Friday, February 24, 2006

Devils inside won't cut me any slack

Sooooo I'm annoyed. Despite my bright prognosis of how things were going, I still have yet to work a single minute. My Jeep is still in the shop and who knows when it's gonna be done. My mom is hopeful for tomorrow, but I'm more cynical. I don't know. Kevin has offered to help me out next week and that's cool of him, cause I need to start working. Still I'd prefer not to have to inconvenience him and his family because my fucking mechanic can't get his ass in gear.

Ugg. So I had a Trip-sponsored meal of gas station hot dogs tonight and bleah. That was a bad choice on my part. I've been battling them ever since. Whew... unpleasant.

Watched some episodes of The Young Ones last night. Man, I love that show. It's just good 80's British fun. It's absurd, which I've remarked more than once is my fav. style of humor.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Linky, linky

Well I just discovered two excellent blogs. The first is a all about my fall/winter obsession and will interest only a few. The second one is pure genius and will resound deeply with anyone who loves hirstute interstellar smugglers.

Interior life on the outside

Bah, I was going to post about how much the internet dominates my life, but I've been through it before. It is funny to see the boundaries created tho. Am I the collection of information I've created on the web or something more, or something less. Or have I made myself more by creating a synergy with my webself. I can honestly say I know more about me because of what I've experienced on the web. What is a little self knowledge worth?

I downloaded the soundtrack to Dune tonight and it's very good. I'm not what you'd call a Toto fan, but this music holds up the epic nature of what Frank Herbert set forth. It doesn't hurt that Brian Eno helped out, he's always a nice addition.

Last night I was browsing and decided to check out Henry Rollins' website. He's got a nice little blog type thing going there and I had to read that of course. That man has a serious work ethic going. That, as most of you know, is the area that I struggle, well one of the areas.

Monday, February 20, 2006

Can Tardly wait?

Last night I went to hang with Trip and both Danny and Corb showed up. We just hung out for most of the evening and had a pretty good time. Pretty low key, but always nice to get up with them. Corb, Trip and I ended up playing a little Halo 2 for old time's sake and man, our powers are weak. You lay off for a few months and your skills fade.

Today I didn't do a lot. I watched The Royal Tenenbaums again. That may be my all time fav. movie. There is just something about it that keeps drawing me back. Also I really love the suicide scene. It's got so much depth. I'm sure some would say it's bad to be inspired by a scene about killing yourself, but to me it's just got so much raw emotion. I could go on and on about it, but I'll not bother right now. Sufficed to say if you haven't seen it, you should.

After that I watched various movies on TV and played Warcraft. Yeah, I'm back on the horse (dreadsteed?). Now I plan on listening to some music and maybe doing a bit of emailing and reading. I've been kinda obsessed with ohGr's Welt album lately. He's a member of Skinny Puppy, which is good if you like industrial music. I've also obtained She Wants Revenge's self-titled album, which has a nice Bauhaus/Joy Division feel.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

The Year of E

Sometime in January, Adam declared this the "Year of E" and I plan on doing whatever I can to make that the case. So far things are going my way: Steelers win the Super Bowl, I got a job, my bro is coming to live in North Carolina. Now I need to focus on moving out and getting laid.

Anyway I'm in an exceptionaly good mood, as things seem to be going my way. I talked to Nick and Mike today, also getting an email from Adam. We're all setting up for Mike's Bachelor's Party in April. (I gotta get tell my new job I need that weekend off, it may not look that good.)

Hopefully I'll hear that my Jeep is fixed tomorrow so I can start work as planned. I gotta think I got a shot with how well things are going so far.

Good news everyone

At long last I have a job offer. That's right, I got the call last night and I will be working as soon as Monday at the Fox/WB stations in Roanoke. Wooo. I have Kev to thank for this, so thanks Kev. I'll be blaming you if it sucks, hehe.

Of course, the Monday start is pending my Jeep being running again, which remains to be seen. I'm pretty excited. It'll be nice to not be broke all the time. Maybe once I get the cash flowing I can make an attempt to even some debts.

Anyway I'm pretty pleased by that and I'm hoping that my Jeep will be ready by Monday so I can get it going. Not much else to report. I think I'm gonna go to bed early tonight as I'm feeling tired... and cold actually. I hope I'm not getting sick.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Killing and preaching, it's all in there

Well I had a jolly Valentine's Day. Trip took me out for sushi, it was a fantastic date... Anyway I swore I wasn't gonna be more depressed than normal because of a lame corporate holiday and I wasn't. I enjoyed the company (and generosity) of my good friend Trip, came home and watched the end of the Westminster Dog Show. I was pleased that the Bull Terrier won. I was impressed with most of the dogs that won their groups, but dear Rufus was my preference and he won! Woo.

