pile.

I'll never understand people who don't read, I find it hard to relate to them. I don't expect everyone to read as much as I do (I know some people have lives), but to not read at all boggles my mind. it gives a doorway into other peoples lives, a way to learn about things you'll never have any way to experience. The only people I can forgive for not reading are the ones who are too busy actually doing things and living life to read about it. My friend Dana is the only person I know who really fits this bill. So to all you illiterate fucks out there: CRACK A BOOK!

Thursday, December 11, 2003

A weirdo in a peacoat

Now listening to: Nettwork

Well since my last post, around five hours ago, I have finished positively fifth street and I just dropped a wad of money at eddiebaur.com. (Hehe, wad) I got a sweet new peacoat and a coupla t-shirts.

The book was excellent, although the ending was a bit anticlimactic. Still, it is definitely the best book I've read about poker (being the only one I've read from start to finish). That will soon change, however. It has a really sweet bibliography and recommendations on which books are the best. Of course, I still need to get a poker game going if any of that reading is going to be necessary.

Up next in my literary endeavors is Nick Hornby's songbook, which I got the other day. It's a simple collection of essays on some of his favorite songs. It sounds kind of dull, but Hornby has a way of making things sing. I am also going to be perusing Phil "The Brat" Hellmuth's Play Poker like the Pros. Although with a somewhat lessened vigor until I can get the game up.

Wednesday, December 10, 2003

All sons have physics jokes

Now watching: Eddie Izzard's DVD

Well today was slightly less substandard than I imagined, although the weather continued to suck balls all day. My basketball game was cancelled or something and so I escaped unscathed from the dreaded work thing. Corb, Jeff, Trip and I had a pretty decent dinner, although Corb was a little late. Jeffy got me an Aquabats DVD that kicks ass. Trip got me some cool knick knacks although my main gift is still on order.

I think my gifts went over well, although Jeff was underwhelmed by the Biscuit's Christmas children's book I got him. Oh well.

Mr. Izzard is funny as always. You have to love his rambling comedic style. I can relate to it...well the rambling anyway.

Take this job and shove it

Still reading: Positively fifth street

Well it's a cold, rainy Wednesday afternoon. Yesterday was quite annoying, work pissed me off. I also managed ot stay completely busy from around 1 p.m. until 10 p.m. I much prefer my two-three hours of down time in the afternoons. Once again work will be truncating that time some as I have to go take a team photo.

I did manage to take care of the final points in my X-mas shopping and Trip, Corb, Jeff and myself may be exchanging gifts this evening at dinner. Hopefully I'll have plenty of time to enjoy it before my god-forsaken basketball game.

Last night after work I went to Trip's and watched Queer Eye with he and Jeff. I thne came home and watched Celebrity Poker and then played Fire Emblem until the batteries on my GA gave way. I then switched to Positively fifth street, which is a little uneven. Lots of digressions that bounce between entertaining to pedantic. But the meat of the book is quite good. I suppose I'm not off to do some more reading actually. I would watch Pappillon, but don't really have the time.

Tuesday, December 09, 2003

Near-Artic escapades

Now listening to: a bunch of crap I downloaded at some point I don't remember

Well I managed to get up, drive to Roanoke and get most of my x-mas shopping done before going to the game tonight. Despite my best efforts to avoid the big crowds, people were out in droves on a Monday afternoon. Man I hate the holidays, I just want all those morons to crawl back into whatever hole spit them out.

It was a decent day for a drive if you don't have a ratty ass top, unfortunately I do. The drive up was actually pleasant, on the way back I froze. I even got a new scarf and stocking cap and it was still cold. Actually I bought two new stocking hats, because I found them relatively cheap and they were cool. I almost bought an Old Dirty Bastard product. But it fit terribly and cost $15, but cmon ODB headgear, awesome!

The reason I was buying new hats was that I lost my old favorite one and hate cold ears. Of course after buying two new hats, I found my old one...it's the law of the west.

It was pretty damn cold at the game. It wasn't a bad game, but not a particularly good one either. At least we lost, I am tired of juggling football and basketball. I've had enough. I think I'm gonna head out and try to get in a little Gladius before bed (I bought a used copy today) or maybe I'll read Positively Fifth Street (it keeps getting better)...hmm. So much entertainment, so little time.

Monday, December 08, 2003

All or nothing

Now listening to: Portishead (Roseland NYC), The Rapture (Echoes)
Now reading: James McManus (Positively Fifth Street)
Now playing: Fire Emblem

Well it's been a pretty slack day. I've sat around watching TV all day, playing Fire Emblem and eating far more than I should have. But it's been really pleasant. The Steelers won, Fire Emblem kicks ass and I watched Scooby-Doo, the movie and it wasn't bad. Very relaxing after a busy week.

Tomorrow I have to go to Roanoke for the football game (it was postponed until then obviously). It's going to be a long drive. I expect to be very cold, but what can I do? I am planning on doing some x-mas shopping. Hopefully I'll be able to find Trip something that doesn't suck. Hopefully I won't manage to spend too much money tomorrow. I also have a nice meal at Red Palace penciled in, although I'm not sure I'll be there during the buffet hours...which blows if that's true...maybe I should get up early.

Tonight I've been prowling around the usual gaming websites I visit and a couple have started doing their game ofthe year balloting. So I've been thinking about the games I've played this year and which I liked the best. My top five are:

5) Tony Hawk Underground- Another excellent Hawk product that probably would have been even higher on this list if I hadn't of played so much of TH4. Plus without Gabe around to try and take down, why bother?

4) Soul Caliber 2- If the one player game had of lasted longer this could have been the game of the year. Well put together and loads of fun, now if I could just find some competition. He he.

3) Virtua Fighter:Evolution- Just a shade better than SC2. I think I like the technical aspects of this more than the button mashing of SC2. I found it hard to really focus on this since I spent so much time with VF4. Plus nobody else I know plays it, which blows.

2) Knights of the Old Republic- This game is awesome. I couldn't stop playing it until I hit the wall at the end. I still intend to go through and play the dark side. The best thing to have the Star Wars name since Empire.

