Month: August 2007

  • Mr. Lonely

    Being lonely will lead you to do crazy things.

    Recently, some old friends have popped up on various blogs and my heart skipped a beat because for a split second I thought “maybe I could get together with X”. Bad idea. Out of all the girls I’m interested in, I think that only one cares. I know that there is someone out there that cares about me that I secretly think still has a bit of a crush on me but we’ve become good friends and that’s how it’s going to stay. I’m a fish and she’s a bird; where would we two live?

    Back to that in a bit.

    Work
    So this week has been one hell of a week. One of my coworkers who’s been at the company for over five years said that Wednesday was the heaviest call volume that he’d ever seen. It’s been nothing but tension, tension, tension at work. Bleh! For whatever reason, Friday was a lite day but I’ve got this foreboding feeling that this week will be just as tense.

    Part-time job
    The part-time delivery job has been nuts. I think that the one that I used to call the “little bitch manager” may have taken a bit of a liking to me. Maybe we’ve just opened up a bit to each other. I have no intention to go down that road, but it’d be interesting to see how that would play out.

    Someone got bitchy because they were driving slower then two turtles fucking in an area where not another car was on the road nor anyone out in their yards and decided to call back to the store and complain. Personally, I think that people that drive that slow in traffic don’t do it because they are concerned for anyone’s safety or wellbeing, I think they do it because it’s just another way to control and they think they can get away with it under the pretense of being a law abiding citizen that cares about safety. Fucking whores!

    To top it all off, I got a ticket last night. I won’t go into the details because it won’t make sense unless you know the patch of road, but the cop tried to say that I was guilty of reckless driving because I:

    • failed to stop at a red light (I made a right hand turn but apparently rolled through the light)

    • pulled out in front of someone (this did not occur)

    • cut across three lanes of traffic (I turned into the right hand lane. I had 100 feet to cross the left hand lane into the left hand turning signal)

    • turned without using a turn signal (which is optional, not mandatory)

    • speeding on the road I turned on (occurred, but I was on the road alone)

    I wound up with a ticket for turning without signaling but have a feeling he won’t turn it in. It never fails. It seems like I always get a ticket in the early fall.

    Of course, the most fucked up thing about all of this is the fact that Alabama just put 200 more Troopers on the road to “Take back Alabama roads” with a zero tolerance policy. Horseshit! They put 200 more cops on the road to harass otherwise law abiding citizens that are trying to get around to make a living. Someone should sue the State in a class action lawsuit. What this is really about is getting a pay raise since we here in Alabama will not vote for a tax increase and the bureaucrats won’t cut the fat. When I become President I propose to urge Congress to do the following:

    • eliminate speed related traffic laws on the basis that they are un-Constitutional because they impose on personal freedom, are only used to make money for the local municipalities, and (to a point) the faster a vehicle travels, the easier it is to maneuver. In fact, the driver’s manual specifically says that you should speed up when going around a curve because you will have better control of the vehicle should you have to perform evasive actions.

    • eliminate abortion clinics that are unsafe for women and have questionable record keeping practices by mandating that such operations can only be performed at a hospital by a certified OBYGN.

    • term limits for Congress.

    • have Senators be elected by the House of Representatives and have the House elected every four years such that their election would fall in the middle of the President’s term.

    • make the process to impeach and ultimately remove from office elected representatives that citizens grievances with much less cumbersome.

    • eliminate Social Security.

    • make all retirement plans tax free both when putting the money in and when taking it out.

    • eliminate any so-called “sin tax” as they un-Constitutionally and unfairly punish entrepreneurs based on their trade as well as the consumer of those goods and services.

    • implement the fair tax.

    I’ll stop here for the night. Next entry will be The Plans, Hopes and Dreams of a Upcoming Filmmaker.

  • Rachel Ray is Yum-o!

    All this posting about food has made me hungry, so I’m going to make a post about food. First of all, I did indeed get together with my aunt and uncle this weekend. Down in the ‘ham, we dined like royalty at the fish market. I had grilled shrimp, rainbow trout that was to die for, amberjack, fried pickles and a baked potato. Only the shrimp and the trout were devoured there at the establishment; the rest I took home to make everyone jealous at work on Monday when it came lunchtime; alas, that wasn’t to be in the cards: I didn’t have the opportunity to take lunch either Monday or Tuesday. I did, however, enjoy the rest of my Sunday dinner Monday night.

