I need more cowbell

Well I took my computer into the most crumby looking computer shop ever today, but the guy seemed to know what he was doing. Sadly, what he seemed to know was that my hard drive was fucked up, with potential for my motherboard to be fried. So best case scenario I lose everything I had on the laptop, but it will still work. Worst case, it's shot and I need a new computer altogether.

These revelations cast a pall over my shoe shopping this evening, not that I found anything that was comfortable, attractive and in my price range. Maybe I'm a cheap bastard but I don't wanna pay $40 for a pair of Chuck Taylor's and I don't wanna pay $100 for a pair of sweat shop-made cross trainers. After I find out if I need a new computer I may be postponing my new shoe quest for a bit.

I am now working on my old Imac, which is sooooo fucking slow. There was a time when I loved this computer and it still holds a certain nostalgia factor, but man is it outdated now.

Ohhh the goat!!!

It's been a busy weekend. Let me begin by complaining that my laptop hard drive seems to have died. I'm writing this from my old Imac and it's very slow. Still I wouldn't want to withhold my faithful reader(s?) from my erstwhile ramblings. I reactivated my Netflix account, so I go movies flowing in now to hold my attention. I also have told my WoW account to stop renewing for the time being, so once my last month is up, I'm gonna let it slide for a while. I'll probably go back when the expansion comes out, but til then I'm kinda bored.

Anyway, Let me diagram my Saturday for you. I rose around 1 p.m. and moved to the couch to watch Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers. It was pretty good, if you like Jarmusch. Bill Murray is really exceptional in these minimalist films because he can convey so much with just a turn of his head or by moving his eyes. He makes you understand what is taking place in his character's mind. ...back to my day... I finished that, drove to work and was there for almost 10 hours.

While there I read Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle in its entireity. It was good, but he's got a real dark sense of humor, which I appreciate. Still any book that kills off the entire human race (and probably most of the animal and plant kingdoms as well) is a tad darker than what I deal with in the regular. Hell, he puts Palahniuk to shame, maybe close to rivaling Lovecraft from a perspective of basic carnage. Well the creator of the Elder Gods is hard to rival, there was probably less suffering a la Vonnegut and no blind idiot god. But once again I have derailed.

After finishing Cat's Cradle I went to The Know It All, which is about a guy reading the Encyclopedia Britannica. It's ok, a little dry in places, but not bad. I'm still whittling it down. After I finally was able to leave work and drive home I goofed off on the internet until around 6 a.m. How's that for a full day?

Ohh I also watched Waiting, with Ryan Reynolds and it was entertaining, lotsa dick jokes which I enjoy. Luis Guzman is the man. Why isn't he in more movies? OK I'm beat and going to read for a minute before I sleep. I had other crap to talk about, but I'm drifting too much to get to it, plus this thing is too long as it is.

Societal pressure

Trip and I made our way to Greensboro yesterday and stomped through a high percentage of the shoe stores down there. He ended up buying a pair of Chuck Taylors that were on sale and I found nothing to suit my needs. Shoes are a pain in the ass to find. Either they are absurdly pricey (I'm not paying more than $60 for a pair of sneakers, call me old-fashioned), horribly ugly, they don't have my size or they don't fit right when I try them on. It's a pain in the ass.

Also I suppose my self-esteem was getting too high and I had to bring it down by shopping for clothes. Nothing more humbling that being a fat guy looking for something to wear. Go to a store like Eddie Bauer and try to find something that fits. Yeah, good luck, might get a pair of socks.

So after feeling like a human freak show you head out to the Big and Tall store to shop with those other less than normal folks. Pop in there and they have your size, but there are still issues. One: half the crap has either no idea how to tone down the fact you're a fat guy or directly emphasises that you are a fat guy. Two: the stuff there that is moderately stylish and of decent quality is priced so high as to be absurd. The only things I saw that were priced even remotely reasonably were on the 50% off bargin rack.