1) Final Fantasy Tactics Advance- I loved the PS1 original and the sequel was just as good. This game really sold me on the GBA and hell, it forced me to get a GBA SP. Any game that makes me buy a new system has to be awesome. Plus I really dug the job system, I'm a fan.

Other notables for the year: Crimson Skies, Simpsons: Hit and Run, NCAA 2004 College Football, Warcraft 3 (I think that was this year) and Gladius (which I've still got to play through).

Saturday, December 06, 2003

White powder from the sky

Now listening to: Grandaddy (Sumday)

Well I took a day off from the blogging. It was the damn snow that threw me off my schedule. So much crappy weather, so much moisture in my car.

Yesterday, after an abbreviated workday, I went to Trip's and stayed the night. I probably could have made it home ok, but we hung out and it was ok. Played a little poker for a while. Then this morning when Trip had to go to work I came home and slept some more. I'm so slack. I did end up goign to work and getting a story done. Found out my basketball game was cancelled and the football game postponed until Sun. So tomorrow should be considerably less stressful.

Tonight Trip and I hit Danville for some light shopping and dinner. Had a decent time, although I was a little annoyed that EB games didn't have Gladius for Xbox. I got Fire Emblem for the GBA, but haven't even opened it yet.

Thursday, December 04, 2003

Until we make it to F-83

Now listening to: Clutch

So it's been a weird day and there is winter weather on the way. That means a low grade panic in this area. It also throws a huge monkey wrench in my schedule. I'd just as soon get all this stupid preview crap I have to do out of the way. Plus I don't want that football game postponed. I want it over.

After work I hit trip's and we goofed off for a while. He downloaded this ipoker program that's pretty cool. Although it is showing me I have little affinity for seven card stud to be sure. I suck.

I think now I'm gonna do some reading. I'm getting sick of being beaten by the computer in stud. It's annoying.

Tuesday, December 02, 2003

Poor man's plight

Now Listening to: Guided by Voices (Propeller)

What a day. Work is a trial. It seems everytime I get a shot at things lightening up, somehow they are made harder. Artificial deadlines that are really stupid. I got to do the lionshare of the layout tonight so my boss could go to a basketball game. Woo, I'm doing someone else's work. Also because Joe wants to go home for the weekend I get to work a 12 hour day Saturday, including driving my shitty car to Roanoke and back for a football game...thanks for nothing.

It just feels like I'm the one who always has to make the sacrifice and do the extra work. That would be fine if I were the editor and getting paid for it, but as it stands I'm not. I make shit and apparently that allows them to treat me like shit. I'm nearing the end of my nice guy tether. After that I go into just doing barely enough to get by and fuck you if you need a favor.

I want a new video game, but don't want to pay a ton for it. Plus there isn't a whole helluva lot I'm interested in at this point. I'm still considering getting Gladius, but I want to trade for it. I dunno, I should be saving money. I also want to get some nice poker chips, but they aren't cheap and I may have to sacrifice some other stuff if I want to get them. Oh, did I mention it's getting ridiculously cold and my top is still shitty? There is always that. Arrgghh!

Positively fifth street

Now listening to: Embrace

Well I hada pretty good night tonight. Went down to Nick's and played poker for actual cash for the first time in my life. It was pretty fun and I made $15. I took a big hand late in the game from Nick's brother in law (who had been leading the whole time) and got into some real money. I'm hoping I can find some people to play on the regular. We'll see about that tho. I'm currently searchign the web for a deal on some good poker chips, but they are more expensive than I would have thought.

Not much to say otherwise really. This new Embrace CD that came today is pretty damn sweet. The Rites of Spring album is not bad, but so far the Embrace is better.

Monday, December 01, 2003

Dance of Days

Now listening to: Rites of Spring (End on End) and Embrace

Well I am officially hung over. Mike and I went to G-Boro again last night to watch the game, hang with Nick and drink a few beers. The game was dull (Who cares about the Bucs/Jags?) and so eventually we started playing Golden Tee golf. I somehow managed to win...not sure how. Nick bailed and Mike and I decided to see what else we could find. Two bars later we were at Rainbow night at the Sky Bar. Whooo. reminded me of my college days at the Park on weekends. Good times.

Anyway I kept drinking well beyond when I should have stopped and feel like butt now. An ill-advised trip to the Waffle House also made for a horrible feeling this morning.

Gabe and Kelly (my brother and his wife) sent Mom and myself a birthday package, which was a nice surprise. I need to email G.

Haven't decided what I'm gonna go today. I'm supposed to head to G-Boro later for dinner with the crew (supplied by Nick's wife), but I may not feel well enough. Dunno. Maybe I'll chill around here and try to find some game I want to get into or I could watch a movie or read. Or I could just lie around and suffer quietly...hmm. Decisions, decisions.

Sunday, November 30, 2003

Love of Lists

Now listening to: John Coltrane (The Last Giant)

Well finally got off work. It was a little harrowing there at the end, but I managed. I'm now just drinking water and cooling out to Coltrane. Smooth jazz. Fits my current mood, laid back. I now have a weekend to look forward to and it's gonna be sweet.

I watched Fever Pitch this morning (I got up at a shockingly early hour considering the relative drunkeness of previous night) and it was pretty good. I'm a sucker for Nick Hornby anyway and this was a screenplay he wrote based on his book. Colin Firth was cool, he plays a cool surly character that I can relate to well.

After that I watched X2, which is excellent. I'm a sucker for super heroes anyway and I've always loved the X-Men (well I was bigger into X-Factor, but it's practically the same thing). I then watched the end of the Tech/UVa game. Yay Cavs. And then I trundled off to work, for some real fun. (Note: Sarcasm)

I did end up doing dinner with Trip and then we went to the mall where I bought a coupla magazines. One being the new Rolling Stone with the list of the Top 500 albums ever. I'm a sucker for all lists anyway. No quicker way to get me to buy a mag than to put a big list into it. Love reading lists, making lists and talking about lists. Maybe it's a love of a certain type of organization caused by my mother being a librarian or maybe it's a need to classify everything. Actually I think it's more just a desire to find out how other people rate things and see if I agree i.e. a desire to fit in (or not).

