Earlier tonight, I pulled out my weathered old copy of MTV's Oddities, featuring The Maxx, and popped it into Autumn's horrifyingly bad TV / VCR combo. Though the tracking will never be right on this tape, for some god-forsaken reason, and the first episode is really disjointed and bad, I'd forgotten how cool and enthralling the rest of it was. I miss seeing regular stuff from Sam Kieth... he always had a style nobody else could even come close to mimicking, both with his art and his storytelling.
So yeah, I actually bought some comic books Thursday evening. It's been something like 4 months since I've had a chance to do that. I've been missing all the really cool things I spent the last year looking forward to. Hell, the sequel to the Dark Knight Returns is out. Spider-Man is fun to read again. Garth Ennis is on the Punisher.. still. I'm a dork!
I spent something like $30 on books, because the place I found (a brief HOUR away) didn't have a very wide selection. Still, it's better than the little booth in the flea market I visited with Joe and Autumn a long while back. We were in and out within about ten minutes.
I've also followed Autumn's lead and started posting at the Something Awful Forums again. I'm not as headfirst into the lunacy as she is once again, but it's nice to see a few familiar faces still hanging around there. I'll say three months from now she'll put up another "BAN ME" subject, saying goodbye forever.
I've basically been keeping busy with the Dentist's flash site and the Oratory redesign these last few days. Well, that and Tennis 2K2 on the Dreamcast. I've abandoned Vagrant Story for the moment, as it's being an ass. The woman and the kitty are starting to despise the opening chords of the Dreamcast anymore. It must sound like a couple guys going at it, with me doing the play by play.. there's so much grunting in that game, and my angry shouts have become so inventive and sexually explicit.
I go through about a CD a day in the car, and I'm starting to realize that some of the stuff I really enjoyed in high school is utter crap... in particular New Order. The tunes are still sweet, but man... those lyrics are godawful. I'd rather listen to Joy Division, when the music was nowhere near as honed and the vocals were terrible, but the lyrics are masterful. I think I'll pop that in tomorrow.
Watching That Bobbin' Head Bob... (Recovered from LiveJournal)
I've got this strange little bobbin' head dog, which Autumn gave me halfway through the move to Florida, sitting on top of my monitor. Whenever I move around too much while I'm typing, he nods knowingly in my direction. That, or his head just jiggles from side to side quickly. But it's mostly the nodding. I'd always thought these things were funny, ever since I passed a car on I-69 one day on a trip home from college. This car had a whole set of at least a half dozen bobbin' head dogs resting upon its dash. So it caught me by surprise when I glanced over as I drove past the driver's side window, and saw every single one of them looking at me, nodding in unison. I almost swerved off the road... comedy gold, my friends. Comedy gold..
Haven't updated the last few days, because it's been life as usual. I'm taking a rest from Vagrant Story in favor of my newest acquisition, Tennis 2K2 for my Dreamcast. The day before yesterday was home to more than a taste of controversy, though, as the TV commercial Joe and I were working on for Rocket Digital fell apart. Joe had attempted to contact Mark all morning long to reschedule their planned meeting that morning, and when it became obvious that Mark wasn't in the office he sent an e-mail. Not long after, Mark sent a nasty mail back, calling Joe "unprofessional" and letting us know he was going with Comcast to produce the ad. I'd expand, but I really wasn't there to see things firsthand.
I worked one of my longer shifts today, from 12-9:30, and I'm in tomorrow from 12-6:30. I'm looking forward to the early end to the day.
The Punchline also practiced Thursday Night, and composed a couple new songs. With Scott away at school, I finally got the chance to come up with a horn riff of my own for once. I was starting to feel completely useless, simply playing the parts that Scott had written and remaining out of the creative loop. The newest song is quite a departure from our other tracks, a lot more groove oriented and much slower than the rest of our set. I'm of the belief that it won't be a good live track, but I'm also in the minority on that one.
