May 1st thru the 7th, 2005Previous Week | Archive Index | Current Blog | Next Week Sunday May 1st, 2005, Ma+Pa's Anniversary Tranquil Sunday Maui Sweet Onion Potato Chips,
Baked Beans, those expansive-ass Andouille sausages cause I had buns leftover from the barbie. A girl at
the grocery store, who I saw from behind, from a distance, who was bent over looking at the bacon, a
tattoo on her back revealed, and me deciding how cute it would be if the check-out girl with the pretty
nose where to dress and be tattooed like that, and lo, on closer inspection, it was indeed that same girl.
Satisfying in it's own way. A Confederacy of Dunces and just lazing about. Other details that I
can't tell you about but suffice it to say they kept me at home. Eventually a walk, and then a 16 oz.
T-bone at Connie's Rimrock Steakhouse on Lake City Way. It was, in a word, amazing. Best steak I've had in
literally 13 years.
A Few Mysteries Laid Rest Bowling I have GOT to update these on a daily basis, and not try to go off of mere memory. The only thing I can even remember is the regularly scheduled events. Such as bowling. Today was the last day of the season, which is the party thing that happens to celebrate ourselves. a 9-pin-tap tournement. I bowled okay on the first game, but sorta gave up after that. Couldn't concentrate. Not that it matters, since my neighbor, who is also my teammate, bowled an 819 altogether. That's an average of 273 per game. Zoiks! Then the prizes-- our team was 4th overall, but I don't think they counted my bowling from the last week! Well, I'm not in it for the winning, so that's okay. When all was said and done, one of the other bowlers and I did the DDR think with an audience of ladies, some of whom couldn't take the geekeness and left halfway through. Ha! When I got home, I watched some Alias. Not much of an update, I know. Coffee  I have GOT to update these on a daily basis, and not try to go off of mere memory. The only thing I
can even remember is the regularly scheduled events. Such as coffee. I went early enough to have a
sandwich at Quizno's, and then a cookie all by lonesome at
Revolutions itself. Tow regulars were out for the night, but then another person showed up, and as we
chatted, who should walk in but one of the fetching baristas who used to work at the SBC where we used to meet before they shut the place down. And it
appears she works at Revolutions now. But not Tuesday nights. She saw me, remembered me, said my name, and
that's all I'm going to say on that subject. Mostly because that's all there is to say.Coffee eventually broke off, and then I went home and watched more Alias. Here is why I like DVDs so darn much-- On the one hand, I don't have to wait a week for the next episode. On the other hand, I can wait as long as I want to see the next episode. I don't always know when or if I'm going to be at home, and it's more convenient to have them pausible. And cheaper than Tivo. What this amounts to is the following: when I say that I am going to watch TV, it means that I have no idea what I'm going to be doing, or where I'm doing it. "I guess I'll be watching Alias" is my way of saying "I know I'll be busy, I just don't know with what." And while this might seem like I'm being a flake, it really means I'm being flexible with the already scheduled activities. Because setting a start time for something is simple. Setting an end time is next to impossible. I Guess I Am Not a Nice Man I have been making some people unhappy lately. Not a lot. But more than one. And not on purpose, of course, and not maliciously. I'm not going to rely on some excuse like the sometimes conflicting happenstances of life, but I'm not going to suggest I made huge errors, either. I'll stand by my words and actions, because to do less would be more hurtful, I think. I'm no capitulator. Maybe I'm just not a nice person afterall. I'm a bitter, broken, burnt-out old man who only cares about one thing: (insert something funny but accurate here. When I think of it. My God, and I really so passionless that I can't think of anything I actually like that isn't frivolous?) Here's a scary coincidence: as I was reasing an article about one man's experience with Distributed Denial of Service attacks (DDoS), my work PC started going kerflooey. My e-mail server started shooting craps, and when I called up tech-support, they said, which server you on? That one? Oh, yeah, looks like it's shooting craps. Try again in a few hours." A few hours??? Me without e-mail for a few hours is like going without oxygen for a few hours. I got deadlines! But eventually it did started working again. Anyhoo, go read that article I linked. It's fascinating.
The Drama of Junk Food But if you want to have some fun, as each other who you thought I meant when I said 'DramaQueen.' At any rate, in one message, DQ told us about a dream she had, then explained it away by saying maybe she had eaten too many Cheetos last week. So I replied as follows:
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Again Then I went home and watched the rest of that Tru Calling disc. And I slept on the couch, without a blanket! With the window open! I am so sparten! Thursday May 5th, 2005, Cinco de Mayo Mega Geek, At Your Service I have just set me alarm for 5:55 PM today. And you know I am
going to be watching that watch for 55 seconds. because today is 5/5/5! And Thursday is the 5th day of the
week! Holy smokes! Are 5's good? well... In terms of Numerology, my first name is a 5, and my entire name
is a 5. Keywords associated with 5 include: Expansiveness, vision, adventure, the constructive use of
freedom... doncha just love this sort of vague mumo-jumbo that can always apply to anyone? Who would
proudly insist that he or she is NOT expansive, has no vision, is afraid of adventure, wastes his or own
freedom? So why do I get all excited by some numerals on a watch? I don't know. Maybe I get so excited as
a kind a tribute to the raw purity of numbers, untainted in the least by real meaning or importance. On
the fifth day of the week my watch will read 5-5-5 5:55:55, and it means NOTHING, and that's beautiful.