While there are some specifics on the list I have troubles with, all in all I think it's pretty well put together. Hard to argue with Sgt. Pepper at No. 1 and I'm not really a big Beatles fan. I do think the Ramones were pushed a litte farther back than they should have been. I love the Clash, but how can they be in the top ten and not the Ramones. Would there have been a Clash without the Ramones? Also the lack of Fugazi's Repeater or 13 Songs is a gross oversight.

I actually have 111 of the 500 albums in one form or another.

Saturday, November 29, 2003

Alone in a crowded bar

Now listening to: Portishead

So I went out to Greensboro tonight and hung out with Adam, Mike, Greg, Nick and his wife, Abby. I had a pretty decent time, got a little buzzed and just hung out. Bars always make me feel like I'm excluded from everyone else, even when I'm with a decent sized group (like tonight) I just get the feeling that I have no chance of interesting any woman in a club anywhere. I couldn't possibly woo her with intellectual conversation since it's so loud there that you have to shout to order a beer and be understood. (Newcastle...what?....NEWCASTLE!!!) Plus being of above average girth (aka I'm fat) I'm never going to be the guy in the bar that some chick just fixates on and wants to hook up with, so I always feel inadequate. All this just punctuates my singleness.

But I did enjoy hanging out with the old crew. I miss seeing those guys on the regular. Admittedly when I saw them all the time, there were times I could barely stand it, but I think I'm like that with almost anyone. Mike still wants me to move to New York next fall and I can't say I'm not intrigued. His arguement is "What do you have to lose?" I have no real response to that. My life is simply adequate, nothing more. Not exceptional...just ok. Do I want more than that? Wel, yes. But it's a big move...and I suck at money and the saving of it. I don't know.

Yesterday I didn't blog because everything sucked and I didn't want to get into it. Thanksgiving just blew. Work was incredibly bad. Long and just bad. Couldn't handle it. I did play quite a bit of Gladius before I had to return it to Blockbuster. It was good, but I got the sense that there was going to be a point where it just got frustratingly difficult. I could be wrong about that, but it was the impression I got. I may look for it used or something, but there is really no pressure to find it.

Wednesday, November 26, 2003

For a minute there I lost myself

Now listening to: Radiohead (OK Computer)

Managed to survive another day of work. This one was a bit more tolerable, but still not good. I'm just hating all things work of late. After I finished working I tooled over to Trip's and we played a little Crimson Skies online. It's pretty cool, but I am tired of sucking at it. I have no idea what it will take to improve. Ohh and after dinner, Trip and I hit Roses. It was like a timewarp...a foul-smelling timewarp. Old products that noone wants. How do they stay in business? That place is a dump. We also hit Kmart (I was putting off going back to work) and I bought a pretty kick ass pair of bedroom slippers. So far they get the thumbs up. Comfy and warm.

I finished Good Omens last night, it was excellent. I started reading On Writing today, but haven't delved very far. Just a few pages in I don't know if it's really what I was looking for. I'll give it a little more time, but I'm not very optimistic. I may go ahead and switch to Christopher Moore's Coyote Blue. I've read several of Moore's books and they are all good. Somewhat odd, but good. I like a bit of the absurd thrown in.

So it's now officially Thanksgiving. Woo. Holidays suck more than I can say. I will be working and undoubtedly wishing I were dead a number of times. Work should keep me busy is much to do, but everything will probably finish early. Hopefully it'll all run smooth and I can not be stressed out.

I'm gonna go and play Gladius and listen to Starflyer 59.

Soup is good food

Now listening to: The Weakerthans

Well I managed to survive work, but it was no easy task. I was on the verge of a tri-state killing spree. But now I've had a nice bowl of soup and have managed to calm down some. Isn't it funny how when the last thing you want to do is talk to people, that's when they decide to become chatty.

Anyway I'm preparing to let the vegging commence. I think I may just lay back and try to finish Good Omens. It's chock full of armaggedonny goodness. Laugh out loud funny moments of a highly surreal nature.

Tuesday, November 25, 2003

Somewhere else

I'm soo stunned with work right now I can barely stand it. It all started at 2:30 p.m. when I got a call that told me that in addition to doign page layout all week, I would be trying to get not one but two basketball previews written and photos done for Mondays paper, with Thanksgiving thrown in the middle.

I hate when they pop shit on me and so that started things off wrong. So for the rest of the evening I've been in a bad mood. Mostly because of that, but also because nothing seems to want to go right. Lots of little things building up.

Mike called. He's coming in and we're probably going to hang on Friday night. Hopefully that'll be cool. He definitely could tell my stunnitude on the phone as I made no effort to hide it.

Anyway, back to getting this god-forsaken paper out. I can't wait to go home and veg. I think maybe some beer is merited. Wish I could get some hefe-weisen off the tap.

Monday, November 24, 2003

Seig heil?

Now listening to: Morrissey (Kill Uncle)

A funfilled day of total slackness. It's been pretty nice, a good rainy blah day to while away. I started with some internet highjinks then graduated to the couch. I managed to watch the Triumph of the Will and it was a beautiful film. Beautifully shot that is and the Nazi iconography is striking. Leni Reifenstahl was definitely an innovator, great camera angles. It's just odd to see these people so honestly captivated by that imagery. My whole life I've been taught that the swastika and Nazis were bad people, then to see people rapt with delight at seeing such things. Listening to speeches that are racially motivated and being moved by them.

It's interesting to compare to some of the American propaganda films. Both feature loads of common people working for the good of their nation. It's funny to think that all those Germans were merely following an inherently evil regime, but none of them felt they were evil. How could they? They had been told that the success of their homeland and its people depended on getting rid of these "evil people." Therefore they wanted to do the "good" work of eradicating the Jews from their ranks. I found it striking that in one of his speeches Hitler noted the fact that the people had to be obediant to succeed. I don't like obedience from anyone except maybe my dog. Just goes to show you can't accept what you're told.

Anyway I think I've done a good job of rambling incoherently on that topic. It's hard to collect my thoughts about it. Simply odd to see the "good" side of a regime whose eventual destruction is so tied up in proving the beauty and courageous nature of the American way of life.

I also played a bit of Gladius, which is pretty good, but I haven't delved deep enough to really make a call on it. Just went through the initial plot points and training. We'll see if it can really capture my interest, thanks for renting it Trip, I'm putting your money to work.

