Tuesday:

List day.

Video games, cartoons, blue eyes, long legs, hairy spiders, the Beastie Boys,
drum n bass, veggie corndogs, muscle cars, cryptic command-line interfaces
understandable only by people who deserve to be paid lots of money,
Nutter Butter cookies (nutterbutter.com is not registered!), icicles, Bloody Marys,
peanut butter, Batman: The Animated Series, Civilization II, BeOS, pouty lips,
Ally McBeel, Ani DiFranco, red hair, soft skin, Indian food, big tattoos,
perky nipples, passionate feelings.

Categories
really old

Sunday/Monday:

Lately, I’ve been on this “isn’t it fun to talk about social gatherings?” kick. Today’s
no change. I went bowling at this place where this groovin’ band called
OOSoul (pronounced double-oh soul) was playing.
It’s hard to grab the attention of a bunch of bowlers intent on knocking a bunch of pins
down, but they did it. They’ve become a bit of a favorite of my circle of friends, and
if you live in LA, they’re worth checking it.

Bowling and Funk. That’s the way to live.

Sunday/Monday:

Today’s entry is a What if…? sort of beating. It really would be a bit of a beating
if this ever were to happen. What if the United States starting requiring
all citizens to fulfill some sort of football duty? You know, like how in
Ancient Sparta, everyone had to do some military duty? It’s true. They were very into
being tough and they were a military state, so everybody had to go through military
training, and also serve for a year or two. Crazy stuff.

So… I was thinking how much it would suck if everyone had to go through some
football training and then play for a couple of seasons to prove their devotion
to the country or something. Seems like a silly thought now, but just wait until it
happens. Who’ll be laughing then? Who else?… John Madden and OJ Simpson.

Categories
really old

Saturday:

I’m a bit annoyed that I actually seem to require a full night’s sleep at least 3 or so
out of every 7 nights or I end up a complete useless mess before too long. That may
seem like a weak beating topic to you tough biatches out there, but it affects my life.
There’s something about the feel of the music playing in the still of the house at 3am
that just motivates me to do things. That’s when I get my best writing done. That’s
when I reach my moments of clarity (relative clarity, alright?). It just sucks
to have that feeling that I really should get to bed so I won’t be too tired
at work in the morning. Who’s life am I living?

Anyway, I just end up tired at work. I still get stuff done, but boy do I get
grumpy occasionally. Oh well. I guess you all luck out, but now you know what I
go through.

Man, my life sucks…

How about yours?

Saturday:

One of the guys at work took some of us out to lunch on Friday to thank us for work
we had done to help him out in the past. It was a really nice gesture since we tend
to be the people who hear all the complaints and rarely get thanked. It was cool, too.
We got along pretty well, didn’t talk about work too much, and had some nice drinks.
It was at this little place near UCLA. It has a very UCLA sort of vibe. It was sort
of good ol’ fashioned American, with pictures of celebrities or sports heros or something,
wood bookshelves with American classics piled high, and a full bar in the middle
of the restaurant.

I had a pint of what was supposed to be pear cider, but we think may have been peach cider
or something. It tasted pretty good, and gave me a pretty nice buzz to take as a
souvenir back to work with me.

It was a nice highlight at the end of a hectic week.
Sometimes I think that’s what life’s all about. Those nice moments with friends are
what keeps the world truckin’ along. We all put up with everything that goes on
so we can just have some of those now and then. I think everyone wants more of those
moments, but eventually just settles for what they can get. That’s sad.

I am glad I have another moment to stow away in my collection of fond memories, though.
Thanks, all.

Categories
really old

Friday:

Today, while I was filling up with gas, a little hispanic boy, probably about 11,
came up to me saying he was in some organization called Future Leaders of America
or something, and as one of those he said no to drugs and gangs and stuff. As
part of the activities of the organization, he was trying to sell some stuff to
get enough points or whatever to win a trip to Raging Waters (the water park
featured in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure). That sounds cool, I thought.

“What are you selling?”

He quickly puts his white carrying box down and opens it up revealing a bunch of…
(how should I put it?) junk. He starts giving me the line on the candles, asking if I want
to smell them. I decline, and point to the big box of delicious gummy bears.

“How much for the gummy bears?”

“$6.”

“6 bucks? Woah…” I pause for a moment. “Ok. Give me the $6 gummy bears.”
It’s a pretty good cause, right? I’m helping out the little guy’s self confidence
and helping to keep the streets safe from thugs. That makes me feel good.

