Yes.
EDIT: The post was supposed to evoke similar thoughts and emotions as the “Rosebud.” post did. Apparently, because fewer people have seen Meet Joe Black then have seen Citizen Kane, the effect on the general public was less intense.
In other news, I await the moment of truth, hearing only the Sound of Silence.
EDIT 2: Initial favorable responce.
And I was having such a good time too. Well, almost. Actually, I was fed up with work. So I had Wednesday and Thursday off. The plan was to go to Tennessee to get the hell outta Dodge. It was so bad Tuesday night that I nearly walked away from that four letter word the begins with a “w”.
Woke late Wednesday. Called my A/V buddy in Cullman to see if he wanted to get together that evening for dinner. He said he’d have to check and see if there were plans for that night because there was something slated for either Wednesday night or Thursday night. Turns out it was slated for Wednesday. I then planned to go to Tennessee that afternoon/evening and be in Cullman for dinner Thursday with said A/V buddy.
Called around to find a travel buddy. After much labor, I succeeded. However there was a caveat: I’d have to wait until he got off of work that night. Ok, cool. So I called up Beth. She was babysitting the lab. I made the forty-five minute drive. We watched several episodes of American Dad, shot the shit, and just caught up, it’d been so long. John called. He was on his way with food. Graciously, he not only picked something up for me, but covered for me too. Thank you John. It was a good getaway. A slow start to the time off, but a start nevertheless.
Ran by travel buddy’s work place on the return leg from Athens. Chatted for the remaining minutes that his place of work was open. (He was the closing manager.) He said he’d call when he was home and ready to go. Ok kewl. Well, the time came and went, and 2.5 hours later, he phones to inform me that he can no longer make the trip due to circumstances blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
This was upsetting. So I spent day 1 of 2.5 in the apartment. Direct opposite of plans. And now I had no travel buddy. Stayed up to the wee hours of the morning talking to an on-line acquaintance.
Awoke to harsh rapping on my door circa 1130. It was my best friend whom I hadn’t heard from in several months. As usual with our little meetings, there was nothing to catch up on personally from either of us, although he did say there was a rumor that a mutual, in-the-past friend had pulled a shock and awe by finally getting married to the guy she had been engaged to for several years. This, of course, like the rest of the relationship, was much to her parent’s disapproval. I was vindicated today by an undisclosed source that casually mentioned that she always thought that her parents were trying to set me up with her. I know that once upon a time she was thinking about it because of a conversation we had, but somehow I managed to fuck it up. Perhaps that was due to my expression of my low self-opinion because I was not anything great at the time. Too bad. She was hot.
Well, whilst my best friend was here, I get a call from the A/V buddy. Tonight is no good either due to other plans. Well shit! So now there’s no Tennessee, and Cullman cancelled twice. However, he did make mention of the fact that there was a group going to see the midnight showing of X-Men 3 in Cullman tonight (Thursday night). Now, I have no desire to see this movie. But my best friend is supposedly going, so…
Best friend goes with me to run a few errands and then leaves. Clearly, I’m upset. In fact, I almost went to LA and said “fuck it all.” Damned car payments. As he was leaving I said “I’m tempted to follow you down.” He said I could. However, this wouldn’t have been prudent because his family now hates me (and they used to be a second family to me. My, how times have changed!) but more importantly, Miss Right, let’s not forget is his older sister on whom I’d had a crush for eight years .
Call home. They’re taking my grandfather out for his birthday, but they would rather that I don’t come or spend the night. Ok. Fine. Come to find out, they’re going to eat where my best friend lives. (an hour and a half’s drive) They say I can come if I really want. (I was really feeling the need to get the fuck outta Dodge by then.) So I call him up and see if he wants to meet me at the restaurant. He says no, he needs to get some work done before the film.
I call the A/V buddy in Cullman to see just dinner would fit his schedule. He’s tempted, but he says no. Also, the coordinator for the movie event decided at the last minute to go watch it in Trussville, nearly two hours away. A/V buddy says he isn’t going. Call my best friend back and he says he’s debating going. Call the family back and tell them that I’m not coming.