I wish I had a coupla more days off to do some reading and play video games. It's just so hard to stay current and I do a lot better than most, as I have no real life. I could also maybe get into some writing, something which I haven't been able to do outside of this blog.

Small Man, Big Mouth

Listening to: more minor threat

So I did go to Winston-Salem today (no surprise) and I somehow managed to control myself spending-wise (surprise). The foray into NC was pretty cool and we had a decent time. I was disappointed that I couldn't find any new cds worth buying. Of course, lately anything I do buy is less good than I hope. I dunno. Well except for this minor threat thing. I've been listening to Rancid's new one, which is pretty good, and we listened to some of the Distillers today, but let me tell you there hasn't been a punk band recording that can exceed the raw explosion of Minor Threat. Their music just shreds everything. It's like sticking your cock in a blender...in a good way.

No games really jumped out at me today. There are some I'd like to have, but I can't in good conscience spend $50 on a game at this point. I need lots of other real things like a new car, clothes, a clue and so on.

For the last few hours I've been prowling around gaming sites, reaffirming my dedication to nerditude. Not that it was in question. Not sure how I'm gonna spend the rest of tonight. I'm thinking of playing some old school games on my comp. Or maybe I'll just flip through some magazines. Woo I'm a partier.

Saturday, November 22, 2003

Hang out with the living dead

Now listening to: Minor Threat (first demo tape)

Well, here I am almost at the end of a night's work, looking forward to a weekend. The job has only been moderately grueling today so I shoudlnt complain too much about that. Today I spent most of the afternoon reading. I finally finished Goodkind's new one, it was pretty good, sometimes I get a little bogged down in his in depth descriptions of "philosophy," it seems like a bit of an attack on Christian beliefs. Not that I mind that, it just can get longwinded. My next book to read is Good Omens by Gaiman and Pratchett. I've heard good things and am hopeful.

Tomorrow Trip has offered me the option of going out of town. While the idea is certainly pleasant, I'm not sure if I should. I'll end up spending too much money that I don't really have. I couldn't be worse with money, it's dreadful. I am still yearning for a new game. Maybe I'll trade some things in. Like Madden and maybe Advance Wars. I dunno, hard to say. Not sure what I'd get anyway. Perhaps the new Final Fantasy game. Or perhaps I'll go retro. Odds are good that I'll go with Trip as a day at home will probably stun me a little. I'll simply have to control myself.

I think this weekend I am also gonna hook up my SNES and go for some old school gaming. I could jump into a little Castlevania or F-Zero. I should play those games as I did buy them.

Fuckity Stew

Sooo tonight's game wasn't as bad as I thought. It was a 3-0 defensive battle, with the home team holding on. Wooo, I enjoyed it actually. Hanging in the pressbox, chillin', talking with one of my fellow sports writers about whatnot. The clock kept running and so everything went quick. All in all, a good game.

Then of course I come over to Trip's and we hang some. Corb shows up, we get Wendy's and watch the Triumph the Insult Comic Dog DVD woo, god I'm exciting. Of course then I whipped Trip up at THUG, scoring a sweet million point trick. Oh man I rule. Ohh we also watched part of the Paris Hylton sex video. Pretty hot. Ahh how manly a night, football, video games and porn. Couldn't be better.

Anyway, I that's about all for now. I may add more at some point.

Friday, November 21, 2003

Destroy 2000 years of culture

Soo another fun filled day. I get to head out to another football game and hopefully not freeze my goodies off this time. We'll see.

I slept in today i.e. didn't get up until 1:30 p.m. and only then because There was a rooster crowing outside my window!!! I don't live on a farm and am thinking of turning that little bastard into McNuggets. But I needed to get up anyway. I have to stop staying up so late reading. I'm trying to finish that Goodkind novel.

Before the game today I'm not sure what I'm gonna go...I'm still debating getting a new game, but I probably shouldn't. I need to resist, especially since I have no less than two games I've barely played (Tactics Ogre and Disgaea).

I think I'm gonna try and watch the rest of the Tenacious D DVD and try to play some of ogre. Or perhaps I'll just read a while. Hmmm.

Standing on my neck

Now: eating a strawberry pop tart

I just watched the Daria movie "Is it college yet" man I love Daria. I think the fascination is derived from the fact that Daria and I are a lot alike. Misanthropic, antisocial, annoyed by the behaviour of people, with a strong disenchantment with a world set up for the lowest common denominator. All these things I can relate to, hence she may be my ideal woman. Well a real non-cartoon version of here. So watching any Daria episode is like a sweet balm that takes away the suffering of everyday life, if only for a moment.

Note to all government officials emboldened by the Patriot Act: I am in no way a nazi or in anyway antisemitic or endorse anything having to do with Hitler's regime (aside from the word blitzkreig because it is fun to say and led to a kickass Ramones song Luftwaffe is also fun to say). I say this in clear language because this weekend I will be getting Leni Reifenstahl's Triumph of the Will in the mail via Netflix. I've heard it's really a well done film and I'm not sure Leni deserved all the hell she caught because she worked for the Nazi propaganda machine. In my mind it was merely a question of an artist struggling to survive. Of course I'm not very well versed in the story so I could be offbase, but that's certainly the impression I get.

Listening to the Eels again, as I never seem to get tired of them. They fit into every mood somehow.

Thursday, November 20, 2003

Down Helm's Deep way

Now: dreading going into work

Another day of fun. Last night I came home and watched the Two Towers...it lived up to the billing. I did have some trouble recognizing scenes that weren't in the theatrical release (as I only saw it once a year ago). Still the action is exquisite. After that I watched some crap TV, although I did get to see an old TV Funhouse episode on Comedy Central. Ahh how I love the Anipals. I also wached Quentin Tarantino on Stern. It was significantly less interesting than I thought it would be. I don't really care if he banged Uma Thurman or not.

Anyway I have to go to the office early today to try and call the away team for Friday's football game. Nothign better than going to work early. Hopefully I will be able to get out of there quick.

I started re-reading Douglas Coupland's Microserfs for like the 30th time. For some reason that book just makes me feel better about life in general...not sure why.