I did manage to spend some money, tho. I bought a coupla new shirts which I like. I need some new t-shirts too, but I may resort to the internets for those.

You need different feathers if you're going to fly

Yay my weekend is here! Woo three whole days to do nothing. Actually I'm considering trying to break my usual mold, but I'm not gonna get too overzealous. I need to not spend a ton. I have some extra cash from all the overtime I've worked, but it'd probably be best not to fritter it all away if I can help it. Still I do need new shoes... and a cell phone... and an Ipod. Fine the Ipod is probably not the top of the list realistically, but I sure would like one.

I'm probably gonna end up doing some shoe shopping at some point, cause my sneaks look like ass. I also may try to do some reading and some writing. Heck I may try to do some of that stuff outside, as I need to try to even out my trucker tan a little bit.

I'm also considering joining a gym, but I'm not sure that would be money well spent at this time. I mean I definitely need to be in the gym, but I'm not sure if I have the time, or rather if I will use the time I have to go to a gym. It's quite a difficult question.

Also have you noticed that NFL training camps are firing up? We are on the cusp of the season and ESPN is starting to give me the programming I want. Huzzah! We want a repeat! Woooo, we need a ring on the other hand now in Pittsburgh.

Unhappy, just as you were

Well I made it home. It was a grueling drive home, but I'm here. I'm just beat for some reason. My eyes felt all dried out and didn't want to open when I blinked. Work seemed to be going at half speed. I did use the time wisely tho, finishing Reading Lolita in Tehran and getting through a lot of Stranger Than Fiction as well.

Reading Lolita was really good. I've talked with friends in the past about having no idea how Islamic women survive. This book gave me an idea of what goes through some of their minds. I still can't claim to understand them completely, but then I really don't get the whole faith thing. That separates me from a far greater group than just Muslims. Still this book was inspirational and made me want to study more literature. I'd say it's filet mignon.

Driving home I was listening to Jane's Addiction's Ritual de lo Habitual album and it's still awesome. It's one of my all time favs. I have so many memories wrapped up in that album. My fav. song is Then She Did, which seems to me to be Perry Farrell remembering his mother and a lover that died. He paints a vivid picture in my head with his voice: nostalgic, loving and a little sad that they are gone. It is captivating.

only in a world this shitty

I'm kind of bored, listening to mediocre industrial music and debating between actually writing something and just futzing around on the internet for a while. Or maybe I'll do some reading. I dunno, I think I may try to write, that's why I'm here actually. So I can get past all the bullshit that normally crosses my mind when I sit down to write. So if I write something fantastic tonight this blog will be the equivalent of a singer hawking up a loogie before going onstage to perform. Woo, now that's painting pictures with writing there.

Anyway it was a slow day for me: lounged, read some fantasy football sites, played a litte Warcraft. I do have to mention that my love affair with WoW may be fading as I am approaching boredom whenever I log on. Too much of a good thing I suppose.

Trip and I grabbed dinner and then goofed off at his place for a bit. We played the demo for the new college football game and he beat me twice!?! His "chuck the ball deep" strategy offset his not knowing what an option play meant. I also played through the tutorial for The Battle for Middle Earth II on his XBox 360 and it wasn't bad. I don't know that I would really get into it, but as far as console RTS games go, it's decent.

Hmm the industrial music I'm listening to now, Funker Vogt, is much better. I've been finding some good music lately. Destroyer may be my favorite of those, tho. Anyway I'm off to do something, still not sure what.

Eighty degrees and I'm shivering?

Last night when I said I was cold, yeah, that turned out to mean I had a raging fever. I went into my (unairconditioned) room and got under my comforter and continued to shiver for most of the night. It was unpleasant. I have no idea what caused it and none of the other usual symptoms of a cold or whatnot showed up i.e. sore throat, upset stomach, etc. And today I have a minor ache in my back, but seem to have recovered.

Tell your gods to ready for blood

I'm feeling tired, but I can't go to sleep because I have to maintain my late night schedule. Don't want to be nodding off when I drive home at night, ya know. I thought I caught up on some sleep today, but apparently it wasn't enough.

