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Sunset on a Stupid Law
Was surfing tonight. Found a site with a count down timer.
Only 526 days and 21 hours until the assault weapon ban of 1994
expires completely and totally. Going to write to my Senators
and Congressmen to urge them not to renew it or replace it with an even stupider
law. Most lawmakers remember what happened in the 1994
mid term elections rather well. It's not often that the Speaker
of the House gets voted out of office by angry voters. I think
except for a few thick skulls like Dianne Feinstein and Charles Schumer, most
lawmakers realize that when they make gun control an issue, they are going
to get voted out of office.
Saw a TV news spot not too long ago about how Sarah Brady was dying of
lung cancer and now going to focus on attacking the cigarette industry.
Because of course, they made her smoke, and get sick.
Is that woman ever going to take responsibility for anything?
Oh well. I'm going to start saving up for an H&K 91A4.:)
Posted right after the time change.
April 6, 2003
Eric the Two-Handed Hun
Five long weeks after I took my stupid pills and hung up lights and posters
on a fucking swivel chair, the cast came off. In Mart-speak:
the doctor exposed my appendage to a flash of low Rotogen, high megahertz
electromagnetic radiation within the X-ray bandwidth over a ferous framed
photoplate. Then the internal medicine specialist and the radiologist
conferred and agreed that the longtidinal hairline stress fracture of the
upper radius was completely healed, the carpal fracture was healed and that
all signs of physical discomfort in my arm were of a muscular nature and would
subside with proper use of over the counter analgesic anti-inflamatory pharmaceuticals.
(The doctor in the emergency room the night I broke it, very arrogantly
tried to explain to me what was wrong like he was talking to a little kid.
It really seemed to burn his beans that I knew the names of the bones
and parts and medical lingo just as well as he did. He didn't
like me correcting him with the actual names of bones when he drew little
pictures and labeled each part as 'a bone this shape'. <g>)
LOL. At any rate, my arm was so shriveled looking, dry and
chapped that it looked like I had been given a replacement arm from a lizard
with an organ donor card. I babied my arm for most of the day
until the Ibuprofen kicked in, and when I got home, I cracked into a supply
of skin care products I got from my dear friend and lurking Trixie friend,
Candi. (Shameless Endorcement Alert. She sells all of
her excellent stuff at:
http://www.candiscreations.net/ ). After much scrubbing
and lotion, my arm looks almost normal again, and by last night the pain
had sufficiently subsided to be able to type normally. My typing seems
lighting fast now:) You never realize how much you use two arms for
stupid day to day stuff until you lose that ability for a while.
I am reveling. I don't have to lay down carefully to sleep
anymore, or completely wake up to roll over at night. I don't have
to carefully wrap up one arm in Saran wrap or a plastic bag when I take a
shower and try to clean myself with one hand. I can put on a
jacket or a long sleeve shirt now without much trial and tribulation.
I can type, and as I did for several hours last night, I can play all of my
favorite computer games. I was pleased to see that my Unreal
Tournament game hasn't suffered from lack of playing in five weeks.
I was already starting to get out of my funk, but with the removal of the
cast yesterday, I can officially say that my bad mood is gone. Now
don't get me wrong. I'm not entirely joking when I say I've been in
a bad mood for thirty one years now.:) But I have my ups and
downs like anyone does, and all things considered, seeing as how this particular
bad mood only lasted about a month, I'd say I'm doing pretty good.
That doesn't touch some of my other bad moods that I had to measure in years.
I've spent no small portion of this spring feeling like I had completely
bottomed out. There was no aspect of my life that didn't seem like
it hadn't gone wrong. But I am no stranger to this feeling.
I've been through it before. Only once or twice has it been
this bad, but if experience taught me anything, it's that when you bottom
out, you have no where to go but up. If life has taught me
anything, it's that if you suck it down and weather it out, things do eventually
get straightened out. Even in the very depths of this mood,
I was somehow able to have a little faith that things would turn around,
and low and behold, the wheels of resolution turn. I'm getting
caught up on bills. My arm is better. And when I visit
my parents this weekend, I already made arrangements with my mother to start
studying there every night for my MCSE tests. The preperatory
software and practice tests wouldn't run on my computer, no matter what I
tried, because I have Netscape as my default browser instead of Internet
Explorer. So my mother told me I could use my father's computer,
and that she would take me up to take tests as soon as I was ready.