Anyway my cable went out around midnight (that's three times in three months, with three power outages as well, it's becoming tiresome). So I settled in for some reading. I had finished Night the other day and it was very good, some passages were haunting. So moving on in my reading I picked up this collection of stories called Notes from the Underground. It's all journalistic pieces taken from alternative press papers. Some fascinating stories written outside of the normal five questions style of most papers, i.e. with depth.

There was one tale of this serial killer who was convicted in Texas. He admitted to killing around 20 women (and has bragged about killing four times that number), but due to a plea bargain and loopholes in the system he may be getting out of jail in April of this year. Come on this is Texas we're talking about. They do the death penalty for parking tickets and they are gonna let this guy out? If Coral Eugene Watts moves in next to you later this year, be very afraid for the local women.

Another story was about the Fundamental Mormans in Arizona. These people are scary. They practice polygamy and marry off teenage girls to grown men and keep them pregnant almost constantly. The leader (The Prophet) makes all the decisions, including who marries who. This Prophet also controls almost every decision that takes place in town, divorces, who's allowed to live where and so on. It's a scary tale of a patriarchal religious society run amok.

Anyway I'm looking forward to reading more of these incredible stories.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

I'm not who I thought I was

Tonight I found out that it's gonna take a whole new engine to get my Jeep back on the road. Yup, the whole schmear. More money I owe my mom. At least it's being fixed now tho, having it sit in front of the mechanic's shop was annoying me. Those guys tend to take their time getting to crap.

Not much else going on. Watched part of the Westminster Dog Show tonight and was actually pretty pleased with the dogs that won. The pug won the toy group and that's the only dog in the group I would even consider owning. Also Rufus the bull terrier won and I love a bull terrier.

I just watched some Wallace and Gromit (gotta love the villanous Feathers McGraw). I think I'm gonna go try to finish Elie Wiesel's Night, which is fairly depressing. That whole Holocaust thing really does not make for happy stories, I tell you. Still amazes me that mankind can be that horrible... not sure why, I see evidence of it everyday.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Sunday sans Steelers

So it's the first Sunday without football. Well, there is the Pro Bowl, but that's like a small amount of methadone for a hardcore heroin addict. So it's a little depressing. But of course I do have the Steelers' Super Bowl victory to keep me warm. Sometimes that will pop into my head and I'll smile spontaneously.

Anyway I'm gonna write a few predictions for next year here and now, so I can lord them over everyone next year when I'm right (and completely forget about em when I'm wrong). Of course, this type of early prediction can really change with one or two free agent moves or injuries. So cut me some slack.

I'm gonna start with the NFC. The big team I can see surprising a lot of people next year is the Cardinals. That's right, the hapless Cards. They showed some signs of life and will be playing in a brand new stadium. Their passing game looked outstanding and if they can get their O-Line some help and shore up that defense they will be a threat. Dennis Green is a solid coach and frankly their division isn't the toughest out there.

The Seahawks will be in the hunt again, baring injury to Hasselbeck and Chicago is only gonna get better offensively. Also, I think the Skins will continue to improve and they could be a serious postseason contender if that offense finds a second receiver. Sorry Gabe, but I think the Eagles were only starting their bad times this season. That defense is getting old and the offense is lacking some firepower now. I also think that Atlanta will continue to be overhyped because of Michael Vick, but will ultimately flop.

In the AFC, almost anyone can win. I have to start with my Steelers. Keeping Ken Wisenhut for another season really keeps the dream alive. We're probably gonna lose Randle El, which sucks, but what can you do? We still have enough threats without him to be a serious contender, especially with Big Ben at QB. He may have looked shaky in the Super Bowl, but he is a game winner. I really do expect Pittsburgh to be in the thick of things again next year.

The out of nowhere team (sorta) of the AFC will be the Dolphins. That six-game winning streak was a nice way to end the season and makes for a good leaping point for next year (and probably kept Nick from leaping off any very tall buildings). That offense really came around. I'm not 100% sold on Mike Mularky as an offensive coordinator (he's too pass happy and Miami wants to play smash mouth, run-first football), but he's not terrible. But yeah, I think the Fish could challenge the Patriotss in that division.

Other than that there are plenty of teams that could legitimately go all the way. Pats, Colts, Broncos, Bengals all have to be at the top of the list with the Steelers. You can pencil in the Chiefs (although there may be too much upheavel with the coaching change) and the Chargers.

Anyway I think that's enough of my lame football predictions. I'll try to hold off with my football chatter at least until the draft.

Friday, February 10, 2006

Ennui strikes once again

Man I am sooooo bored. Nothing seems to capture my interest. I've been tempted to reactivate my WoW account today I'm so bored. I'd like to not do that until I have a job and can determine if I'll have any time to play. Of course, until I get a job I'm gonna have mountain of free time and nothing to do during it. I know, I know I should be writing... I have no excuse, I just don't feel particularly inspired at the moment. Anyway we'll see if my will can hold off the wiles of Warcraft.