Cinco de Mayo
Sounds like a good reason to party!
Stinko de Mayo I'm Not Smart Anymore  I know that presupposes that I was smart once. But I
was! Honest! And clever and knowledgable and all that stuff. But its all gone. I was fooled, twice, today.
Once over at Language Log-- they had a report
about how Conservatives are claiming that English was created by God in the 16th century specifically for
the purposed of translating the King James version of the bible. And I beleived it! The whole article was
just a spoof on the creationism-science debate still being waged in Kansas. The other thing that
fooled me was at Penny Arcade, wherein Tycho and Gabe told me
that one of their comic books had been optioned into a film... and I thought it was true.Oh well. Stupidy should be fun. I've wished for it, sometimes, which might be an arrogant thing to say, or an arrogant thing to have been having been said (yes, that's grammatically accurate-- the verb construction describes the case of my currently having said that if it were the case that I would be able to say it if I were not unable to, owing to my being stupid). Bliss, here I come!
Damn It Maybe It was a Lazy Saturday-- But That Doesn't Mean I'm Lazy...  Got up and had a piece of orange spice coffee cake with a pal at Cafe Europa in Capitol
Hill. The Madison side of the hill, actually. And a Mocha. Then I made my way to the U District to watch
The Parrots of Telegraph Hill. This is a film
made by friends of good friends of mine. I will honestly say that if it hadn't been a friend of a friend
situation, I would not have gone to see this film. But I am very glad I did. It's a compelling, touching
documentary about it's namesake and the man who studied these birds... I hesitate to say "care for," since
the parrots are, indeed, wild, but to merely say "studied" does not describe the deelpy personal
relationship he had with these birds. This is a classic documentary, in my opinion, because it does not
beg you to see it, does not promise to fix any problem, and if you DO see it, you will not have in the
least wasted your time. It was showing at the 7 Gables, a cute little indie
theater tucked away behind an Italian cafe. I've seen it before, of course, driving down Roosevelt, but I
now I think I will be compelled to return and see more indie films. Some of the previews looked promising,
including Saint Ralph and Howl's Moving Castle.
Over to the U Village for Barnes and Noble. I wandered a bit, listening to my iPod, and finally picked up
Jonathan Latham's As She Crawled Across
the Table. But I wanted some non fiction too, so I chose Freakonomics by super-economist
Steven D, Levitt and co-writer Stephen J. Dubner. Also espied, and decided why not, to Chuck Palahniuk's
Haunted. A friend of mine invited
me to some talk or something that Chuck will be doing later this month, and since I've read everything
else fictional by him, I thought this might be appropriate. Now, let's play a little game? I know said
friend reads this blog, and so if she promises not to mention that I have this book, I will give it to her
when I am done. For keeps! It's a sure thing if, in fact, she never reads this entry. Such larks! After I
bought the books at I had a cheeseburger at Johnny Rocket's, and then home to prepare for...
6 or So Minutes of Comedy at Daman's in Bellevue I did another of those "one long story" bits. I think what I might do is write it out in short-story format, embellish it a bit. At anyrate, then I went home, had some tea, and read from Freakonomics till I fell asleep. Previous Week | Archive Index | Current Blog | Next Week |
In nutshell, Cinco de Mayo is for Mexico what Agincourt
is for the English. Nearly. Fans of Henry V will recall how Hank decided to take France back for England
since it belonged to him, according to his scholars. So off he went, facing incredible odds, and finally,
in 1415, winning an impossible battle at Agincourt, thanks to a little something called the English Long
Bow, and to the massive arrogance of the French aristocracy, who refused to march behind each other,
making them tactically retarded. Hank took France, married the princess, put his son on the throne, and
all was well until Hank-6 lost France to Joan of Arc.
In Mexico in 1862 it was a matter of defense, not attack.
The French, English, and Spanish had landed to collect debts from the new Mexican government. The French
decided to stick around and take over for themselves. Their plan was to attack the capitol, but they hit a
snag on the way in the name of a small Mexican army near Puebla, led by General Zaragoza. Again, French
arrogance led them astray. Rather then stay with the army, their calvary split off to "take care of" the
Mexican calvary, and where slaughtered. The infantry tried to take on the remaining Mexican army, but
impossible field conditions (including stampeding cattle) made this supremely difficult. At battle's end,
a small Mexican force expelled a highly trained French army twice its size, and won the day. Some say that
because of this, Napolean III had to delay aiding American Confederates, allowing Union forces to build up
enough to end the American Civil War.