Charge!

Well, today I actually got to do something exciting whilest on the west coast. I headed down to San Diego and took in a Chargers game. (versus Cheifs). It was pretty cool, being in a stadium on the west coast and all. However, the fans there are so stupid. Why? Well, because the entire game they bitched about people standing, even going so far as asking people to sit down!! what a bunch of shits.
This is football, not the ballet. TRUE FANS STAND THE ENTIRE GAME. jackasses. I mean, who goes to a game to clap politely while remaining seated. IT'S FOOTBALL.

of course, there was something way better about the game. naturally: cheerleaders.
But there was something special about the cheerleaders, they were in sexy costumes for halloween.

Which I thought was great, especially the snow white one, until i saw it. A cheerleader dressed as wonder woman. Blue starred shorts, red top, cape, red boots!! I was infatuated. But - the thing that really sealed the deal for me - SHE HAD A LASSO TIED AT HER SIDE.

Now, to most of you, this really isn't a big deal, or doesn't make sense, but for a geek boy like me? This little detail was fantastic.
see, when i was young, and beginning to notice girls, there was one girl I noticed more then any others.... Lynda Carter. Wonder Woman. Man, she was syndicated perfection. I used to head off to bed at night, and lie awake for a while fantasizing about all the adventures I'd get into coming to her rescue.

This probably has a lot to do with why I like comics and why i want to write. there i am, summed up pretty easily.

And when I wasn't saving Wonder Woman? I was totally making out with Josie from Josie and the pussycats.

that should have probably been left unsaid.

BIG NEWS!!

I've been sitting on this for a bit, but I can finally tell the world:

MY TWIN SISTER GOT KNOCKED UP!!!

It's funny, but I'm still at the point in my life that if the female in which I was currently parking my member informed me that my sperm had made it all the way to the top of the slide, well, let's just say I don't party. drink, yes, but no immediate rejoicing.
Luckily, my sister is way more advanced in the family aspect, and this was something of a planned conception. so GO SIS! WAY TO PUT OUT!
I am excited about this, as though my brother went through this whole thing recently, my sister and I are much closer geographically as well as personally, so I'll get to have a front row seat for a lot of the misery that creating life brings one person. and I'll enjoy it.
I'm in Southern California now. flew in yesterday, and got a hotel that is more of an apartment in that it has a stove and sofa and fridge. I put my beer in there.
I'm a little bummed as it's halloween weekend, and I'll most likely be doing NOTHING. I mean I like to dress up, and this is the time of year it is deemed socially acceptable - hell, in a lot of cases, it's rewarded - and my costume is invisible man, as I'll be most likely not out partying and the such. but we'll have to see. I will be done with work by noon tomorrow, and that means beer consumption begins at 12:05. that's a whole lot of time afterwards to end up somewhere - with or without costume.
Yesterday I picked up the west coast sales rep's car. A Toyota Prius. I feel like such a damn hippie. However, the reduced need to stop and pump gas is a welcome comfort. Something I don't miss about my damn 13mpg Jeep. Plus, there are stickers on the car which say that "Hey, I am but one man, but your air is cleaner because of this vehicle, so you'll let me drive in the carpool lane". This is a tremendous plus. In the northeast, the carpool lane means very little - in places we HAVE the lanes - but on the west coast this can save me an hour. That's not an exaggeration at all.
Already finished two of the books I've brought with me, and am deep in the third already. "Epileptic" and "All families are psychotic" were both enjoyable reads, with "Epileptic" getting a huge endorsement from me. It can be a downer at some times, but other times I laughed out loud. A very touching and beautiful book. And for those of you who can read French, the book is originally a french work, so you can probably get a copy untranslated.
Ok, time to wrap up. videogames don't play themselves you know.

My home away from home

Back in my favorite West Coast hotel in Union City. It's very nice as it has a fantastic Chinese resteraunt withing walking distance, as well as a Borders and a movie theater.

Oh, and a BEST BUY. 'nuff said.

So last night I stayed in Monterey. After landing and picking up my rental, I headed to the coast and drove south. Before Monterey, I wanted to stop in and check out Santa Cruz. fuckin' hippie town. I expected that i wouldn't be able to drive a block without hitting one of them bastards, and I was right. The temptation became too strong and I had to park the car lest I mowed a few of them down (and it being a hippie town, someone might actually care).
I figured I was much safer on foot, as if I felt the urge, most of the stoned-out freaks wouldn't even miss my kicking them.
So I walked around, stopped in a bar for a beer (where the 60-something bartender was really blissed out on something), then walked back towards the car. I did stop in an Irish pub for lunch, which was good.
So, needing to get the hell out of there, I headed south to Monterey. The hotel I stayed in was about 3 miles north of the town, so I didn't see it at first. And when I got into the room, jet lag hit me heavily. I took a nap, then headed into town.
The town was immaculate. and empty. It seemed at times almost deserted. At first it was awkward, as I walked through the town and heard voices I was constantly looking behind me, always cautious. I caught myself doing this and realized it was conditioning from living in Philly. Here I was in a relatively safe little town and I was wary of getting jumped! I feel said that I am like this - I wasn't a few years ago - and hope that there is some way that this paranoia will go away, but I just feel like it won't. Maybe after I'm out of the city for a few years. Having street smarts is great, but I want to be able to relax.
This was bad, but even more jarring was that I stepped on something, felt it slip and crunch, and without looking down figured I had just stepped on a piece of candy bar wrapper some kid had carelessly thrown to the ground.

it was a leaf.