    While I was in the ‘ham, my uncle gave me a stern talking to and told me I was full of shit. He taught (taught is strong, rather he drove home) how to brainstorm, how to organize one’s thoughts and how to turn dreams into goals and then work towards them. I had to stop typing this post for an hour’s brainstorming session earlier.

    Back to the topic of food, I don’t know why but I got a real hankerin’ for roast beef this afternoon at work, so I went to Cracker Barrel for dinner. While I was there, I started thinking about how I could throw something in the crock pot for dinner the next evening and let whatever cook all night and all day on low. That way, when I got home from work, I’d have a meal ready to eat, I wouldn’t have to go anywhere and I could take the leftovers in to work the next day for lunch. Furthermore, I might even get the place smelling good if I cooked some good meals. Mostly, I’m tired of eating out.

    While I’m no follower of Rachel Ray, I think I might give this a go. So if any of you good kind heated folks have any crock pot recipes you want to bestow upon me, feel free to leave me a comment. Bonus points go out for picking a vegetable or two to go with it. I’m a meat and potatoes kind of guy, so this shouldn’t be too difficult. Maybe some day soon, I’ll move to a better apartment where I won’t be afraid to leave personal effects out on the porch. When that day comes, I’ll buy a grill and then I could grill fish to boot!

    P. S. Anyone who can find a poster of for me to hang in my kitchen and look at while I’m cooking will get a finder’s fee upon delivery of the goods.

    EDIT: All you sick fuckers that come here just for Rachel Ray’s picture without leaving me a comment can burn in hell. Xanga allows for anonymous comments, fuckers!

  • Birthday Post, Part 2

    Thursdays I work both jobs. I came home from the 8-5, changed and went to my other job. When I got back, my hot water heater had rusted through on the bottom flooding my studio apartment. (For those of you from California, a studio apartment is an apartment that only has one room.)

    I remember talking about how old hot water heaters get sediments in the bottom. I had told the office a couple of months ago that I was getting rust coloration when I ran the hot water, but all they did was replace the thermostat. For some reason I knew subconsciously that this was coming because I remembered wanting them to replace the whole tank at the time but they wouldn’t do it. Fucking bastards!

    Now, there wasn’t any standing water, but the carpet was fully soaked. My apartment complex doesn’t have an emergency nor after hours number. I tried to turn the water off to the heater but the dial was rusted solid…despite my making an emergency trip across town to Walmart to purchase channel locks for the purpose. I called the utility company to get them to turn the water off to my apartment since the meters weren’t labeled. They tell me that at the discretion of the driver since it’s after hours, I can be charged up to $85. I had no choice so I said come on.

    I slept in the apartment that night and as you can imagine I didn’t get any real rest that night. Next morning I awoke early and went down to take my dirty clothes to the laundry as they were sitting right in front of the hot water heater and had gotten soaked. I took the clothes down to the laundromat where I’ve been getting my clothes done ever since I’ve been here, but wouldn’t you know it, the owners recently decided to retire so they aren’t washing anymore, jus collecting money off the damned machines. The place they referred me to up the road wanted $80 to do the clothes. I was taking it up the ass without the cherry flavored anal eaze, but I didn’t have a choice. I was late for work and the busy season had just kicked off.

    I told the office what had happened. They said they’d get right on top of it and said that they would cover the utility bill, but that they wouldn’t give me one dime on the clothes. Asses. I stopped by at lunch to see what the progress was. The maintenance man was almost finished hooking up the hot water heater and said he’d get a shop vac to get up most of the water and then the carpet cleaners would come if not Friday afternoon Saturday morning. When I got home from work Friday evening, instead of the carpet cleaners having come, all that had happened was the maintenance man had taken the top of the shop vac off, pulled the carpet up in the closet (the location of the hot water heater) and then wrapped it under the carpet. No note, no call to let me know what was going on.

    Thankfully, some friends of mine in Madison put me up for the weekend.

    The carpet didn’t get cleaned until Monday afternoon after I finally got my mom to call down to the office. I was ready to rent a P.O.D.S. unit and find somewhere else to live.