Wednesday, November 19, 2003

My beloved monster

Now listening to: The Eels

I'm once again in a rather foul mood to start the day. It's gonna be a busy afternoon and the weather is fairly crappy. I don't really feel like doing anything today, I'm just pissedoff at the world. I'm tired of always being poor. It's frustrating to drive around in a shitty car. It's bothersome that I live with my parents. It's really annoying to not be able to get out from under a mountain of credit card debt. I'm considering a career change, but what would I do? My best option would be to teach (how sad is it when notoriously underpaid teachers make so much more money that I do) and teaching around these parts isn't exactly a guarantees job...not with our current superintendent of schools.

On top of that, the part time sports guy who does layout on sundays (to give the fulltime guys a decent weekend) doesnt want to work on Sundays anymore. This means less weekends for all. A less than thrilling prospect for me.

Perforated into tiny fragments

Now listening to: At the Drive-in
Now recovering from: A bowl of nastiness

So I finally made it out of the office. It took forever and I had to deal with Cameron, which is always a pain. Drove home in the soggy, yet surprisingly warm weather. Nuked a bowl of Chunky's Ham and Potato soup and man did that suck. Ick. How can you fuck up ham and potato? They found a way. Yesh.

Well I'm tired and it's way too late to start watching The Two Towers so I'm just gonna surf for a while, then read. I'm still amused by Satan's favorite color being green. Hehe.

Tuesday, November 18, 2003

Violent reaction to mind-numbing boredom

Can't wait to watch: my new Two Towers Extended Edition DVD
Now reading: Terry Goodkind (Naked empire)

Bored now. At work, got roped into doing the layout somehow and stunned. I still have some little things to do and only two hours to do them. Sucks.

On the plus side, I have caught up with some national news reading. In a development that may prove not everyone in our government is a total tool, the Mass. Supreme Court ruled that it was unconsitutional to forbid gay marriages in their state. While this has no real bearing on my life, I'm all about granting freedom and ended the stupid bias against gay people. I'll never understand why the "Pro-family right" has such a problem with people who want to get married, even if they are of the same sex. It's this lack of comprehension that separates me from those bigots I suppose.

Perhaps more later.

It's not easy being green

Well, when I woke up this morning (that's right the a.m.) I was in a tremendously foul mood. Fortunately, I have found some levity to brighten up my day. I followed this link to a Christian website decrying Harry Potter as Satanic. Oh it has some wonderful information on the site. Some things I found absolutely hysterical:

1. Satan's favorite color is green and Rowling uses the color green throughout the book. I admit Rowling does enjoy throwing green things at us, I wonder how we found out Satan's favorite color? Did we ask him? When he's out on the town does he wear lots of green I have no idea. Red, apparently, is also bad because occultists like it. So what colors are good I ask?

2. President George Bush (the elder) is a member of a group called Skull and Bones "one of the blackest of black Satanic secret societies." I still wonder how this information was obtained. Oh and apparently black is bad now too.

3. The potions class is metaphorically telling children about the wonders of drug use.

4. A child's nature is inherently evil. I never thought about it, but I think this is a pretty mainstream christian belief. I mean since you have to accept Christ to be saved i.e. good. Therefore the rest of us must be evil by nature. (This is less humorous and more of a simple observation of mine.)

5. Unicorns and the phoenix are symbols of the Antichrist. Never heard of that. Just a couple of fantasy creatures made to amuse children (and adults), but somehow became linked with evil. Of course anything that isn't directly Jesus is linked with evil to these idiots.

6. There are homosexual undertones in the storylines. OK, I'm all for trying to find the hidden homo subtext, but c'mon. This is just ridiculous.

7. The writer of the website (www.cuttingedge.org/news/hpmain.html) honestly believes witchcraft is real. He details how rowling uses actual witchcraft techniques in her books. Isn't that going against the Christian grain? This guy has dreams of burning witches and starting the inquisition again. It's just scary. Fledgling Torquemada.

So yes reading the writings of morons once again serves to make me snicker. I just can believe there are people out there who really believe this sort of crap. It's a children story...not a treatise for satan. Get a clue.

Monday, November 17, 2003

Easy places to get away to

So it's Monday and I'm doing my usual web crawl. Nothing too exciting. Another day off to waste as I will. Not sure what to do, it annoys me that I usually have Sunday and Monday off and DVDs are released on Tuesdays. Be much easier if I was off the day they were released and could watch them then. Is that a nerd dilemma or what?

Maybe my next netflix movie will have arrived (The Maltese Falcon). Or I could just watch Futurama with commentary. Hmmm.

Sunday, November 16, 2003

Cocking it up

Now listening to: Radiohead (I might be wrong)
Preparing to read: Salvatore (The Thousand Orcs)

Soo it's been a relatively uneventful day, sat around watched a little football, beat all the goals on THUG on the normal difficulty. Woo. After I did that, I went over to Corb's were Trip, Corb and I had pizza and played video games. Playing on Corb's ginormous TV was cool, although F-Zero for the SNES did show its age a bit. Mostly we played Super Mario 3 (where whoever was played was lambasted with rants against them...accusing them of "Cocking it up" ...I can't imagine who started that), although there was a little Tony Hawk and a little Soul Caliber 2 thrown in.

Anyway now I'm considering mixing a drink, or getting some wine and settling in to read. I haven't delved far into "The 1,000 Orcs" but it seems up to scratch. This of course is one of the books that Trip describes as "Books with dragons on the cover." That description encompasses all fantasy novels, when in reality most of them don't have dragons. They have elves or wizards or orcs. Hehe, a fine distinction, I know. Still his bias is only part of a larger PR problem for fantasy novels. I'm not sure why fantasy has this stigma, the Dungeons and Dragons nerd thing. It's really bothersome. Just because I like swords and sorcery I get branded nerd. Why not do the same thing to people who read spy novels or that silly overly militarized Tom Clancy crap, or even Stephen King. It's all just an attempt to escape from reality anyway.

OK I admit many of the D&D types are intolerably nerdy, but there plenty of us Fantasy fans who aren't lost causes. I can have a conversation about other things and I don't like the stigma. I'm going to start my Nerd rights political action committe any day now.