I arose early (for me) yesterday because Mike and Shannon were in town and so I hooked up with them and we met Adam and Rachel in Roanoke for lunch, which was cool. I enjoyed myself, although I couldn't help but notice as we roamed the city streets that it was couple, couple and fat guy fifth wheel. I gotta do something about that, but I'm not really sure what.

Anyway on to other less depressing topics. Trip and I partook of some tasty seafood tonight and watched Deadwood. I know I talk about how great it is almost every week, but it really is that good. We also watched the Venture Bros., which I don't fear mentioning in the same breath as Deadwood. That's how good I think that show is, despite its animated nature.

I'm now reading Palahniuk's Stranger than Fiction and it's interesting. He knows where to go to find odd moments and knows how to make them work. His forward made me want to start writing more. By more I mean at all.

Oddly, I'm feeling cold. The AC isn't that low and I find it most peculiar.

The "liberal media" is a farce created by rightwing nutjobs

Well I continue to work loads and, as such, my blogging as suffered. I also spent my days off this week hanging out with Adam up in Roanoke. We had a good time talking fantasy football and arguing politics. I could ramble on about our disputes, but I shan't. Frankly I'm tired and the differences don't mean a lot, we're good friends despite is fascistic tendencies. (Heh.)

We saw the Pirates of the Carribean sequel, which was a fun movie. The action went a little over the top a coupla times, but it was all good fun. I was kinda bummed by the cliffhanger ending, guaranteeing a trilogy at the least, but I suppose I can stand to see a third one of those.

Japanese food calls out to me

Hmm what to tell and what to edit out... I'll start with Trip and my excursion to Roanoke on Thursday. It was ok, although Trip had been up on Tuesday with Kev and so shopping was a little strained as he was bored easily. I looked for a pay as you go cell phone option and was dissappointed with what I found. We ended the trip by having some dinner with Kevin, Courtney and Eve at a nice Japanese restaurant. I got too much tempura and won't make that mistake again, but it was nice. Eve was a little overactive, but she's two... that's how two-year-olds are, or so I'm told.

Trip and I grabbed some ice cream and then drove home and I crashed immediately, catching up on lots of lost sleep. Something I sorely needed to do. Since then I've worked mostly, with little else to report, other than my Jeep's rise from the dead and return to my driveway.

Well, actually today I did buy a new book, The Prose Edda as translated by Snorri Sturlson. It's Norse mythology, which I love. I bought it while killing time before work. I then picked up some Yakisoba and headed to work, where I read most of Jonathan Lethem's Fortress of Solitude. It's got amazing depth. It's about a white kid's youth in Brooklyn, growing up in a black neighborhood. I can relate to some of it, having been a white kid in a predominantly black area. Of course, Martinsville isn't Brooklyn by any stretch of the imagination, but there are still similarities.

Anyway my eyes grow heavy with the passing minutes and it's time for me to commune with my pillow.

The rockets red glare, the bombs bursting under the hood

Well it was a wonderful holiday for me. I had to work, so I roused myself and set forth at the appropriate time. I did have to make a pitstop when my water pump fell off my engine and a pulley flew out from under my Jeep in the Bassett Forks area. Yeah... that's a good time.

I had to call my folks, have them pick me up and then drive mom's car to work... late, of course. I then worked 11 hours and drove home to collapse. How's that for festive? I'm hoping the good part comes when I don't have to pay for the repairs since the engine was still under warrenty and those bastards are the ones who reattached the aforementioned water pump improperly.

I hope everyone else's Independence Day experience was less stressful than mine.

Haunted by the freakish size of Nancy Reagan's head

I, my friends, am tired. I have been working a ton and get to pull an overnight tonight. So Happy Fourth of July to me. I suppose it coulda been worse, I was going to have to do overnights all week, but that changed, thankfully.