So I get in my car and drive off, my gas tank now full, and start opening the big box
of gummy bears. Inside I find a medium size bag of gummy bears, hardly filling a third
of the box. I pull out the bag, and it’s only half full.

I got jacked.

But I didn’t get jacked by the little boy. He’s trying to win a trip to Raging Waters.
I got jacked by the people who started the Future Leaders of America. They probably make
$5.50 profit on that $6 box of gummy bears. That’s pretty crummy, but on top of that
they make little kids do the footwork, and they reward them with something worth like
$30 (a trip to Raging Waters). I bet most of the kids work their butts off, and don’t
even get to go anywhere.

I’m so glad people like that exist in the world.

Good, old-fashioned ingenuity is what got America where it is today, and it’s what’s
gonna keep us here.
God bless us. Every one.

Friday:

Today, I went to lunch with a bunch of people. The place we went to was sort of busy,
and it took awhile for us to get our food so we talked about a lot of things before it
got there. Our discussion went from Cliff Hangers (those matchbox car type things
that drove up the wall) to RC cars to real cars to war machines and on and on. We were
having a good ol’ time. And then someone brought up the Discovery Channel. They
talked about some show about the history of model trains. Apparently it was sort of
boring, but both of them watched it anyway. We also talked about the Great Pyramids
and all the crazy facts associated with them.

I sure am glad there are so many fun things to talk about, or I would have had to endure
one boring, long wait for my food.

Categories
really old

Thursday:

Hectic work days suck ass. Suddenly everything needs to be done right this moment
and every person’s request is more important than everyone else’s and nothing is ever
done all the way, or so it seems because there are always 3 new things waiting to be done
in place of any one that you do check off the list.

And what makes that happen anyway? Sometimes a good couple of weeks go by where
everything goes pretty smoothly, and things are actually being accomplished and it
feels like maybe, finally, just once it might be true that all the planets are aligned
and all the tarot cards have fallen the right way and the fortune cookie has opened
with just the right crackle and life at work might actually be good. And then WHAM
one of those crappy days or two comes along and destroys all my faith in just about
everything I ever considered for a moment as significant.

and all I can say is… crummy.

Thursday:

I like dancing, and I like repetitious music with a lot of deep throbbing bass.
I like to be in a crowd of people with similar feelings about those two things,
sharing a moment or two and having fun. There’s no real reason why dancing (or moving
about in a sort of awkward, somewhat rythmic fashion, as in my case) should be fun.
But it is.

It’s fun to let that groove take you deeper into yourself or farther out in whatever
direction you’re heading. It’s something that’s not about sex or money. It won’t
make you rich or poor, but it might just make you smile or make a silly face.

There’s something about dancing to a beat that runs deep into our collective psyche.
It strings us together across the centuries and the
millennia.
And no one can take that away.
And that makes me happy.

Categories
really old

Wednesday:

I went to a major office superstore today to talk to a man there about business cards.
The man was very knowledgeable and gave me exactly the information I needed
in a very direct way. It was only my own infamiliarity with the subject matter
that caused me to ask him a couple more times. I like it when people have
exactly the information I need in exactly the format I need it. That makes me feel
good.

And then I decided to browse a little bit to see if anything caught my eye. My money
was burning a hole in my pocket the size of Montana. Strange as it may seem, I didn’t
really see anything I wanted to waste my money on. Oh well. I was starting to head
for the door when a largeish black woman in a bright red t-shirt emblazoned with the
insignia of said major office superstore asked me if I needed any help. I did indeed
look like I did. I sort of smiled wanly, and said, “Nah. I’m ok.”

She caught a glimpse
of my shiny self and said, “Well, look at you. What have you done to yourself?”

I gave her a friendly, I’m-innocent-and-dumb-leave-me-be look, hoping to disarm her, and
she just sort of smiled and looked me up and down.

I started to walk away and she noticed my nose was pierced
also (you can’t see it from the front), and she said, “You got it in your nose, too?”

“I got it all over.”

“All over, huh?”

I smiled, “I just don’t learn.”

She sort of grinned, and said, “If it feels good, do it.”

I smiled for real for the first time all day. “Yep.”

That woman really knows what she’s talking about. She had exactly the information
I needed in exactly the way I needed it, and I didn’t even have to ask.

Major office superstores are the bomb. Plain and simple.

Give me a shout!