Watching Autumn Play Her Games With the Cat (Recovered from LiveJournal)
If my life were a history lesson, today would not be on the final. I rolled out of bed this morning and hit the snooze button for the first time in months. I never hit the snooze button.. but this morning I did. I think Autumn's constant use of it is finally beginning to rub off on me. That, or Barry's early "wake-up so you can feed me and play" call at about 6:45 ruined my night's sleep. Either way, I could not roll my way out from beneath the sheets when the alarm told me to initially. But I still managed to make it to work on time.
I worked an abbreviated schedule today, from 9:45-2, as I'd have gone overtime if I'd stayed any longer. And god knows Circuit City can't have that. I'd actually get written up if I went over 40 hours in one week... which pretty much shoots the entire meaning behind working overtime all to hell. Am I talking?
Anyhow, I ran a couple errands when I'd changed out of my combat gear, mailing my CD-RW drive off to the manufacturer and grabbing some packaging for Christmas gifts. That's right, Autumn and I have yet to send out our Christmas cards / presents. We're terrible friends. The entire afternoon was spent playing Vagrant Story, as was much of the evening. For a short while, I went to Joe's and met his new greyhound puppy, whose name I'm having trouble remembering. He was originally named Rouka, after a German Poet I've never heard of, but now he's named after a beatnik poet, whose name I'm amazed I can't remember. Shit.
Anyway, Joe's puppy was pretty cool. I'd forgotten how much I love dogs. Then again, I watched it piss on his carpet, so I'd also forgotten how much I love cats. Barry will sometimes dump in his litter box and kick so heavily the little turds wind up on the carpet, but at least he doesn't just do the deed on the floor right off the bat. Somehow, that makes it a little better.
Autumn brought ribs back from work today, which we devoured for supper. I never liked ribs before, but they were tasty tonight. Maybe my tastes are changing again.
Today was one of those worthless days I've been reading about so much lately. I've been perusing the ink-filled pages of my old journals from my Freshman year of college for the last few evenings, and laughing at what a gimp I was. Just about every entry had something about how I was "falling in love with Kate again" or how it was "another worthless day." I never realized what an obsessive little twerp I was. I'm surprised Kate and I are still good friends.. though we did talk quite a bit more often four years ago than we do today. I need to give her a call, as our close personal friendship is something I miss more an more every day. Have we outgrown our need for one another?
Anyway, yeah, it was a worthless day. A full day of hell behind the silver countertops of the Circuit City customer service desk. It was just Angel and I manning the returns / complaints counter, from 10AM to 9:30PM. Open to close. What a tortuous schedule. Tomorrow will be much shorter, as I must work from 10-2 to avoid going overtime for the week. I almost went two straight days without a break today, as the management team tried to tempt us with promises of free pizza, but Angel and I decided no amount of free food is worth an hour sitting on the couch at home. We took our breaks anyway. I don't think I'd have survived without it.
My feet are throbbing. I strongly dislike my current occupation.
I've also been having sets of strange nightmares lately, with one recurring several times over the last few weeks. I've dreamt I'm aboard one of the doomed flights on September 11th, only it's in the eveningtime, not the morning. I look out the window, and realize that we're flying very low above a vast city, and I already know I'm doomed. Somewhere, somebody screams, and all hell breaks loose. I somehow manage to catch a glimpse of the World Trade Center (though it's in front of us), and as we impact I wake up with my heart racing. I think it's got something to do with a story I read in the paper in the weeks after the tragedy. A widow of one of the victims recalled her last moments speaking with her husband, who was calling from his cel phone on one flight. He told her "I see buildings... my god, this is New York.." and then was gone.
It's funny, whenever I die in my dreams it's extremely settling and peaceful. I once dreamt I'd died in a tornado, and when I woke up I was actually disappointed to discover I was alive. Death was that warm, that inviting, that... perfect. My nightmares are doing their best to erase any sort of fear I might have of those final minutes.
Tomorrow looks to be a more eventful day than today. I'm off to bed, it's time to rest these bones.