Call around town to find someone to go have dinner with. After a 1.5 hour search, I find no one. So I go to the Grill by myself. Immediately, I felt like I was at home. It was calm; peaceful. Of course, the girl that I had the run around with (the one who took off to New York for a week after saying that she’d go out with me) was working there. I figured she’d go home for the summer. I don’t know what compelled me to do it, but I asked for an application and applied for day shift. The idea would be to work the Grill days and drive for Domino’s at night.
School isn’t looking too promising this fall. Can’t get a hold of my advisor, so I can’t get the classes I have picked out. Need to re-work the schedule tomorrow and see if I can fill their time block. If so, I’ll go ahead and try to get the money to the school and the school to give it to me. If not, I won’t bother with the money and sit another one out.
Decide to take up Howton’s recommendation of Lord of War. The disc I rented froze and froze and froze. Swapped it and the new disc did the same thing. It finally settled down, but I can’t give the movie a good review because of the shitty viewing.
Downloaded a few Sinatra songs. When I hear Frank’s music, I think of the tables on the floor of the stock exchange in the Towers being pushed out of the way at closing bell and the floor becoming a dance floor. Men in tuxes, women in lovely dresses. White gloves, fine wine, slow dancing, well-behaved evenings. Romantic. Something I dream of, but will never be able to take part in.
I know I’m overtly depressed now. I’ve started playing Christmas music. This year will be no better then any of the others. If only I had someone to come home to…
Offical Site featuring the real men
Quote from the IMBD boards:
I don’t see why people would pay money to go see Jesus die, but they won’t pay money to see two heroes live.
Folks, I just don’t get it. The country has utterly gone mad! And it’s not just limited to politicians either. Right in the middle of this whole–and when you step back and look at the debate objectively–utterly stupid and baseless debate on illegal immigrants we’ve got the Religious Right chiming in with their two cents worth. And to top it off, they’re agreeing and aligning themselves with the terrorist!
That’s right. Our old buddy Josh Harris of I Kissed Dating Goodbye notoriety is back. He’s back, and he’s got lots to say that make you question what planet he’s living on. I mean seriously folks, you gotta love just how out of touch he is with reality. And this is the guy who was telling us that we should keep our pants on just a few short years ago.
There’s so much gobbledygook in this I don’t know where to begin. And this is what I don’t get: here you have a guy who got rich because when he was a horny teen, he wrote a couple of books and did some talks on sex and love and marriage. That turned into to a multi-million dollar moneymaker for him and his publisher and sponsors. But now that he’s reached the top and has (at least what he thinks to be) a bully pulpit, all the sudden he bashes and trashes the very vehicles that made him famous. It’s the most astounding thing. Josh, let me give you some advice: don’t bite the hand that feeds you, even if it’s already fed you.
Yannow, this–and this is why it irks me so much to see him do this–this reminds me of all those holier-than-thou America is evil tele-evangelists. You know the ones. “America is bad. America is evil. America is the one that is causing the most pollution when they are only 5% of the world’s population. They’re using up all the oil. They’re colonizing with the Great White Evil (American Armed Forces). Capitalism is evil. America’s economy is evil.” All those sycophants who, at the end of that tirade say, “Now by my book/video/propaganda.” and make millions off of taxpayers who go out there every day and make this country work by virtue of getting up and doing their jobs on a daily basis, but who have been made to feel guilty by this utter baseless rhetoric.
You know something? You wanna know why we had so many heroes come out of World War II? Because back then we don’t go around with the mindset of “Hey. I think I’ll go out and save someone today” or “I’m gonna be a hero today.” No. It was just ordinary Americans–people like you and me–who got up each and every day and worked their hardest to make their lives better, to make their family’s life better. Just a bunch of ordinary people who rose to the call of duty, whether it be home or abroad. They wern’t seeking fame or medals. They were just going about business as usual. Well, as usual as it can be during a time of war. Especially that war.
But I’m getting all ahead of myself here. I’m even arguing the wrong point. I’m going to try rake myself over the coals going over this senseless prattle point by point.