Like I said, the place was immaculate, no litter anywhere. And with this I have to say, shouldn't we demand more out of our cities? While I'm sure there is no ghetto in Monterey, there are at least people who care to keep the place clean. Why can't other places be like this? I want that. I miss the country, where I can safely walk around at night, and don't see any litter besides the occasional cigarette butt. It's times like that where I realize that I will one day retire from everything and move to a cabin in the woods. Should any woods still exist.

Now, I rage against hippies, but I do love the earth, and I try to do my part, as little as it is. I pick up random trash, I recycle, I've dry-humped trees. But it won't do anything while there are people walking around who just don't give a shit. So I want to move away from them, as nothing I do will ever convince them to do something to clean up.
Maybe I am actually considering moving to CA. It sounds like I'll be out here longer, so maybe I should just stay.

but, I mea, my FAMILY is over there.

I don't know, things are actually confusing for me right now, been doiung some soul-searching. However, it has to stop as I'll be in a laundrymat all night otnight. joy.

The Day Before The Voyage

Welp,
Tomorrow at 8:15AM Eastern time, I'll be on a plane once more headed towards California. First stop is northern California, where I'll spend 5 luxurious days before heading south to the OC. I actually don't have to be at my first location until Monday, so I had to decide where to spend the day tomorrow. I was going to bum around SF - go visit my favorite bar, head up to Muir woods - but I think I'll be able to do some of that stuff Monday night, and I need to be in Soledad during the day Monday (Soledad is about 2 hours south of SF). So, I head to Moterey. I'm sure I will NOT be seeing any pop festival, and I'm sure I won't be able to move without kicking a hippie, but at least it's someplace new.
Found out one of my bestest friends who had been living in the south has returned to the area. hoohah! Hopefully, I'll be able to actually see his kids, as the oldest is 2 years old and I still haven't seen the thing.

but it's not that big of a deal. kids have cooties.

I'm trying not to think too much about my trip to China, I'm a bit nervous. I always get nervous before traveling, nothing new, and I know that when I am in the airport I'll be fine. tomorrow morning will be rough I have a feeling. The worst part is that I'll be sitting next to at least one of my boss's daughters on the plane. this is a bad thing, as girls need constant attention - if you are a girl you should know this, all us guys do - and that will cut into the time I want to devote to reading and mad, mad video gaming.

Stocked up for this trip: TPBs, Three books (Epileptic, Superstud, and 'Tis), and a new PSP game (X-Men Legends II... mmm, so tasty). I'm semi-poor right now, so these will hopefully occupy my time for the next few weeks.

I have so much to do still, laundry,. pack, watch Lost, and I procrastinate as much as ever. so, I guess I sign off right now... I'll holla back from the west coast if I don't later tonight.

Swamped

Writing this up over my lunch break. A lunch break which is without soup, as someone decided to microwave a wooden bowl until it achieved its flashpoint. The wall behind the microwave in our company's lunch room is black. As if the microwave belched flame - which it did.

Now, you may notice the title up above is "Swamped". I'm not referring to my nether regions (it's a weekday, so I made it into the shower this morning), but my current state. See, we have a big customer coming in for seminars all week, and I have to give presentations. Presentations which should have been prepared sometime last week. Presentations which I am currently working on.
I told myself on Friday that I NEEDED to get into the office over the weekend.

it didn't happen.

Instead, I chose the obvious choice of lying around reading and watching movies. So we reap what we sow.

However, not only do I have to deal with these lovely seminars, but I also have to make sure I am prepared for next weekend when I will be visiting the always wonderful west coast. I fly into SF on Sunday morning, work ridiculous hours all week, then fly down to LA, to hop on a plane and head to Hong Kong, followed by Beijing. Now, all of this is incredibly exciting, but also incredibly stressful. I'm kind of losing it. I am trying to injest oatmeal on a regular basis, as that is supposed to keep cholesteral down, and I just feel like I need that. The ticker is being pressed a bit hard.