The fringe benefits of this of course is that I don't set foot in my parents
house for any length of time without getting fed. And fed well.
My mother is an excellent cook, and can't stand to see me eat like the can't
cook bachelor that I am. So that will solve another problem.
I'll never be a cheerful person. At least not an outgoing one.
I'm fairly certain that part of me will always be the bitter, chip
on my shoulder Eric till the end of my days. Constantly overly
cheerful people will always be people that I want to mellow out with a baseball
bat. My cheerfulness and happiness when I feel it, expresses
itself, both to myself and the world, as quiet and satisfied content.
And as things get worked out, and I see a light at the end of the
tunnel, what this quiet content will mean to me is a relaxed and happy state
with little stress, that no one may see but me. But even if
no one sees it, I will feel it, and it will be very real to me, and very
rewarding, and I will revel in it.
Wow. That sounded sappy. Need to switch gears. *Extremely
Tastless Joke Alert*
What did the leper tell the prostitute? Keep the tip.
(Okay, I know that was uncalled for, but I have a rep to maintain. LOL)
Posted very very early Saturday Morning.
April 5, 2003
Shock and Awe
We have a TV set up in the office now. My boss cut a deal with a
local satellite cable provider for an exchange of services. So they
get high speed internet and we now have satellite cable. For the most
part we keep it on Fox News and sometimes CNN. If anything, it has
boosted office productivity, because we don't take time off to surf the
web for war news. We can get all the headlines by simply listening
to the TV drone on in the background, and only really stop to watch when
new things happen. The only time everything comes to a complete
stand still is when the guy on Fox News that does his verbal editorial "Common
Sense" comes on. We all really like him and get a kick out of what
he says. Regular TV is a rare treat for me. I don't have
cable or an antenna for mine, so it's basically for watching movies on my
VCR.
I've been alive for my share of military action. I remember when
the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. I remember the Grenada invasion,
and bombing of the Beruit Marine barracks. I remember the dog
fights in the Gulf of Sidra and the sinking of four Libyan patrol boats in
the events leading up to the bombing during Operation El Dorado Canyon.
Many years later I met a radar and ELINT technician that worked in
the Combat Information Center aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise during that whole
frackas. He actually sat in the CIC during the battle with the ship's
official copy of Jane's Fighting Ships and a highlighter and as the Libyan
boats were being sunk with Harpoon missiles, he crossed them out of the
chapter on Libyan naval vessels. <g> I remember the invasion
of Panama. And of course I remember the Gulf War very well.
I remember an entire generation of critics of the military and all these
new high tech weapon systems being silenced when, low and behold, they worked,
worked well, and allowed for an unprecedented and quick victory.
I also remember reading about the Battle of Mogadishu the day after it happened.
I still have all the issues of Soldier of Fortune magazine that had
long detailed accounts of the battle long before Black Hawk Down was either
a book or a movie.
Absolutely none of this prepared me for what I am seeing about the current
conflict. I think I am not alone when I say I had gotten a
bit desensitized to hearing about conflict in the news. With
all of Bill Clinton's Wag the Dog style military campaigns to get attention
off of his scandals, or put off impeachment hearings until after an election,
airstrikes barely made the papers anymore. I think war to many people
these days means a few days of bombing. A month or two if we are serious.
People got so used to quick invasions or quick airstrikes that
they didn't associate the term war with the sorts of things they had read
about in history books.
This conflict, more than any other I have seen in my life, seems like
the real thing. And the shock and awe is not limited to the battlefield,
at least in my case. My jaw has dropped so many times while
watching this coverage that it is starting to get bruised from hitting the
keyboard. I'm hearing words like campaign and offensive that I never
thought I would ever hear outside of a history book, in our weekend of air
strikes way of thinking. I hear words like 'firefight' or 'shelling'
on the news and my stomach knots up at the vivid images it brings to mind
of Mogadishu and bloody fighting. After I pick my jaw up
though, I'm usually smiling. Why? I know someone is doing
something right.
