July 18, 2002

Passive Aggressive (Recovered from LiveJournal)

So a couple more days are in the hole. I've continued my trend of partaking in nothing of consequence, pretty well perfecting the art of being a recluse. I've fallen asleep six out of the last seven nights on the couch, watching Autumn play Final Fantasy IX, and the thought of doing the same tonight doesn't bother me in the least. I'm content, and my feet are unusually hot.

We showed my finalized design for the Hurricane Rita site to the clients, and they seemed pleased with it. They didn't instantly leap from their chairs and do a backflip, but they didn't want anything changed, either. I finished up the page assets today, and started a little premature integrating. Hoo hah.

Eric, Brian and I got on the topic of Eunuchs today at work, as Ray's dog was gone to the vet all day, having his manhood permanently altered. Neither of them knew what one was, so I educated them in a field I'm sure they'd have rather left unexplored. When Ray returned from the bathroom, Brian asked him if he knew what a Eunuch was, to which Ray responded "Yeah. That's when the guy gets the head of his penis cut off, and they sew it back onto the base..." which drew bewildered glares from the three of us. He insisted he'd read all about this practice at www.eunuch.com, and I quickly typed the link in before really thinking it through. The image that greeted me was not a pretty one...

So that was another rough day at work. Ray and I would usually be meeting tomorrow at Barnes and Noble to have our Creative Research time (which consists of leafing through the design section for three hours, chatting about a loosely based topic), but I'm not sure he'll remember. Time will tell.

We had practice tonight, the first since our last show. Scott wasn't there, and we didn't get started until 8, so there was only so much we could do. Joe was determined to figure out "And She Was..." by the Talking Heads, so about half an hour was wasted while we tried to get the guitar part down. I'm personally not too excited about doing another 80s cover, but whatever... we'll find some way to have fun with it. I get the feeling I should come up with a song...

On my way to the casa del Saltay, I drove straight through this tremendous lightning storm. It was really odd, the bolts were almost pure white, and struck extremely quickly after one another. The sky was this sick yellow shade. I love watching storms, so I shut off the stereo entirely and just listened to the outdoors for a while

posted by drqshadow at 10:32 PM 0 comments

July 14, 2002

Waste of a Day (Recovered from LiveJournal)

Sometimes it just feels good to have a couple days of absolute nothing, which is what yesterday was, and today is likely to be. I've climbed out of bed before 10 for two days running now, which has me feeling more like my mom every day... strange. Well, that's not entirely accurate. Yesterday I rolled out of the bed only to turn on the TV and Super Nintendo, before I climbed back in with a controller in hand and pounded away at Final Fantasy. If I were Autumn, I'd have probably been annoyed.

She spent something like 6 hours in front of the big screen, playing FFIX. Meanwhile, I showered after I'd grown tired of the SNES, andsat down in front of this machine to do something I should've done months ago; started redesigning my web site. I've still got some navigation issues to sort out, but the basic design is right there. I'm going very plain, and trying to do more with type than I had in the past. It's a pretty strict black, grey and white design, aside from the photos, which are meant to be the first thing you see. So, I think I've been successful in that aspect; if you see a page full of grey, with one full color image in the center, that's the first place you're gonna look.

I'm also feeling giddy like a little girl with a red bow, because I did the whole thing in raw HTML, so I have a lot more flexibility than I did with Dreamweaver and I know the thing through and through. I've also made it extremely easy to update, which will (hopefully) lead to more frequent additions from yours truly. Don't cross your fingers.

It's funny, I was just thinking (as I fed the cats, to the tune of Heshi's extremely demanding, high pitched granny screams) about how these really are the best days of my life. They tell you high school and the years before are, but that's a load of horseshit. I think, so long as you're with someone you like sharing your time with, and you're doing something you enjoy, there's no time better than now. Yeah, and that's not just a freak natural occurrance, either. Maybe things are too good. Maybe I should be storing things away in my cheek pouches, anticipating that rainy day which is surely over the horizon. Maybe I'm too pessimistic. Regardless, life is really good right now and I'm happier than I've ever been. Money is not an issue, as we're able to make all the ends meet, and my debt is minimal; something like $450 on my Circuit City card, from the TV. I've completely paid off my $1200 debt to Mastercard. Once I get home, I have no pre-assigned duties, such as homework, chores, etc... though I manage to find some for myself anyway, in the form of freelance design. I'm spending my days with the woman I love with all my heart, and for once I'm not pessimistic, I think the feeling is mutual. I'm healthy. I have two cats who keep me entertained.