Blank check for mayhem

Now watching: Carolina vs. Washington football and Queer Eye

I return after a missed day of blogging. My trip to Bluefield was everything I thought it would be...that is to say it was excruciating. Bad drive up through the mountains into West Virginia, country music, bad football game and then the dreaded return drive.

After I finally finished my work day I got some groceries and came home for vegging in front of the tv. I ended up watching most of SNL and an episode of monster house that was kinda cool. I finally went to sleep and slept like a damn rock. Not just any rock, a damn rock. So now I'm thrust into my weekend. I don't really have anything to do so I may go into cave recluse mode and stay here and try not to spend any money.

As for what I will be doing to kill this weekend, I'm not sure. I should do some reading, maybe try and get into Suikoden 3...although I'm not sure that will happen. Anyway I'm off to goof off, more later.

Friday, November 14, 2003

Frozen Artic Tundra

Now watching: Trip play Tony Hawk
Now putting off: writing a game story

Well I am finally starting to thaw after an incredibly cold evening at the Magna Vista football game. I sat outside with Danny and it was cold as a motherfucker....Never been sure why a motherfucker is cold, but what can you do? The game was ok, too many stupid penalties. I have to get to work soon so I don't have to get up at a ridiculous hour tommorrow. I still have to go all the way to Bluefield...which sucks. On the plus side, Martinsville will probably lose and that'll be one less football team to cover next week.

Anyway today I sat around most of the day and beat Tony Hawk Underground's story mode...woo I rule. After I did that I watched easy rider. I don't think I smoked enough weed to truly enjoy it. Totally a hippie movie. Then of course I hooked up with Danny and we had dinner with Trip, then off to the cold ass game. After that we came back here and played some Crimson Skies, which was pretty cool.

I really just don't want to write that story now, I really don't want to work at all this week. I've been writing a ton this week, and while the hours are light, I still find it more draining. Of course there is the dread of hitting the road tomorrow. Well, I suppose I should get to work, it's not getting any earlier.

Never a Frown with Golden Brown

Now listening to: Snatch (soundtrack) to start but switched to the Ramones (NYC 1975)

Just watched the movie Identity. That was really cool. Of course John Cusack was in it so I expected it to be pretty good. But I'm not really a big fan of thriller type movies on the whole. There are a few that stand out and this was one of them.

I'm currently looking up Daria merch on ebay...why? well why not. I'm a big daria fan and am considering buying the stuff that's out on dvd. Nothing serious, just pricing. I'm a little scared to order anything tho, as I had a bad credit card experience earlier today. I went to fye at the mall and found they had a new used cd section which I plowed through and found no less than four cds I wanted to buy. Cool stuff — Sonic Youth, Cat Power, Ugly Casanova and...ummm...I can't remember but it was good. Anyway when I went to check out, my card was refused, which befuddled and embarrassed me. I tried a different card (that I know is good) and it too was refused. I think their system must have been down as the clerk was a little quick to tell me it didn't work. I may go back tomorrow and see if it works then.

So today the wind hit hard huh. This was especially unpleasant in my jeep, where the top is so raggedy I can barely stand it. I'm considering just getting a new car, one without a rag top. It all depends on how much debt I'm willing to accrue.

Well that's plenty of rambling for now.

Thursday, November 13, 2003

Won't you please...kill my neighbor

Now listening to: Whatever godforsaken pop, R&B shit my downstairs neighbor has cranked

So I'm more than a little pissed. At around 9:30 a.m. the people downstairs began to play the crap music outside. This, of course, woke me up. Being far to early I got to lay there in a sort of half sleep, occasionnally nodding off between songs or when they changed the disc. At 11 a.m. they played my least favorite song. I'm not really sure what it is, but I could play the baseline as that's all I ever hear.

Usually they are up all night playing music, which is annoying but at least I'm not trying to sleep. My parents are undoubtedly unpleased, but what can I do.

Anyway I have to get ready and go to work as I have several stories to write and calls to make. Arrggh.

The stage in history

Now listening to: The Flaming Lips (Yoshimi Battles the Robots)

Just got home from Trip's. Had a slack day at work and then went there and we played Tony Hawk and Soul Caliber 2. I've lost some of my SC2 chops, but can still throw a beating. Wish I had more people to play, fighting games are always better if you have a larger group to work with. You get different levels of advancement and several different strategies. Oh well. I still think Virtua Fighter 4 is better.

This weekend I have to drive to Graham for a football game. Not sure why I dread the traveling so much. I just do. I've become set in my routine and kinda hate to break with it, or at least hate to have it broken by work.

Ohh tonight trip and I watched Bumfights, video of people fighting and these complete bastards either subduing bums and doing a Steve Irwin impression or getting bums to do stupid shit for money or beer or something. On one hand, those bums did do it of their own free will. They had let themselves fall so far that they were willing to do bodily harm to each other for drugs or alcohol. On the other hand, how demented do you have to be to even think of that sort of thing. It was disgusting. I mean I'm all for televised idiocy — note my support of Steve-o and the whole Jackass crew — but there is something wrong in getting people clearly not possessing the wherewithall to take care of themselves to do those types of idiotic things.

Well I am gonna make a sandwich and do some more reading. Hopefully I can get to bed at a decent hour as I need to go to work relatively early.

Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Do you like robots?

Now reading: Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
Now playing: Tony Hawk Underground

I'm in a haze. I stayed up too late playing Tony Hawk and reading Running with Scissors. I would switch off when my thumb got too sore to continue for a while. Anyway I didn't get up until almost 1 p.m. and now I feel all groggy. I've got to get back to working out regularly and get my energy level back up.

I need to go in to work early today to call some coaches, but I really don't wanna. I just want to lay around and do nothing. No surprises there.

Running with Scissors is living up to my hopes. Tales of a disturbing childhood that are all the more scary because they are true. The segment on how a psychiatrist believes God is communicating with him through his poo is sidesplittingly funny.

Tuesday, November 11, 2003

Minor malaise and maladjustment

Just feeling a tad anxious today as nothing seems to be living up to my anticipation of it. I can't find a video game that will hold my interest and all the cds I've bought of late haven't really caught my ear as well as I would have hoped. I dunno, I just don't seem to be overly interested in anything of late. Like I'm just searching for something I can't find.