The upside is, besides making overtime money, that I've been able to get a lot of reading done at work. I read Michael Chabon's Wonder Boys and it was really good. I'd seen the movie, but as usual the book was better. Chabon's got some nice technique. I'm sure people will be writing thesis papers about the symbolism of the tuba and Hannah Green's boots for years to come. I'd say this was a foot massage, with potential to move up after I've had time to reflect.

I also read two Augusten Burrough's books, Magical Thinking and Possible Side Effects. His stuff is incredibly funny. He has a great flair for picking the weird things in his life and making you laugh about them. I think I prefered Magical Thinking overall, but both were worth checking out.

I also got the new Mission of Burma album, The Obliterati, which is quite enjoyable for the knowledgable punk fan. The title of this post is stolen from the chorus of one of thier new songs.

Never was there a more feared grazing animal

I would like to unveil the name and logo of next season's Lucky Breaks League fantasy football champion, The Surly Caribou!

St. Elsewhere

Man I'm kinda beat. All this rain makes me wanna just sleep and, honestly, I haven't been doing a whole lot of it. I get a couple of days off now tho, at least. Of course, when I head back in on Friday it's gonna be for an 11 day stretch, with three of those being overnights. I'm probably gonna need to get a hotel room for those days... although, of course, those are right during the holiday. I imagine I'm gonna be completely beat.

Last night was a pain. All the flooding meant Emergency annoucements went out constantly and I just didn't wanna be there. I had this internal scream going all night long. That's where I'm acting normal, talking to people normally, etc., but inside all I can think is this scream that I want to leave. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Anyway, I'm hoping to watch some Deadwood tonight and the UFC thingie on Spike tomorrow. There may also be sushi in my future.

Ohhh, a Jeep update: a starter for a '95 Jeep Wrangler is roughly the size of my fist, but it costs an arm and leg. Thank you.

Suffering outweighs joy

Yesterday I arose fairly early (for me), showered, fixed my lunch and generally steeled myself for the workday. I managed to make it to the Jeep with all the things I need to carry with me (cd player, my aforementioned lunch, book, etc.) and head to work in a timely fashion. Sadly it was not to be, as my starter went from sounding bad the night before to completely dead.

So I tried to scramble to find a ride to work, calling my mom who was out shopping with Grandma. Of course, it took forever to get her and she was in Danville. By the time she got home and I drove to work in Roanoke I was three hours late, so that's fun. Ohh did I mention on the drive up there was a torrential downpour for like 3/4s of the ride? Oh yeah, it was fun.

Nacho Muerte

Saw Nacho Libre last night... it was bad, very bad. I was shocked with the badness. It tried to be quirky, but never got you involved. It tried to be funny, but never landed more than a minor chuckle. I'm sorry a guy with a Mexican accent is not a basis for an full length comedy. Even the wrestling matches were dull. I'm saying mudbutt.

After watching that turd, Trip and I at least could get the taste of it out of our mouths with the deliciousness of Deadwood. Al Swearengen, you are a tasty treat. I can hardly wait for next week's episode where he has to get even with Hearst.

I'm actually looking forward to working this weekend because there are such good things on tv. Saturday the Ultimate Fighter 3 finale is on Spike. Also a new episode of the Venture Bros. drops on the Cartoon Network. It may take the sting out of work.

Win or lose, what's the difference?

Today had it all: a trip to the bookstore where I bought no books, a trip to the grocery store where I bought too much crap, work, reading and I was pulled by a cop just before making it home. Fun huh.

The cop thing was really no big deal, I have a headlight out. Which sucks since I replaced both lights like 3 months ago...maybe a little longer. It was odd since the drive home tonight seemed really uneventful up to that moment. He did the cop thing where he rode right up on my bumper for a while to see if I would speed, but only cops do that so I always slow down. But now I get to replace a headlight... it's always something.