The soldiers in Mogadishu were in part screwed by the fact that to keep
the operation 'low profile', General Garrison was not given the light armor
and air support he asked for. Vietnam was one long lesson
in what not to do when running a military campaign. An object
lesson in what happens when you let political concerns outweigh proper battlefield
planning and necessity. The whole air strike politics of the
90s never seemed to accomplish very much. There is only so much you
can do in a lot of sticky messes like Bosnia from 30,000 feet.
Watching this war, I feel like I'm seeing a lot of things for the very
first time. I'm seeing a clear cut goal. I'm seeing resolve
to go all the way, and not do anything half baked. I'm seeing the
military being given every thing they need and ask for to get the job done.
And I'm seeing the coalition going all out and not fighting with one
hand tied behind their backs. After seeing so many conflicts
handled poorly in which either men get needlessly killed or nothing gets accomplished,
watching this war has been like a breath of fresh air. For once, this
conflict is being handled properly.
I have always believed that there are often circumstances in the world
which necessitate war. War is all too frequently a necessary evil.
Sad but true. But when it has to happen, I don't think you
can realistically hope for better than this. And the more I
hear, the more amazed I am. One only has to compare this to the
first Gulf War, which was can rightly be called an overwhelming success in
itself.
In the first Gulf War, there were around 250 coalition casualties.
Each and every death is tragic. But seriously, that's less people
than get killed on American freeways on a slow weekend. And there
was only a very limited ground campaign to liberate Kuwait. As of
today, when I checked, 73 coalition soldiers have died. Once again,
each and every loss is tragic. But we have seized nearly half of Iraq.
In the first Gulf War, we found every oil well in Kuwait
on fire in one of the worst enviornmental disasters ever. (and on a
side note, I can't help but notice how quiet the enviornmentalists are about
Saddam over doing things like this. They would rather attack Bush.
Think this shows their real agenda, and it doesn't seem to be about
saving the earth) This time around the Navy SEALs seize the terminals
and the dam they were going to blow up and avert a catastrophe.
In the first Gulf War, we had to wait until the cease fire for them to turn
over our prisoners. Now we are finding them and sending SEALs and
Rangers to rescue them.
I feel the pain of the Pentagon officials and Donald Rumsfeld when people
accuse them of failing or not planning properly, all because of set backs
that the weekend air strike mentality is not familiar with. This
is a real fight, and any student of warfare will tell you that it doesn't
get any better than this.
Things may not keep going this well. I would agree with anyone who
said that the real test and real battle is to come. But if the stunning
successes of the opening are any indicator, I have even more faith that
we will prevail than I did before the first shot was fired.
We get into firefights and artillery duels. We advance with ground
forces in and around cities. And we do so without even really
getting our nose bloody. These are feats on the battlefield that
were unthinkable even ten years ago. This is why I am in shock
and awe.
But even if our luck doesn't hold out and things get messy, I will still
rest easy knowing that everyone involved will do their best, do what they
have to do, and do what they think is right to see this through to the
end. Somehow I don't think that's going to happen though.
As I watch the news, I get the feeling that I am watching military
history being made. I get the feeling that I am watching the
most competent, stunning, professional, unprecedented and awe inspiring
victory in the history of modern warfare.
Posted Late Wednesday Night
April 2, 2003
This Week's Psycho Survey
This weekend, a strange and mysterious substance entered my system, from
the dim reaches of the past: food. Now that I am not wondering how
old shoes would taste with salt, it's time for another psycho survey.
This week's theme: disturbing visitors.
1. You are awakened in the middle of the night. You get
up to investigate. You stumble upon an unsavory character with a large
knife. They turn on you, with the obvious intent of skinning you
and gutting you. You have a gun, and you have the drop on them.
Are you able to drop the hammer and send them to the maker?
Yes.
2. You wake up in the middle of the night. There is a
stranger staring you in the face. The stranger seems ephemeral and shimering.
They are so palid you can almost see through them. You
blink and rub your eyes and they are still there. Then, without warning,
they vanish. How do you react?
Last time something like this happened to me, I wasn't able to sleep for
two days, and kept a lot of lights on.
3. You meet a friendly and nice stranger. You really hit
it off and warm up to them. As you talk, the stranger starts
saying things about you that they shouldn't know. They know things
about you they would only know if they had been watching you, during some
of your most private moments. How do you react?
This is the point where I have no problem going into pyscho mode and bluntly
demanding answers. One good scare deserves another.