Today I slacked off most of the day then visited with Danny in the evening. His four-year-old is a nice kid, but makes it obvious to me that I have NO desire to have children. I couldn't handle it. I was there for under threee hours and my nerves were shot.

After that I went to Trip's where we had some epic Tony Hawk Underground struggles. I managed to best him more often than not, but he's becoming more and more dangerous. Now I know how Gabe felt with me last year, when I started to be able to compete with him Of course, Gabe then rededicated himself to the game and started to really kick my butt.

Been on a soup kick of late. When the weather drops, soup tastes better for some reason. Campbell's Chunky soup kicks ass. Well I suppose that's it. I'm gonna jump into a book for a while before I go to sleep, not sure which one tho...hmmm

Monday, November 10, 2003

Hypermediocrity

Preparing to play: Suikoden 3

Well I've been browsing the web for the hour I've been up. I keep reading about Final Fantasy XI, the MMORPG (massively Multiplayer onling role playing game). Apparently it's very good and I'm jealous of people who get to play it. With my mere dialup connection it would be excrutiating to try to play, plus I don't have a Windows machine and the anti-mac gaming facism continues.

Finished R.A. Salvatore's Sea of Swords last night, it was pretty good. Only two more books to read and I'm caught up. I'm considering taking a break and trying to read something not fantasy-related. The problem is I'm caught up in the story. I want to know where it's going. But even if I read all the books out now, I still have to wait until next Nov. to read the ending. That's the trouble with these epic fantasy storylines that go over so many books.

Anyway now I'm going to go do some gaming, hopefully Suikoden 3 will live up to my memories of the first game. I never got to play the second one as the disc was defective after so many hours into it. (Discovered by my father.) So I sold the game...now it's worth $200 online. I hate my life so much. My only hope is that the third increases in value like that.

Sunday, November 09, 2003

For me to poop on

Sooo I'm at work and kinda bored, once again. I have already completed all my pages for the night and have nothing left to do. On one hand, I'm glad as I can relax and surf the net, or say type up a blog, on the other I'd rather be allowed to finish and go or be kept busy so I don't get bored.

Anyway, I had a good time in Greensboro yesterday, some nice shopping, good meal, good company (although trip and I don't see eye to eye on shopping time). But a good time was had by all. We saw elf, which kicked ass. Lots of hilarious moments. On the way home trip, corb and I laughed our asses off. So I'll chaulk it all up to time well spent.

Today I went to see the Matrix Revolutions with trip at a matinee. Not bad, it was non-stop in its action. I've heard a lot of people criticize the sequels, saying they just weren't as good as the original. Well, duh. You can't unsee things. The first one was perfect because you had no idea what the matrix was and if people were fucking with neo. You got to follow this incredible revelation and it was simply breathtaking. The latter ones the mystery is no longer there and you are simply watching an action movie, a very good action movie by any standard, but simply an action movie. You've seen bullet time (done to death these days) and you've know what the matrix is. You have to get over it and appreciate the incredible visuals the wachowski bros. offer. The battle in zion is so amazing. frantic, frenetic, fantastic and other word that start with f.

Anyway enough of a tirade on that. The steelers won today, so that was a pleasant surprise. I have tomorrow off and I'm planning to pay video games, read and perhaps visit with Danny.

Saturday, November 08, 2003

I'm being cut to shreds

Now listening to: Radiohead (I might be wrong)
Now watching: The Matrix Reloaded
Currently flipping through: Official Playstation magazine

Currently at trip's geeking out. for some reason I am kinda tired, even though I slept late today. All I've done is done today was read and of course drive to Tunstall for a football game. I then wrote my story and now I'm here with trip. Anyway this tired thing, I hope it means I'm not coming down with something.

Tomorrow my plan is to collect my friends and go to greensboro to see a movie and grab some lunch and do some minor shopping. perhaps get some new music and a new book. I'd like to see the new matrix movie, despite the reviews but if corb comes along he's not gonna be interested in that. So we may be forced to see elf, which would be fine as well.

trip is now questioning the readership of this blog, claiming to be the lone visitor. He may be right, but screw him. ok I'm outta here.

Friday, November 07, 2003

Fuck that guy

Now listening to: Cat Power (You are Free)

So I am finally home and, surprisingly, my phone is working. However, these small victories mean little compared to the suffering I had during my final hours at work. Computer crashes, being bitched at by the boss and having to suffer through the opinions of the man I think is the biggest asshole ever born, Let's call him Cameron...cause that's his name.

This is my coworker. He is the most arrogant, pretentious human being and knows it and revels in it. He must die. If I had a nickel for every time someone at the bulletin discussed killing him, I'd be able to buy the paper with plenty left over. Tonight I made the grotesque error of mentioning that I saw the movie signs and thought it sucked. He went on a tirade about how it wasn't that bad and there were so many movies much worse. Now, I can allow someone to have a different opinion than me in a discussion and not be bothered by it. I'm open-minded and believe in respecting others' opinions. Cameron has no such concept. His idea of a discussion is something akin to a battering ram, bludgeoning dissenters into a state where they are simply unable to care enough to fight his onslaught and simply opt out of the conversation.

Anyway, I do feel better now that I have that off my chest. Perhaps I can relax and do some reading.

Ohhh, something I've been meaning to do. In the unlikely event that someone reads this that doesn't know me and already have my email, I can be reached at prometheus9000@hotmail.com feel free to write me.

Thursday, November 06, 2003

I'm not here, this isn't really happening

Now: wishing I had brought my cd player to work

BORED. I'm at work and bored. Sure I could be working on that story, but really, why bother? I'm in a fairly foul mood. The whole B-day doldrums coupled with my jeep sieve (it once was a canvas top, but now it definitely fills the roll of sieve better) leaking water all over everything. hence i suffered a wet ass on my way to work and my sock is still soggy. Also my phone went out today and so I won't be able to get to the internet at home. Woo, I'm loving life.

On the up side, trip did make every attempt to pull me from depression so kudos to him for that (what-the-hell-ever a kudo is anyway...is it that granola bar thingee? cause those are kinda good...) Still despite his best efforts, I remain in a pissy mood. What can I say, I'm moody. Currently all I want to do is go home, drink some wine and read on the couch. Two more hours....