Actually I got an email today from City of Heroes about them giving me a trial for Valentine's Day. So I set forth to reinstall it and see what's new. Unfortunately I have forgotten my login, so I have about three gigs of a game I can't play on my comp. at the moment. I sent in a support email and we'll see what they have to say.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Stormy gullet

I'm not feeling well. It's like El Nino and Hurricane Katrina are have a knife fight in my belly. It's unpleasant. I went to Trip's this evening and had to leave early because I felt shitty (literally... I may have said too much). I suppose it's subsided a little since then, but it hasn't been pleasant.

Anyway, I watched Cold Mountain last night. It was substantially better than I anticipated i.e. it wasn't so slow paced like a lot of those heavy dramas. I mean I understand the concept of nonverbal acting conveying meaning, but sometimes those ponderous films just drive me nuts. Also the depth of the cast surprised me, I mean all I heard about was Jack White being in it. Who knew Natalie Portman and Giovanni Ribisi were in it? Also is it just me or is Ethan Suplee in every damn thing I tune into lately? Anyway I'd give it a foot massage on the whole.

This afternoon I watched a bunch of sports talk where everyone talked about how lackluster the Super Bowl was and how the officials robbed the Seahawks. The refs did seem to roll in favor of the Steelers, but it wasn't anything as glaring as the Indy-Pitt game. And the Steelers played through that and still won, so I say screw em. The better team won. It wasn't pretty, but a win is a win.

Sunday, February 05, 2006

They both deserve it


One of the best things I've ever seen. Also I'd like to take this moment to point out that I picked every single playoff game correctly. I rule! Posted by Picasa

Storybook

Well it's all over. The last kickoff kicked and the last tackle made. The dust has cleared and my Pittsburgh Steelers hoist the Lombardi trophy in victory. It's magnificent. It's the perfect ending. Jerome Bettis retires as a champion, Bill Cowher is now locked into the Hall of Fame and Hines Ward has gone from a preseason holdout to Super Bowl MVP. The team that only had an outside shot of making the playoffs, stormed back for the sixth seed and made the top teams in the NFL bow to its will.

All that said, watching the game was pure torture. It was too close to going the other way so many times. I sat on the edge of my couch the whole game. Well, except for those moments I was on my feet cursing or cheering. I'm glad I watched it alone, I would have been incredibly bad company for anyone else. After that interception in the red zone, someone could have died at my hands with me never thinking twice.

But it's all over now and it's the first football season I've ever seen end the way I hoped. Adam and I were talking after the game and he noted that this is a day of joy and sorrow. It's the pinnacle of the NFL, what everyone wants to see and it's also the end. No real football until August. Ahh well, I'm just gonna try to enjoy it. It's the perfect ending.

Barely Hold(ing) Steady until the Super Bowl

So it's been an odd week. It started off with me facing extreme depression caused by no word from any job front and my Jeep's engine issues. Then I made it to Thursday and things picked up considerably.

Trip hooked me up bigtime and we went to see The Hold Steady in Chapel Hill. I really like Chapel Hill, it's just a fun place and man is the full beard ever in vogue there. Lots of Grizzly Adams wannabes. Anyway, the Plastic Constellations and Screaming at Motorists opened for the Hold Steady. Neither was particularly exceptional, but both had moments (a Meh. label is in order). Still I was more than ready for the headliner to hit the stage.

The Hold Steady delivered a kickass show (Filet Mignon). The lead-singer's manic singing style carried over to how he acted on stage and that made for a visually stimulating show. They played most of my favorite tracks and some new stuff that really kicked ass. I feel confident the new album (which they said was coming in the fall) is gonna be up to the high standard they have set forth with their first two.

Anyway because we didn't get back to Martinsville until it was way late I stayed the night at Trip's (no I did not put out). We hung out for a while Friday evening and Kevin called and delivered some good news. The guy at the station said I was in as long as my background check came back clean, which it will since I've lead a fairly white bread life. So that kicks ass.

On top of that my Jeep goes into the shop on Monday and hopefully it won't take forever to fix... although my confidence on that is shaky. Still it's good to get it all started. Maybe I'm finally collecting my fecal particles (aka getting my shit together).

Also I don't know if you guys know this but the Steelers are in the Super Bowl tomorrow! I feel pretty good about the game, although I have to admit I'm nervous. Yes, I know I'm not actually playing, but it's still a big deal to me. It's one of those things that's impossible to explain to anyone who doesn't feel this way. There is no analog here. Either you are relentlessly loyal to a sports team or you aren't. Anyway I'm hoping for a huge Steelers blowout. Yes I know most want to see a good game, but screw that I want Pittsburgh to run it up and me not have to sweat to the very end.