4. You meet a friendly and nice stranger. You really
hit it off and warm up to them. You have such a nice time
with them you exchange phone numbers and adresses with the promise to stay
in touch. They didn't tell you simply because you never asked,
but you find out later that they are a famous mass murdered out on parole.
How do you react?
Unless it is obvious to me that they are on drugs or suffering from some
sort of unpredictable instability, I wouldn't really do anything.
It wouldn't be the first time I've known/gotten along with/given a chance
to a real dirtbag or killer.
Posted early Monday Night.
March 31st, 2003
A Special Kind of Evil (that makes me happy) and other unimportant
matters
I've been feeling extremely nihilistic lately about my life in general.
Before work this morning I amused myself by taking my cast off.
It was one of those new fangled foam lined ones that fit's on like
U and is just held on by the wrapping. The papers I got at the hospital
said I could take off and adjust the wrapping if I wanted to, so after being
good for four weeks, I decided to see how far along my healing was.
Did a few experiments to see if I could type or rotate my arm at all.
At first it was hard to tell what was just the soreness from being so constricted
and in one position for so long and what was from the breaks. But
from careful testing to see , just like the doctor did at the hospital, I
determined that whereas the healing process is far along, it is not over,
and I still can't really use it yet like I wanted to.
My poor arm was so dry and chaffed, and between the bumps in the bottom
layer of wrapping and the constriction of the cast, designs had been imprinted
in my arm to make it look completely tatooed with Aztec/Mayan style abstract
art. It still felt really good to stretch it a bit a work some
of the stiffness out. And I put a serious dent in the lotion bottle.
But afterwards, I put everything back on again, rewrapped it, and went
to work.
But I digress. I am no stranger to nihilistic moods, and when I
get in these funks, it usually means one thing: Evil music.<g>.
A wide variety of the darker parts of my collection has found it's way into
the CD player. The only regular act that has found it's way in is Black
Sabbath. I felt the need to hear some old school.:) I also have
a live Black Sabbath DVD I found at the pawn shop for two bucks, and I enjoy
watching it a lot.
So without further ado, today's silly list is the top songs Eric likes
just because the titles sound so evil.:)
1. Black Sabbath - NIB (Nativity in Black)
2. Overkill - I Hear Black
3. Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar
4. In Flames - Whoracle
5. Marilyn Manson - Irresponsible Hate Anthem
6. Godflesh - Somewhere Someone Scorned
7. Slayer - Serenity in Murder
8. Marilyn Manson - The Angel with the Scabbed Wings
9. Megadeth - Poison was the Cure
10. Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
And as an added bonus, the tops songs Eric likes because the songs themselves
sound evil (and creepy).:)
1. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
2. Marilyn Manson - Suicide is Painless (yes, he did the MASH
song)
3. Skinny Puppy - Draining Faces/The Mourn
4. Danzig - Sadistikal
5. Slayer - Dead Skin Mask
6. Slayer - Gemini
7. Requiem for Sopranos
8. Nine Inch Nails - the downward spiral
9. Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar the album (if you listen
to the whole album for all the little voices and stuff going on in the background,
it's
enough to you the crawling heebie jeebies)
and, hands down the most disturbing and creepy song ever recorded anywhere
by anyone:
10. Ensturzende Neubauten - Armenia
If you are very brave, and don't upset easily, sit alone in a quiet,
pitch black room, put this song on pretty loud. As you listen to it,
listen for all the faint stuff going on in the background. It doesn't
really have any lyrics, yet manages to be extremely upsetting. If you
can make it through the whole song in a dark room without having any panic
attacks, you are doing better than I did.
Posted very early Friday morning.
March 28th, 2003
Alphabet Soup
Saw this on Mary's blog and thought it might be fun.
A. Animal
If you were an animal, what kind of animal would
you be?
A badger. It's all about the attitude.:)
B. Beluga (Caviar, that is)
What really odd or exotic food do you like a great
deal?
Exotic is not the word most people would use to describe some of the stranger
parts of my diet.
C. Castles in the Air
What is something you dream about happening but that
never does/never will?
To aquire the power of pyrokinesis to be able to burn things just by thinking
about it.
D. Danger
What is the most dangerous thing you've ever done?
Hmmm. That's a tough one. I once walked through an inner city
neighborhood near dark, when I was obviously a stupid college kid.