The media never try to reason with us. Instead, they seek a hard-wire connection straight into the emotions. Why offer some lame, tortured argument in favor of immorality when you can simply show slow-motion close-ups of beautiful people bathed in soft lighting and romantic music? Painful consequences of sin? Where?!
Most of us recognize the danger of exposing ourselves to sinful content, so we tend to set arbitrary limits based on how much we think we can “handle.” When a movie or TV show presents us with mild or infrequent profanity, an occasional adulterous affair, or a limited amount of gratuitous violence, we sort of weigh the danger level. We act as if we each have a “sin threshold” beyond which we dare not go. We might as well ask how much of a poison pill we can swallow before it kills us.
Does anyone really believe that if I disapprove of the sin I’m watching, or roll my eyes and mutter about Hollywood’s wickedness, or fast-forward through the really bad parts, my soul is not affected? Yeah, sure — and if you don’t actually like chocolate cake, eating it won’t add to your waistline.
Ok. So Harris at least got it right about the media not reasoning with us and going straight to the emotions. Just like a broken clock is right twice a day, he too stumbled upon the truth. But, and here’s the point: he’s acting like what goes on inside the TV somehow has a disconnect with real life. That “the evil media”–the people that helped him make his millions and gain popularity– is trying to create bigger and badder shows in order to get more people to emulate them rather than try to emulate real life. Now I know that there are some things out there that just don’t occur in real life. Star Trek comes to mind. But even so, when you look at the vast majority of product out there being offered by Hollywood, most of it are just ordinarily people doing extraordinary things.
In fact I’ve got an article that attempts to prove the exact opposite point citing the Sopranos as an example.
It’s this idea that somehow we’re too stupid to figure things out that bugs me. That we’re all just mind-numbed robots or numbskulls full of mush and need to be told what to do. Or that because we’re too stupid or immature or because we didn’t write a best-selling book that’s anti-dating and discourages sex that we can’t figure it out or discern for ourselves what is and isn’t appropriate for our households.
The psychobabble continues:
So, even after you have made your best biblical judgment about a book, movie, TV show, or something else, don’t revert to the passive mode. If something offends, be willing to turn off the set, stop reading, or leave the theater. Always be ready to refute the false ideas or unbiblical thinking that will nearly always be present to one degree or another.
Should we watch less television? Go to fewer movies? Spend less time online? It’s easy to relate to TV and movie viewing as if a certain amount of it is some kind of right or necessity.
Well shazam! Hubba! Hubba! I mean, this guy’s drank the Kool-Aid and got off the reservation. Now, because you don’t know what is or isn’t good for you, because you’re to dumb or stupid to figure it out, we gotta turn it all off. That’s right: we can’t blog because we don’t know how to defend what we believe. We can’t watch TV because there’s too much bad stuff on the boob tube. Can’t read the newspaper because only the bad news gets reported. This is absurd!
I mean, hell, he might as well come out and say “We can’t watch footage of 9/11 because it’s too violent and graphic and scary.” Need I remind you that we are a picture-oriented society? Why is it that people were so involved with WWII? Because they weren’t allowed to forget what was going on. The Hollywood elite supported the war and even went overseas to boast the moral of the troops. But now, we can’t see footage of the brutal attacks that occurred on our own soil because it’s too graphic? Because it’d be to painful to the families who lost loved ones during the despicable atrocity? And then we wonder why we don’t hear of any progress in Iraq and why people think that we’ve been over there too long already? For crying out loud people, we’re still in Germany!
But oh no! We can’t have any of that being piped into our living rooms because it might influence the children. It might actually make people get upset. It might actually stir the nation to action and put vigor in the cause. We can’t have that because it’d just lead to more colonizing by the Great White Evil. It’s utter and total garbage! Yet, Harris is right and we’re wrong because he has experience. He’s heard from On High and written a book. *whispers forcefully* and he’s biting the hand that feeds him by saying that “the media” is to blame for the degenerates and dregs of society, nevermind that had it not been for the evil media, he wouldn’t have his bully pulpit to stand behind on top of his soap box.
