January 4th thru the 10th, 2004

Then I went Tanning. Such bliss. No, really-- It is heavenly. I love that nearly-asleep state, in there were the hum of the fans all around me.

Next it was Costco to get a Thomas Guide, which is a kind of map in spiral book format of King and Snohomish counties. They probably have a version for your locale as well. I also got a new coat, because, basically, my other coats need to be washed since they stink like cigarette smoke from hanging out in bars and clubs. At Costco, by the way, they were selling the Kurt Cobain Journals. I don't know how I feel about that. Costco. Kurt Cobain... Also, while standing in line, a saw a woman who had purchased a slice of pizza while standing in line herself, and she was daubbing it with a napkin to leech some of the grease away. Uh, hello? If you didn't want grease, you shouldn't have bought pizza from Costco.

Then I went to Barnes & Noble to burn off a gift certificate. I got: The Dollhouse Murders by Thomas P. Mauriello, A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, Google for Dummies by Brad Hill, and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pool and Billiards by Ewa Mataya Laurance. I almost got Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale edited by James B. South, but decided to wait until my Buffy pals have time to read it too. Then McDonald's, cause, hey, I was in Lynwood.

Then home again for movies: Donnie Darko and Salaam Bombay! while eating Chinese Food from Mandarin Gate (even though they have a picture of the owner signing something with George Bush Senior.

Now, as for Donnie Darko, for those of you who have seen it, my explanation of the movie is as follows: Donnie dies when the engine crashes through his bedroom. But he dies alone. So, a loop in time is created, such that he is able to meet Gretchen. They share something, and so he is not alone, and then the loop closes, and he laughs-- the engine crashes through and he dies. A friend of mine has a different theory. She thinks that time travel happens, and as such it would create split or parallel realities-- and people with schizophrenia may not be disturbed, as such, but merely able to comprehend multiple realities simultaneously. Yet another friend has the theory that Donnie is a christ figure, who dies so that others may live... anyone else got their own theory?

Went and grabbed Bluttergloves off the Bainbride Island Ferry. Remember: Bluttergloves is a code name for someone.

Finally for today, a friend sent me The End of the World.

Had some dinner at The Sunlight Cafe and then bowled at Leilani.

Took my visitor over to see her friend at Hattie's Hat in Ballard.

Got a new book in the mail from friends in SF: Envisioning Information by Edward R. Tufte

Lots of snow.

I had to restore my PC to its original settings-- it was the only way to make the CD and DVD drives work again. Lots of little settings are now gone, and of course, I don't know how to restore them. I lost some programs as well-- a friend bought MS Office for herself, but let me install it first, and now that's gone (guess I'll have to pay the $200 for it). I lost MusicMatch, which was my chief MP3 tool. Yes, I know, cry me a river. I'll get over it.

Right now the most frustrating thing is the scroll wheel on my mouse. Its not as smooth as it used to be-- I have tried all the control panels I can find. Maybe I need to just get the damn wireless optical five-button mouse. I already have one on my other computer-- think the signals will cross? That would be weird.

Okay I fixed it.

Didn't go to coffee. Ran down to make sure no one was there. Watched Buffy and ate slices of pear on gargonzola and bagettes, and some cookies, and some wine, and did not come up with a plan to take over the world. But want to see my Homies?

Conejo, Placa, Teardrop, El Profe, Big Dopey, Peewee, Papichulo, Jokachild, Happy, AWB, Mad Bomber, Chuca, Schoolboy, Melón,
and way over on the right: Chilote

We lost power this morning at 5, so I finished The Dollhouse Murders. Then we got the power back about 5 hours later. Then lost it again, and now it's back. Oh what a crazy world this is.

Had a late lunch at Zao with some folkses. Returned some books to Barnes & Noble but I ain't tellin' which ones. Home again home again, then off to Target to buy a mess o' stuff: Orange Scented Pledge Wipes, some Swifter Dusters, a pair of scissors, a frame, a framed Vettriano print, some storage bins, a laundry basket, a whiteboard, a travel CD wallet, and a burrito supreme in the Taco Bell inside along with a Cherry Icee. Then back home to do some dusting, vacuuming, drinking of the port, watching of the Buffy.

Finally, downloaded and played the Ghost Masters demo and the Neighbor from Hell demo. Ghost Masters follows the tradition of Dungeon Keeper 2 (i.e. you're the bad guy), in that you bind various ghoulies to rooms in a house and try to scare everyone away. Sort of like the torture people make their Sims go through, but official. Neighbor from Hell is just a re-working of that old Spy Vs Spy game: you place traps and mess up your neighbor's stuff, so he gets mad, earning you points. Are either worth buying? Not really.

Next my guest drove over to Bainbridge Island while myself and Ballidosa went out for Sushi and Plum Wine at Chiso in Fremont, then back to my place to play with her Video Camera, drink more plum wine, and eat chocolate pudding. My guest came back and we all watched some television till B left and I passed out on the couch. Not from drinking-- just a general kind of "it's late and I'm sleepy" sort of passed out.

So since that was a bust we went over to the Everett Mall. We ate at A&W. We wandered about. I found a copy of Carpe Jugulum at B. Dalton which was nice since none of the Barnes & Nobles in Seattle had a copy. You think those #$%^& at Harper Torch are coming out with a new saet of editions? Maybe. I better snatch up the rest while I can. We also went to the Wizards of the Coast and bought a few trinkets, as well as some comic book store where I bought a mess of Homies.

Back home again to change and then woosh, over to D5V's for some chicken and potatoes, and then they slapped eye-makeup on me and went to a goth club called Noc Noc. I love goth girls. They're so cute!