    I didn’t know what to expect with Stardust. All I knew was that the trailer had me asking a whole lot of questions that I had to have answered. The movie was just the right level of fantasy, humor wizardry and romance for me. The price of the ticket was fully justified to see Robert Deniro in his roll. (I won’t spoil it here.) And let me tell you, Claire Danes is hot. I wished my girlfriend would glow like her.

    Of the few souls that did come to the movie, half of them weren’t invited; rather they were friends that Stephen had tag along. I had a rather nice time. Afterwards we went to this Japanese place. I won’t be going back. It was overpriced and the portions weren’t enough. To top it off, Rebecca did come but she only came to the restaurant where there was already a healthy conversation brewing. She brought her parents along. Needless to say, since they were on the other end of the table, I didn’t get a chance to visit with any of the three of them. I’ve tried to rain-check it with her via Noccalula Falls this Sunday. Speaking of which, I’m supposed to have dinner with my aunt and uncle that evening, but I haven’t heard back from them on final plans. :(

    So while I was shopping for Dad’s birthday present, I noticed that I had significantly more money in the bank than what I should have. Therefore, I purchased the following scores: Bourne Ultimatum, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Mr. Brooks and Brick. Interested parties inquire inside.

    I hope that I didn’t skip a bill or something. Or have to pay a ticket. This week Alabama is putting 200 additional troopers on the road to “Take back Alabama roads”. The claim was that there was to be a zero tolerance policy. One mph over, you get a ticket. No seatbelt, you get a ticket. Since it’s a crackdown, I don’t see any recourse. I expected to get the first ticket. Thus far, I’ve been lucky. Fuckers. They just have to pay for bonuses they want. Too bad this didn’t turn into a class action lawsuit against the State for harassment.

    In other news, my clothes weren’t ready until this (Wednesday) morning despite the fact that they told me and had automatically printed on the receipt that I could pick the clothes up Friday after 1600. On my return to the apartment with the clothes I went through a school zone. Some dude in a beatup purple car wearing a tank top got all pissy and followed me to my apartment and then got out and walked up to my car. I had my windows down. I thought he was going to hit me or kill me or something. He bitched about me flying through the school zone, which was blatantly untrue. He claimed that he was going to call and make sure that I got a ticket, but the way I see it that shouldn’t happened because I do believe that there has to be at least two credible witnesses. Furthermore, if I do get the ticket on his word alone, he’d better be ready to go to court as his non-appearance should get the ticket dropped since I have the right to face my accusers. Maybe I could double that up and have him arrested on contempt of court. Asshole. I hope he burns in hell.

  • Birthday Post, Part 1

    What bitch life is sometimes.

    For those of you who don’t know, my birthday was Tuesday a week ago. For those of you in Texas that can’t do math, that was August 7th. I’d have to say that on the whole my birthday wasn’t the disaster it was last year, but I think that me and birthday parties have gone downhill. I’m officially an old man.

    Where to start? After almost four months of being at the job, they finally came to get me to sign for my benefits so they can start taking it out of my check. The payday at the first of the month was my largest due to the amount of overtime I’d put in. So far, so good. Not a bad way to go into a birthday.

    That Tuesday was so much come and go. My folks called and they wanted me to come out to Decatur for my birthday since it was during the middle of the week and I was planning on having the “party” on Saturday. I flat out refused and we got into a fight. Tuesday afternoon we worked it out and they agreed to meet me halfway in Madison. They actually picked up the tab for a couple of drinks. I didn’t mean for them too but for some reason that day was stressful at work. Of course, I was having my yearly mood swings prior to my birthday and oh God did I ever need the drinks!

    Dad had to leave to go to work which was par. I took the rest of the family for a drive through the mountains and finally conned them into going to the Rave. The only decent movie playing was The Bourne Ultimatum which, I must say r0x3rd my socks off, even the second time around. IMDB lists Chris Cooper in the credits but I don’t remember seeing him in one frame of the film either time.