I just want to point out one other thing here that bugs me about this tripe. Quoting Wayne Wilson, Harris says,
Theatergoing should not be something we do instead of playing miniature golf. Unlike putting, movies must be approached with extreme caution, as though one were treading into the domain of a deceitful and powerful enemy, for that is the truth of it. Critical faculties must be in full alert. Christians must never randomly patronize the theater. A film’s popularity should make no difference. You should be willing to remain ignorant of the “movie event of the year” if it violates God’s standard. Believe me, he is not impressed by the Academy Awards.
First of all, people go to the theater to be entertained just like they play miniature golf for entertainment. They’re both recreational. I don’t understand the whole Christians must never randomly patronize the theater. point because I thought Harris just preached that it was nigh sin to go to the theater (unless you’re going to go see some film that he supports and furthers his cause. Then, all of these tests and getting up and walk out goes straight out the window.) It’s this point of Believe me, [God] is not impressed by the Academy Awards.
I beg to differ on a number of different levels. First of all, movies are stories the people write, even if they are based on a true story. In order to have any kind of dynamic in a story, there must be a clear distinction between the good guys and the bad guys. It’s as I say, if you’re going to have a super hero, you must have a vile villain. We go to the theater to escape, to entertain thoughts of what if, to see that hey, if others can make a difference, then maybe I can too. But noooo, that’s just wrong, Why, we can’t do that! There too much profanity, to much gratuitous violence, or an occasional affair. All of which, I might add, can be found in your local church of choice. In most cases you don’t even have to dig that deep to find it.
The whole Academy Awards thing is senseless. God doesn’t care about them in the sense that in the broad scheme of things it doesn’t matter who wins or loses because life will go on, true. But I think that he very much cares about what mankind does to better himself.
You see, Mr. Harris, not all of us that work or dreams of working in Hollywood are degenerates who which to fore-feed the masses with our beliefs. Most of us just want to tell our stories, see visions come true and create new ways to communicate ideas. Some of us just want to have a good time in this life doing what others only dare to dream about but are too scared to actually get off their paperweights and do. Some of us just wish to raise our standard of living by bettering our fellow man by lucratively compensating him for taking the time out of his schedule to serve in an effort to make dreams come true and turn visions into realities. Because there is much financial gain involved, those who help us achieve our goals in turn raise their standard of living as they purchase the goods and services needed to maintain the new standard of living. And the cycle goes on and on and on. But you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?
Josh, I’m going to give you some advice because I know you’re not going to take it. The next time you want to make a point and persuade people to come to your side, don’t attempt to convert them by telling them they’re too dumb to “get it” because I guarantee it’s gonna backfire every time it’s tried. And every time you step into the arena of ideas to babble mindless prattle like you’ve done in your little column, I’ll be there to remind you that you don’t know what you’re talking about and that you’re the lightweight contender facing the heavyweight champion.
I think that my new blog update music shall be the Pretender’s My City was Gone. It’s upbeat and always makes me feel like I’m hosting a talk show. I’ve always wanted to do that, even if for a day. Hence, my reason to by this:
That’s what friends are for
So yesterday was my first day off in three and a half weeks. I almost didn’t know what to do with myself. Went putt-putt golfing with a buddy. Afterwards, we went to the mall and bumped into a mutual ex-coworker. Caught up on old times, had lots of inside jokes. My buddy for the day ran down the escalator that was going up while the rest of us were going down on the parallel escalator. It was totally out of character for him. We just about had to evacuate the building via assistance from the EMTs we were laughing so hard. Flirted with and asked out a drop down sexy girl at the mall. We’ll be back. Much fun at mall. Need to hang there more often.
Hung out there forever then went to Ruby Tuesday’s. Yet another mutual co-worker works there, but she was off that evening. However, we did have a sexy waitress. She’s from Puerto Rico and is an exotic dancer. I told her I’d come see her dance next time I was down that way.
Attempted to call my crackhead girlfriend last night. Got some guy named Holio Funtes or some shit like that. She’s probably playing a practical joke on me.