Rolling Along in That Rut (Recovered from LiveJournal)
Life's just become this ongoing cycle, without the usual rest stops provided by weekends. I dislike having this constantly changing schedule at Circuit City, where I'll occasionally find myself in the middle of these week-long shifts without a day off. Because I'm a tool (or, as co-worker Michael "P.S." Haines puts it, a "toolshed"), I have yet to really complain. The hours are paying the bills and giving us breathing room on our credit debts, but they're just killing me when I get home.
Autumn and I have little or no social life, apart from going to work, coming home, eating something, playing with the cat, and falling asleep bathed in the blue glow of the television in bed. Sometimes we'll shake the schedule up with a little lovin' or a venture outside the cool cofines of the apartment, but rarely.
A couple days ago we did manage to make a successful venture into the outside world, when we visited the MOTE Marine Lab a little ways up US41. I'm generally not much for zoos, but this one was kept small enough to hold my attention. We didn't spend more than a couple hours there, which is all one can really hope to spend looking into little tanks of water. There was also, interestingly enough, a little 'petting zoo' section. I hung around the Sting Rays a bit, who were really excited to see people because I'm told they're hand fed. It's bizarre to see a Sting Ray splashing around in abundant happiness at the sight of a person. Really bizarre.
The other night, my uncle Jamie stopped by, as he was in the southern Florida area, and had a couple drinks at the homestead. We pretty much just hung around, drank a little, and watched television, though he did seem to fall in love with Sega Bass Fishing for the Dreamcast. Jamie's a cool guy.. I'm glad he's close enough to see more often.
I'm filling up my hard drive with stuff I want to put on CD, while I wait for the fools at EZQuest to decide why my brand new CD-RW drive won't power up anymore. I need to get that thing back before I fill up my hard drive, or my tower just decides it's high time for a crash.
I suppose that's plenty for today.. Adult Swim is on, and it's almost time for SeaLab: 2021. God, I love that show.
Getting Back to Basics (Recovered from LiveJournal)
Once again, I've ignored the livejournal for far too long. Life has taken a nosedive into that tempting little hole in the middle of the toilet during this last quarter of 2001, and is only now showing signs of letting up. First, and I suppose, most importantly, Mark decided that Joe and I, the two designers in his digital design firm, were expendable. So, after just two months of loyal service, I was left to fend for myself in a strange new Southern land. I've done my best to make do with what I've got, and haven't done TOO shoddy of a job at that. The first place I hit in my application whirlwind was Circuit City, and less than a week later I had a steady paycheck coming in. I'm doing the hellish work of a Customer Service Associate, handling all the angry customers and all the returns, but it's paying the bills and I get everything at store cost, so there's plenty of smiles to go around. When I first started working there, someone told me not to even start buying things at my company discount, because it's so addicting, and now I know exactly what he means. I got a Kenwood Home Theater system for about $100 off retail, and haven't really looked back. It's like nicotine, except I've never smoked so I really wouldn't know what nicotine is like.
Autumn's been doing well for herself. She worked as a production designer for about a month after I was laid off, until she too knew the sting of losing an opportunity to do what you like for money. She landed on her feet, though, and is now working at a retirement village, where she's recently been upgraded from dishwasher to cook. Which is good, because she loves to cook.
Barry is developing some character, and a very strange one at that. He managed to climb atop my five foot tall CD tower earlier today, and spent some of the afternoon attempting to climb my back while I struggled with and shouted at Vagrant Story on my Playstation. Sometimes he gets frightened of thin air, and poofs his tail out to enormous proportions. It's really something to behold. Autumn thinks he can see ghosts.
Our horrible neighbors were evicted for failing to pay their rent, which is great news for us. That means no more G n' Fn' R at about 3AM, unless I feel like belting one out with Axl myself. No replacements have moved in as of this writing. I want to live upstairs.
My Uncle Jamie will be visiting later this evening, which is always fun. He's my mother's youngest brother, and is great fun.
Here's hoping I can keep up with the Journal this time.