On the down side

Now listening to: Radiohead (Kid A)

Well it is officially Nov. 6, my birthday. I am 29-years-old and feel a deep depression coming on. I am another year older and nothing has changed. I'm still single, stuck in Martinsville in a job that pays terribly. I still live with my parents (which is becoming more depressing by the minute) and I still have no idea of how to change these things.

My life is certainly nothing like I pictured it when I was a kid. I figured by this point I would have a decent job where I could live comfortably and never be overly concerned about money. I'd be married to the perfect woman and just basking in life's wonder. Instead I'm awash in waves of inadequacy and economic distress. I haven't been on a real date in so long I'm considering giving up the idea and accepting the idea of just being alone for the rest of my life. I'm pretty good at filling the time in with mindless entertainment.

Last year, I made an attempt to break with my status quo and move to NYC. None of that went off well and I ended up back in the same old, same old. Now I have even less belief that I can get out of this rut.

I will be working on my birthday and have made attempts to be working on all the winter holidays. I specifically chose this because when I am off and have to fill those holidays with activities I am always disappointed. Whatever I do seems pedestrian and mundane. At least when I'm working I have an excuse for my lameness.

Anyway, now that I have revelled in my pathetic nature I am going.

Wednesday, November 05, 2003

Rocking the vote

Currently listening to: Radiohead (Amnesiac)

So today was election day here in my little burg. Normally I try and ignore the local elections as I feel that most of the time they don't affect me a whole helluva lot. But this time round I was forced to go out and vote against some of the raving morons that were running. I'm not kidding, I wouldn't allow this type of slack-jawed imbecile to clean my toliet, much less run the school board. So I had ot vote against them. I didn't really know the platform of their competitors, but when confronted with a worst-case scenario, you go the other way regardless of what it is.

Fortunately, none of those idiots got elected, admittedly I didn't like the result of a few of the local races, but it could have been much worse.

Of course, working at a newpaper on election night meant that I had to work late waiting for everything to get in. As the sports world was pretty quiet, this meant that I had to sit around for about two hours after finishing my pages and do nothing. Quite exciting.

Now I am pretty tired. I think I'm gonna go and read until I collapse. Nighty-night.

Tuesday, November 04, 2003

Two sides to every story

Preparing to watch: Signs

So my resolve isn't what it used to be. I am currently slacking off instead of going to the gym. Sad sad sad. The lure of my sofa has won out again. I'm just hoping this movie will be good. I'll probably end up playing Advance Wars 2 throughout it so as to multitask and not be so slack...yeah I know I'm still really slack.

I also need to get my shit together and make some cds for my brother. He wants the radiohead catalogue. I could probably do that at the same time. I'm off.

Everything's gonna be cool this Christmas

Currently listening to: Eels (The Electro-Shock Blues show-live)

Just got off of work and damn glad to be home. Work wasn't too bad, just kind of dull. (I should learn to appreciate these moments, they are becoming more rare.)

Anyway, on the way home I was listening to the Eels (and still am now) and the song everything is gonna be cool this christmas made me smile. Funny how the Eels can make you laugh one minute and cry another. My plan to sit outside and read was foiled by Netflix. I ended up watching "Y tu mama tambien" It had a sexual tone that permeated the film...my that does sound pretentious.

In spite of Netflix's interference I did manage to finish the Salvatore book I was reading at dinner. So, of course, now I'm moving on to the next in the series. I read four more and I'm caught up. I also have to work this book I bought the other day in, "Running with scissors" I heard a review of it on NPR I think, or maybe read an interview with the author on Salon, can't remember. I have high hopes.

My plan is to get up and go to the gym and try to get back on the workout tip tomorrow. We'll see if my resolve holds.

Monday, November 03, 2003

Go with the flow

Just roused from bed a little while ago and have been browsing the usual sites on the web. It's amazing how much time I can kill just sitting here and surfing through stuff I'm really not terribly interested in. I could page through ebay all day even when I'm completely broke.

So I'm relishing the few hours I have before I have to return to work for a full day of page layout, argh. I suppose it could be worse. It's a beautiful fall day outside, i think i may go outside and read for awhile. Of course, that could be forgotten if my netflix came in today. I'm awaiting Mumford, Y tu mama tambien and Signs.

I think that's about it for now, I have a rant planned on the CBS at 75 tv special, but am simply not in the mood to get into it now. Something to look forward to for both of you who are reading this...

Sunday, November 02, 2003

Stop....continue

Currently listening to: Jane's Addiction (Strays)
Currently reading: R.A. Salvatore (The Spine of the World)

Well, I've spent around an hour fiddling with this whole blog thing and hope I have started to figure out how I want things to go. After reading a couple of other blogs, I've decided to never say "Nothing much to talk about today." I find myself emailing that to friends and it's just pathetic. Who wants to read that? Noone. So if I don't have anything to say, I won't post and save everybody some time.

Today has been relatively uneventful, went to see Scary Movie 3...ummm the less said about it the better. Part of me always regrets seeing that type of movie, I go into it knowing it's going to be bad but see it nonetheless. I suppose it's a simple desire to be in the know and also have something to do socially.

I recently read the book "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides, it was excellent. The story of a hermaphrodite raised as a girl and then determined to be male at age 15. It was really more of that, going into the history of it's greek family and the move from the old country to America. I can't say enough about this book, it was really well written and interesting. I didn't care for Eugenides' first novel "the Virgin Suicides" it was more depressing and just didn't strike the same chord with me.
Well this is my first post. I'm basically starting this blog as a way to think out loud and get things off my chest. It's purely an attempt at catharsis. Psychology online.

Well a little bit about myself: I am a 28-years-old white male. (I'll be 29 on Thursday.) I live in Martinsville, Virginia and am a sportswriter for the local paper. This will not be a sports blog however as I have no need to really get into it here, I'm paid to write about that stuff and find it boring to talk about off the job, with a few exceptions. I read a lot and that, in and of itself, sets me apart from the vast majority of people I come into contact with everyday.

My other hobbies include video games, movies and playing devil's advocate with my friends. Anyway that's about all for now. I shall return