I read Nick Hornby's The Polysyllabic Spree, which was alright (+1 chainmail all told). It's a collection of columns he wrote about his book buying and his book reading over the course of a year essentially. It had some cool moments, but his reading habits and mine are completely different i.e. he reads a lot less tripe. Well, he reads a different kind of tripe. I tend toward escapist fiction and he seems to mix in a lot of classics and literary biographies. Both really kind of marginalize who you can talk to about em, but it seems a lot cooler when you don't have a big dragon on the cover of your book.

Sushi and science

It's been a good weekend for me. Watched Deadwood again Tuesday, cause you can't ever see it too much. Wednesday I spent the entire day playing WoW and watching the Venture Brothers. Man you gotta see that show, it's incredibly awesome. The new season comes on the 25th and I can't wait. It's hard to describe why it's good. It's well written, the voice acting is great and it just sideswipes you with these great lines. Ok, it's not so hard to describe why it's so good.

Today Trip and I snagged some sweet, sweet sushi. I even managed to regulate my order so I didn't feel bloated when we left. Of course, we stopped for ice cream twice after that (at my behest). I wanted that mini-banana split I'd seen advertised by Sonic. Yeah... it's really mini.

After we got back to Trip's pad, he wanted to take part in some serious scientific research. Yup, we put Mentos in Diet Coke (actually, diet Big K cause it's much cheaper) and tried to get it to liftoff. We had one decent move and lots of aborted attempts. I also pulled something in my shoudler trying to slam a two liter against the ground... There can be no doubt that we're retarded.

I'm listening to this band Destroyer that has kind of a mellow plugged in Dylan sound. It's quite good.

Everyone is trying to bum me out

So yeah, I get to work this afternoon and see the bad news. Ben Roethlisberger, the QB that lead the Steelers to the Super Bowl win last season, has had a motorcycle crash and is in serious condition. Man does that suck. I'm glad the news is that he isn't hurt critically and I they mentioned on ESPN that it's probably only gonna take him out for 7 weeks or so, but man it sucks. That could be the season gone. I wasn't going to predict a repeat or anything crazy, but with Roethlisberger at the helm we can win any game. Without him, that's not really the case. So for both his sake and for the sake of the Steelers I'm hoping he has a speedy recovery.

Anyway, in non-football life things are going... well they are going. That's about it. My work weekend went ok, aside from a motherfucker of a storm on Sunday. I sweated out the last 15-20 minutes or so keeping the power up by strength of will alone. Then I got to drive home in the pouring rain, which was fun. Sheets cascading against the Jeep and making it hard to see. Just before I hit Rocky Mount I pulled off the road as it got especially intense and I couldn't see more than a coupla feet in front of me driving 35mph. It took me a full hour and a half to get home.

On the up side, I did get to see Deadwood, cause it was a free HBO weekend for Cox Cable. Man I love that show and will probably watch it again tomorrow with Trip. Later on I watched Revenge of the Sith or whatever the final Star Wars movie is called. Man is it not good. I hadn't seen it since the theater, where the pretty effects take your mind off how horrible the dialog is, the wooden acting and the plot holes. Yesh.

Ohhh and Saturday, my slack work day, I read most of Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell and it is excellent. She has such an affinity for American history that I can't help but get pulled in by it. I still have a few more pages to finish it, but it's a definite foot massage rating. I need to re-read Take the Cannoli, one of her earlier works.

Also my love affair of the Cure's body of work has been rekindled and I've been listening to loads of their early works incessantly. That means more than just Disintegration on repeat when I get depressed.

Early=surly

So I survived my early morning work meeting. It was tough, but I managed. There were a few harrowing moments on the drive home where I felt consciousness being sapped from me, but I stuck it out. All in all it could have been a 15 minute meeting, but lasted 90 minutes. That's how meetings go though.

There has been a lot of contentious football talk in my comments the last coupla days. You can tell the urge to see some gridiron action is boiling over. I'll almost be sad when the preseason kicks into full gear tho, as it means the Steelers won't be champions anymore, just a 0-0 team looking to get back into the playoffs. Of course, I suppose it's better to be the champs than the chumps (a la every other team).