Talked to Howton last night too! Good times, all. Thanks for your continued support. It’s been a gas. Now all we need is the riot.
Chatted with Alanna, affectionately know to Tony as “emo girl”. I think much progress has been made and will continue to be made.
Ah the Internet! Where the men are men, the women are men, and the children are FBI agents.
I proposed marriage to a certain someone via AIM today. She replied favorably. Wedding plans to follow.
And that, boys and girls, is how we do that!
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, ‘press on’ has solved, and always will solve, the problems of the human race.
Greetings friends, conversationalists and music lovers all across the fruited plains! There’s so many ideas swimming around in my head and I don’t know where to start. I would talk about my crackhead girlfriend, but I’m afraid that if I do emotions will get heated.
Politics
Speaking of heated emotions, I want to come right out and prep everybody for what’s going to happen in the coming weeks and months. You know this is an election year, so of course, I’m getting back into politics. I won’t be able to comment on every issue because I have too many verbose thoughts on each. Because I can convey more substantive thoughts in 10 seconds then most people do in their entire life, it would take multitudes of beautiful, sexy secretary-types to transcribe it all. And you wouldn’t be able to get it all in over the course of one lifetime. So it’s better for both you and me this way. Suffice it to say that if I take the time to type out a 3000 word monologue, I feel pretty strongly about the subject.
Said that to say this: it’s time to run the disclaimer again just so no one gets offended. My blog is for me, by me, of me. That is, I write for my gratification and my gratification alone. If you like it fine. If you don’t, lump it. I’m not discouraging debate here. I’m merely saying that it’s of no use for you to start flaming. It will get you no where except thrown out of the arena of ideas. If you want to debate the issues, then by all means pull up a seat and chew the fat. But flaming will not be tolerated.
Balderdash
Let’s see…in 30 seconds or less, I’m going to talk to UAH tomorrow (Friday) and see what it’s gonna take to go back to the Universtiy of Ass Holes. I’ll probably wait around in line all day in order to ask two questions and then scurry off to work.
Speaking of work, I’m not liking how slow it is. No orders = no tips = people got to go home = no money. I confirmed that the resume was delivered for the DTP job, but I haven’t heard from them as of yet. Will keep you posted. If any of you know where a real job is that I can have, don’t hesitate to mention it. In fact, I might even offer a small stipend for acting as my personal manager.
I see traveling to a small town in the very near future…will let you know what happens here.
There is talk that Eclipse Kid and his girlfriend are going to the aquarium in (memory’s failing me at this late hour) Chattanooga(?), TN in the not so distant future. I’ve been invited to join. What fun!
Speaking of the the old boy he officially graduated today. I went to get a cake decorated and a video game that he wanted as a graduation present. Now of course, I waited until the last minute to do this. They’re still remodeling at the University Drive Walmart. Went there right before work. They didn’t have the game (because they didn’t have the shelves put up) and they said I had to give a 24-hour notice if I wanted a cake decorated.
Got off of work a touch early and went to the South Parkway Walmart. Originally I was thinking a red velvet cake, but I didn’t know how he’d like it. Both they and University were out. He called me from work (he decided he didn’t want to walk for his degree) and I told him that I had went to pick up the goods. Ironically, he asked for a red velvet cake. (Some one remind me to tell the story of red velvet cake someday.) I told him they were out. So I guess he thought that I wasn’t getting him anything to mark the occasion.
Well, I found at both locations a “confetti” cake. It’s a vanilla cake where the sprinkles are mixed into the batter. At 2330, the South Parkway Walmart, closed bakery not withstanding, decorated the cake for me. It said, Con “grad” ts Eclipse Kid. The first word was in brown on one line and the second on the bottom in red. Alas, we had no camera to manufacture moment memorabilia.
He came home and we chilled. And chilled and chilled and chilled. I was waiting on his girlfriend to come over. When she finally got here, I presented both to him. Apparently, he must not have expected anything because his face lit up like a kid at Christmas who got that toy they had been coveting for oh-so-long.
I now understand the true meaning of friendship and wish I had more of them.