God, I hope this doesn't come crashing down.

posted by drqshadow at 9:57 AM 0 comments

July 12, 2002

Back in the Saddle? (Recovered from LiveJournal)

Looks like I'm back in one of my momentary "update LiveJournal daily, even if there's nothing notable to mention" moods. Let's see if this one last longer than 4 days.. it would be some sort of personal best.

I've been growing the full beard back again. It's at the point now where the moustache almost works, and I've gone too long without shaving my neck, so it's all itchy and annoying and stuff. Is there a stage of life where you get tired of shaving and wish your facial hair would just stop? Because I'm at that stage right now.

Work today was pretty solid. I feel like I'm dragging my feet with this design, the first I've had almost complete control over, but there really isn't anything else for me to be working on, so my worries are pretty unjustified. I'm putting together a page layout for "Hurricane Rita", a unique gift shop / tacky tourist store on Siesta Key, but remain determined to keep it from getting too hokey. Actually, where I'm at right now is much better than I figured I would be. I've got a 'used item' sort of feel going, with a ratty old brown paper background, and an almost Art Nouveau linework going on around the content. I've also brought in some stamps from early 1900's passports, which I found on the web, and I've incorporated their absolutely abysmal logo into the whole mess. It's a start.

This morning we had our 'weekly creative meeting', which actually usually works out to a 'bi-weekly creative meeting', since something always manages to get in the way every other week. For the first time, Jeff, the prof from Ringling we've been paying on a freelance basis, joined Ray and I to chat about fonts and type. I thought it was a lot of fun, though more often than not I just sat back and absorbed what he was saying. There's so much I could learn from somebody who's been out there like he has, but I'm afraid he's headed back to his job at the school after the summer, and that'll probably be the last I see of him. Maybe I should sit down and read that book on typography Autumn bought all those months ago...

Speaking of which, she's playing Final Fantasy IX again, with a renewed vigor. I find unspeakable humor in the way people react when a game treats them unfairly. More often than not, she'll dub the machine a "piece of shit," even if she's won. If it's particularly cheap, it's an "f'ing piece of shit." It's something we all do, but it's really, really funny to watch. Especially if you're not the one doing all the shouting. I wish sometimes I'd set up a video camera in front of the tv, to record all the stupid phrases I've recited at the screen...

Maybe that would be a good project for a documentary. Or just an installation... heh

Came home, and played some Final Fantasy VI on the old SNES. Starting to fall back into that one, and realize why it's still my favorite. I'm extremely grateful Autumn bought it for me, and gave it to me early for my birthday. I love that woman. Why haven't I asked her to marry me yet?

Time to go fall asleep on the couch, beside the soothing mantra of "piece of shit." It's like a ritual now.

posted by drqshadow at 10:28 PM 0 comments

July 11, 2002

The Best Intentions (Recovered from LiveJournal)

Honestly, I didn't mean the words of my last post to be so cryptic. "Here's hoping I make another appearance sometime within the next few months..?" Man, I had to know with that kind of buildup, it'd be ages before I updated again. What a tool I am.

So I've done it again. Really. I quit that new job, less than a month in, after rumors of the department's demise became too much to bear. Fortunately enough, I had another one lined right up, and I slid in perfectly. I'm now working at GravityFree, a web design / information management / ecommerce / web hosting house. And I've never been so happy in my entire life. Everything is great, from my coworkers to the office to the pay to the location to my position. I'm classified as the 'Senior Designer', a title which I'm very, very fond of, but probably don't deserve. Put simply, I'm "the graphics guy", though I'm doing more coding than I am Photoshopping. I've learned more about HTML in the almost two months I've been here than I had in the last two years. It's unreal.

So that's work. We did wind up picking up a new kitty at the Humane Society, a black little skin-and-bones girl cat, the same age as Barry. We dubbed her "Tiger Bot Hesh", which was shortened to "T. Hesh" on her name tag for obvious reasons. Now we just call her "Heshi". The name, if you're not familiar, is from an episode of SeaLab 2021. Which means both of our cats are named after obscure television programs with cult followings. Tell me about it.

The band is doing extremely well, as we'll be playing a side stage on the four Florida Warped Tour stops. The drive will be hell, but I'm giddy like a little schoolgirl about the possibility of playing a short tour, indirectly or no, with Reel Big Fish, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Five Iron Frenzy, etc... This will be a good time.

And, I bought a PS2. I'd been promising myself for months that as soon as the price dropped, it would be mine. And so it came to pass. It's everything I imagined it might have been and more. Final Fantasy X is absolutely unbelievable. Really. Words can not do it justice.

Life is good, I'll be 23 in another 16 days, I've a trip to Indianapolis lined up that same week, and work rules. Yes sir... let's hope my luck holds.

posted by drqshadow at 6:47 PM 0 comments

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