Got followed
until I managed to leave that area.
E. Edison
Which do you think you could survive without better?
Running water, Gas or Electricity?
Having done all three, I would have to say gas, hands down.
F. Fireworks
What type of fireworks do you like best? What do
they look like/sound like? Or do you not like fireworks at all?
I like the really loud ariel bombs that don't leave any visible display
that they use to startle the crowd and get their attention.
G. Gas
Have you ever run out of gas? (Literally)
Yep. Mexican food only stays in your system so long. <g> Seriously,
I once borrowed my roommates car and ran out of gas in a desert canyon
in
the middle of the night, when I was looking for a party they told
me about.
H. Hindsight
What's something that you've done that you would
have done differently if you'd known something you didn't at the time
you did it? (How's that for Honey speak? *g*)
Where do I even start? I suppose I should have changed my major at
college to something I was much better at so that I wouldn't have dropped
out.
I. Index Cards
Sally from When Harry Met Sally had her videotaped
movies cataloged on index cards. Do you have anything similar? Or are
you a completely "uninterested" in organizational obsession type?
I organize my books, movies, computer games and CDs. And literally
nothing else.:)
J. Juggling
What's the most activities you've ever scheduled
yourself for? Do you routinely overschedule yourself?
I was a champ at that in college. As a child, my mother used to
do a pretty good job overscheduling my summer days between golf, tennis
and swimming lessons.
K. Kisses
Some people like Hershey's. Others like Godiva. What
kind of chocolate do you prefer? Or do you despise chocolate?
I don't know what it's called, but the chocolate they put in the European
Toberlone Bars is the best.
L. Labels
What company's products do you always buy?
Coca-Cola, Hebrew National, Id Software, 3DRealms Software, Federal Cartridges
M. Mustard
What is your favorite Clue combination?
Miss Scarlet did it with the candlestick in the Lounge. Oh. Wait.
You mean about the murder. . . . *VEG*
N. Nyquil
What medicine always works for you and does what
it's supposed to?
Drixoral for sinuses. Vicodin for pain. Advil for headaches.
Rum and Coke for life in general.
O. Opera
Do you like it? Hate it? If you like it, what's your
favorite opera?
Hate it. Isn't the word Opera Greek for death by music?
P. Pulchritude
What beautiful sight has the power to take your breath
away?
I plead the fifth on grounds that I may incriminate myself.:)
Q. Quizzical
What's a world famous puzzle/mystery that you'd desperately
like to know the answer to?
Who shot JFK. Who shot Gerald Bull. Why didn't anybody shoot
Clinton.
R. Raven
Quoth the raven...nevermore! What's your favorite
quote?
Right now it's:
"Only the dead have seen the end of war." - Plato
S. Sex
What do you like most about being your own sex (gender)?
Don't know. I'll have to think about that one. It has quite
a few choice perks.
T. Turn
One good turn deserves another. What has someone
done for you that was completely unexpected and very welcomed?
The large boxes of food and pizzas that started showing up from Trixie
friends last summer when I was too broke to shop.
U. Umbrella
Most everyone has one. What color is yours? (Or if
you don't have one...tell us why!)
Most people in New Mexico, myself included, do not have one.:)
V. Vanity
What part of your character do you like the best?
My stubborn pride about my beliefs, values and convictions.
W. Wallet
What do you have in your wallet? Anything interesting?
Not really anything interesting. It is certainly uncontaminated
with money right now.:)
X. Xylophone
I don't play one. Do you? Or if not, do you play
any other instruments?
I used to play a little bit of recorder.
Y. Yodeling
High on a hill was a lonely goatherd...he asked me to ask you which musical's song do you like the best?
I will watch a musical every now and then, but am not particularly fond
of that kind of music.
Z. Zorba
Zorba the Greek is a famous novel. What famous novel
did you have to read in school that you despised?
The Scarlet Letter. Sent me into complete brainlock. They
don't get much worse than that.
Posted Early Wednesday Evening
March 26, 2003
Mary's Tuesday Two Survey
1. What was the first song/group/solo
act that marked your departure from just listening to the music your parents
listened to, and started you on the path of your own musical tastes?