Promises, Promises
I promised Howton that I’d have a specific post ready for him when he awoke. It will probably take me an hour or two, so I wont’ be getting around to it seeing as it is 0500 and I need much sleep before I have to be up to go to UAH and then work. Know that it’s on the way.
Afterthoughts
I wonder how Dad would feel if I took him golfing for Father’s Day. (He doesn’t play, though we tried to get an interest one summer. He just doesn’t make the time.) I wonder if his acceptance of the idea would change if he knew that I wanted to have a cigar on the course.
Would it bother any of you if I posted several times a day, or would you rather I just post once? Does length of post matter?
Ran into John and Beth at the mall the other day. They helped me select a blue-faced, silver rim and banded Relic watch. Kudos.
Open Forum
If you have an issue you’d like for me to address or a question you’d like to see answered, leave a comment on this post. Don’t hold your breath.
UPDATE:
Went to UAH this morning. Weird! I didn’t have problem one. The person I needed to speak with was taking walk-ins, and I didn’t have to wait. That’s strange. Furthermore, there was no hassle coming back. (I had been gone for just over a year and they had changed systems in that same time period, so I was expecting major problems.)
Coming back flawlessly scares me because I normally have to fight the system every semester. Maybe because I’ve put in enough time it’s all the sudden easier then it used to be. Hmmm.
It appeared that I had my old professor back in the fall. Alas, he’s moving to Athens State. 
He did say that he’d been asking around about me. That was…most unexpected. He was completing his doctorate when I left. I had taken two classes from him the semester I quit. Hated to let him down like that. But it’s nice to know that he was thinking about me. Maybe he did really mean what he said when he said that I was his favorite student. Let me tell you about him.
First of all, he’s a light heated guy. The first day of class he’d always put an “A” on the board and say, “This is your grade. You don’t have to worry about it if you’ll show me that you’re paying attention.” He’d then go on to describe his late policy.
I don’t accept late work. It isn’t fair to you and it isn’t fair to me. I teach three or four classes a semester and I’m working on my doctorate. I can’t keep up with it if it isn’t turned in on time. And it isn’t fair to the rest of the class if you can still get credit for not meeting the deadline that they had to. But…there’s an exception to every rule.
Several years ago, there was a kid in my class who tried to turn work in late. I told him, “Man, you know the late policy.” He said, “Yeah, I know, but I had to go up to Tennessee to get my parents out of jail.” So if you can beat that excuse, I’ll let you turn it in late.
I hate to see him go, but it’s better for him. Gonna miss him.
I signed up for tutors for the classes that were kicking my ass last time I was there. Also signed up to tutor some of the other subjects that I’ve enjoyed helping people with in the past.
I’ve got to send out emails getting authorization for classes and so forth. If I have time this afternoon, I’ll type up the afore-mentioned specific post. If not, tonight or tomorrow. Further thoughts to follow.
Further Thoughts
Ran into an old classmate that I never paid any attention to. Don’t want to date her or anything, but I’ve got a feeling that if I’ll just dress for school every day, I’ll be in low supply and high demand.
I recently made a purchase on Amazon for a used book. This is an email I received regarding that transaction:
Hi!
I mailed your item this past weekend, Fedex 2 day mail even though you requested standard shipping! So it should be there tomorrow (Tues.) Thanks for buying the Perl programming book!
J
My response
J,
Thank you for the exceptional customer service! 
However, since you’re shipping FedEx, it would have been nice to have provided a tracking number.
I will notify you the moment the book arrives. You are making me contemplate possible meanings the phrase, “It’s been a pleasure doing business with you”.
I’m imagining you as the following: a computer geek who believes in her work so much that she FedEx’s a book of knowledge to utilize the diminishing resource of time, providing the end user more of said resource to study and hopefully develop a worthwhile piece of software based on information in said book.
I’m considering asking you out for coffee provided 1) the conversation be the contents of the book or product development in the Perl programming language 2) the book be the centerpiece on the table.
LOL. Disregard any suspicious thoughts. This is simply my twisted way of saying “thank you” at 0400.
Thanx
ProfessorTom
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