    Since we’re on side trails, I have to say that I’m fully looking forward to The Brave One and American Gangster as well as The Kingdom. I know I like it when Rid and Crowe collaborate, but Goddamn, Gangster looks sweet! I must say that I liked the first trailer to The Kingdom better, but I’m still going to see it. Instead of the US government trying to sneak around and find dirt they become the hunted and I’m guessing that most get killed off with perhaps only one living to tell about it, but that’s what anticipation is all about. Oh, and don’t forget to book your dates for Rescue Dawn. I would provide links for you my readers to all of these movies, but ehowton says that they are useless since he’s “on those sites [referring to IMDB amongst others] 10 times a day.”

    Back to the restaurant for a bit. First of all, let me back up and say that I’ve really been enjoying Netflix. I just completed watching the first season of House and can’t wait for the discs to the second to get here. While we were at Ruby Tuesday’s in Madison, I asked Dad what he wants for his (August 30th ) birthday. I told him about House and offered him a choice between that and The Farming Game a game that got much play during it’s little duration at our house. You see, we had purchased it from a big board game store in a mall in Missouri many years ago and played it so much that we wore it out within six months. I miss that game. One of these days I’ll get another whether it’s for me, the family or both. Anyway, the point is he expressed an interest in House. I thought I could only afford the first season, but alas you can get a combo of both the first and second season cheaper then you can buying them individually. I noticed this is also the case for the Nero Wolfe series as well; why do they do this? I had considered getting the old man a copy of Walk the Line, but I suppose that some of these ideas will simply have to wait until Christmas.

    So on one hand, the actual birthday was just another day on the calendar, although my folks did give me much more money then I was expecting. It sucks that I didn’t get my brother anything for his birthday nor my sister, but I didn’t have the time nor money. Saturday, the plan was to go watch Stardust with a whole gang but like last year hardly anyone showed up despite my advertising.

    I think I’ll stop here to interject a thought. Currently I’m reading East of Eden. I’m not particularly thrilled with it though there have been one or two passages that have piqued my interest within the first hundred pages. Before that it was 1984. I swear to God that if Hillary Rodham Rodham gets elected, that book will come to pass.

  • All I have to do is dream

    Will you deliver Spain from Bondage?
    Last night, I dreamed that ehowton had an emergency trip to Huntsville. I don’t know why, I just remember that he had a lot of technical stuff to do. For whatever reason, I went and stayed with him at the hotel. Whether we shared a room or not was not clear from the dream, though we did stay up late partying. (Don’t ask.) It was like he had an afternoon’s worth of work to do and decided to stay for a week. No specific activity comes to mind from the dream, but it was like my family was there as well. We had lots of meals in the restaurant. The weirdest thing about it was, I couldn’t imagine that such a hotel existed in the great metropolis of Huntsvegas. I think that xXxSnapperxXx was in this dream too. Weird.

    I’m trying–I…I don’t know how
    The previous night, I dreamed that I was going to my party (damn, I didn’t want to drop the bomb!). For whatever reason, my family was tagging along, but they didn’t want to go to Birmingham. Instead, the wanted to go to either Gadsden or Guntersville (I don’t remember which.) I didn’t pay much attention to any of the guest thought I was courteous and at exchanged pleasantries with everyone in attendance. When we got there, the group wanted to disperse. I had no clue what the showtimes were and no one wanted to see whatever movie we had come to see. The screen was HUGE and the auditorium was packed.

    You do. You will.
    I’ve started going through House thanks to Netflix. I sent my resume on with the weakest cover letter I could have possibly written. Either they’ll like what they see on the resume, or not. Furthermore, I don’t think that my availability will match what they need, but all in good time. Oh, I sent my resume to a friend in Sacramento in a long shot to actually do some SysAdmin work, but I doubt it will go through either. At least I’m getting practice harking that thing around. Maybe I can make up for the 60% differential due to the increase in minimum wage before it actually gets here.

    I’m gonna die? I’m gonna die!
    People I haven’t talked to in a long time are coming out of the woodworks. Chyllo of TSS fame, Rebecca (a friend from long, long ago) and oddly enough, Amy is swimming in the peripherals of the same waters I am swimming in. Unfortunately, I’ve lost/am losing contact with some people I’ve recently gotten to know too. Watching life unfold is a morbid fascination. The ebb and flow is an enigma even to the wisest out there and yet…

    Together we will live forever.
    Maybe Howton’s right: he once claimed glibly that I was arrogant and abrasive.