But, still, Beijing. Work or no work, I will make my way to the Great Wall. Visiting a real-live opium den is optional, the Great Wall is not. Also, I'd love to see the terra-cotta warriors, but I have no idea where that is. My mind rationalizes like this: The terra-cotta warriors are in China, i will be in China, therefore I can see them. Funny, but last time I checked, that's one big land mass. Maybe if this was Rhode Island it would be feasable, but in this case my logic is faulty.

And that's never happened before.

Oy Vey!

Wow, 10 days done gone by without a word fom me.What the hell??

Alrighty, what's been going on? Let's see... well, I was up in Port Jefferson, NY earlier this week working on a store. The weather was craptastic as it has been this entire week, so I managed to get incredibly soaked while walking around the town. result? a cold. yummy.
Was only over one night, and spent the night watching the final game of the Yankees/Angels series. I'm trying to remain calm about the whole thing, but for those of you who don't know, my Yanks didn't do too well. But, worse is that The Angels' fans don't deserve that win. why you ask? oh, you didn't? well, I'm telling anyway.
During one of the later innings, my boy Matsui made a tremendous play by jumping into the stands and reaching back three rows to snag a foul ball. A truly fantastic play. HOWEVER, if this is New York, and that's Garrett Anderson in the outfield, there is NO WAY he's coming out of there with the ball. I mean, one of the Yankees fans would have at least stabbed him or SOMETHING. not stand there in your Gucci sunglasses hoping that the camera was catching your better side.

So, a message to Anaheim: fuck you and your monkey.

Found out yesterday what my next trip is. Last week of October, back to California. Then, on November 1st: BEIJING. That's China, dude.I'm trying to think of a totally appropriate buzz word to explain my excitment: How about AMPED?
Got myself some Virtua Tennis for my PSP so now I can beat the pants off Roger Fedderrer whenever I like. I really needed Serena Williams in this game, however. Cause I can stare at that for hours. quite tasty.

Yesterday I had a day where I was relatively anger-free. I've been having anger issues lately, guess I'm a bit stressed, and can't remember a day where I wasn't blowing up. But yesterday we made it through, calm and collected. I think I need a vacation, or a hand job from a hooker, or something.

My dad's most likely going to need an operation on his back, something about a slipped disc or something. The man has missed a week of work, it's unheard of. he's a machine. his weekends are spent doing plumbing work, or building something in the garage. The guy's hobby to escape from work is work. So this whole operation is a bit of a shock.

My favorite nut used to be cashews, but Pistacchios are what does it for me now.

OK, run down of things: music: The Go! Team, Broken Social Scene, Stellastarr,
book: families are psychotic by Douglas Coupland
color: indigo
TV series: LOST (I've joined the masses)
waiting for: Feast of Crows; Guffman
hopefully I'll be back before 10 days. Ciao!

Pitchforkmedia may be filthy liars

I have a love/hate relationship with super indie review site www.pitchforkmedia.com . They rip any band that has any commercial success, but I don't know of another site that reviews as often as they do.
however, on their site, the latest nes tells that the "White Stripes to be first band to play the Daily Show". well, I think this is bull. See, I am a proper geek, and therefore love the band They Might Be Giants. Being a fan, I happen to know that they performed on the Daily Show - the corrent version with john Stewart. Now, it MIGHT have been for some kind of special, I'm not sure, but it was definitely the Daily Show set. So there you have it, their reviews are often bogus, and now they are filthy liars.

Post

So, this weekend was pretty relaxing, which I am incredibly thankful for. I did get trashed on Saturday, but it was with a bunch of other people and we were sitting around a Mexican resteraunt and relaxing, so it was fun. The night had started by going to see a local play ("Noises Off!") which starred a friend from high school. Now, I haven't talked to this friend at all since high school, and he's just odd. We were really good friends, but we were always stoned, so maybe I never noticed how odd? More likely, he grew odder... I think he got into some heavy drug use for a while. Rumor was the big H. He did a great job in the play, and I'm glad he's alive no matter what happened in the past. Hopefully he's clean.
I went to the play with another friend from high school - Abbe. I only run into her randomly, but we always have fun and get along really well. She's living in Philly now, so maybe I'll see more of her. I ended the night sleeping in bed with two girls! Unfortunatly, we were doing just that - sleeping. Still, it's fun to pretend... Oh, I'll need to try to post a picture. Abbe asked if I wanted something to sleep in, I told her "I'll only wear pajamas if the have the feet on them." She run into her room and pulled out a PJ suit... with padded feet! I jumped into it immediatly, though it really was way to small for me. good times, good times.
Sunday was a day of recovery and a day of football. I got some reading done, finished "New Rules" by Bill Maher - it was a gift from my dad. It was a pretty funny book... Bush hater's will love it, though he mocks Democrats just as much. Bush supporters I'm sure all want to burn this book, but they don't have sense of humors and supposedly eat cat feces for breakfast.
Almost through my enourmous puile of comics.. I'll miss it once it's gone, but wednesday always brings more goodies.
Alrighty, need to go back to work.