When my best friend from childhood, Scott Broadwell, came back from two
weeks of summer camp one year, he immediately made me listen to some groups
that the counselors turned him onto, and they were Pat Benatar, REO Speedwagon,
Styx, and AC/DC. I was instantly hooked on rock music, and to
my parent's dismay, lost any interest in classical music.
2. Who was your very first
celebrity crush?
The first one I remember was Shannon Doherty. There have been many since.:)
Posted early Tuesday evening.
March 25, 2003
A Dirty Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste
Not long ago, my brother came down from Colorado to visit with a friend.
I forget this friend's name, but we had met before. He
is a long time friend and supporter of Silencer that has traveled with
the band before when they were on the road, to help them set up equipment
and man their little display they set up at shows to sell their CDs and
t-shirts. He also plays bass in another Denver area death metal band.
He had come and eaten with our family the way the band always does when
they pass through Socorro on tour. That's always an amusing
scene. Our family has had our share of distinguished guests for
dinner over the years. Usually scientists and astronomers or directors
of famous observatories. I remeber well the party we threw for Carl
Sagan, and the filming crew for the old PBS series Cosmos. Science
fiction writer and chief project engineer for the Galileo space probe
that went to Jupiter, Gentry Lee, was there too. His kid was worse
than Bobby, and he proceeded to destroy our room. Keith and I were
cleaning that mess up for days <g>. I also remember when
fomer Congressman, Department of Energy secretary and UN ambasador Bill Richardson
came by. At any rate, our family is well accustomed to handling guests,
and there are certain standards my mother adheres to regardless of who the
company is. Guests get the nice tablecloth, the good plates,
the nice silverware and a very big and good meal. This didn't change
when the company was a speed metal band <g>. Keith and
I ate more than our share of shit over being into heavy metal as we
grew up, and the fights that erupted between him and my mother when he started
Paragon, and later Silencer were not a pretty sight. All that
aside, Silencer and this friend were guests, and it was really surreal for
me to see a nice table set at the Spargo house for a bunch of long haired
musicians in black shirts, and black jeans or black leather pants. <g>.
It looked like someone photoshopped the front row of a Black Sabbath
concert into a Norman Rockwell painting.
Oh yeah, I had a point <g>. At any rate, Keith came down with
this friend for a very quick visit, and after they did the other things they
had wanted to do, they picked me up and the three of us went to the Capital
Bar for a few beers. While we hung out, we glanced up at the
muted TV over the bar, which was on CNN. I ended up getting into
a very interesting and thought provoking discussion with this friend about
the upcoming war. We both agreed it was going to happen. I was
in support of it of course and he was against it, but we had a very cool discussion
of the topic in which we both conceded points to each other on some aspects
and agreed to disagree on others.
There was one point we were in complete and total agreement on without
any debate. The discussion turned to war protests, and there
was one protest in particular we both found amusing, and hard to take
seriously. This protest of course was the one where a lot of women
stripped naked and lay out in field to spell out anti-war slogans.
It was very heartwarming to see I wasn't the only person on either
side of the war issue to snicker when a lot of naked women lay out in a
field to spell: NO BUSH. <g>
I don't know. It's kind of hard to tell from a distance, but not
all of these women seem anti-bush to me.<gggggggggg>
Yeah, I'm being a guy. Sue me.
Posted Very Early Tuesday Morning
March 25, 2003
This Week's Psycho Survey . . . .
. . . . brought to you courtesy of sleep deprevation and a 48 hour diet
of ephedrine and saltines. The overall theme for most of these
is:
even though . . . .
1. Name some of the concerts you have been to that you would consider
your favorites.
1) Metallica and Queensryche, Damaged Justuce Tour, December '88.
2) Judas Priest, Megadeth and Testament, Painkiller Tour,
November '90
3) Pink Floyd, Division Bell Tour, April '94 4)
Iron Maiden, Queensryche, Rob Halford, Brave New World Tour, September
2000.
2. Name some movies you love even though you know they are really bad.
1) Robocop 2 2) Hudson Hawk 3) Heavy
Metal 4) Rock-n-Roll High School
3. Name some food you can't get enough of, even though it's blatantly
junk food.
1) Sbarro pizza 2) Sonic's Chile Cheese Tater Tots
3) Sausage McMuffin w/ egg
4. Name a book you love, even though you know it's crap written by
a hack, or some such.
Any of the early Xanth novels by Piers Anthony.
5. Name some songs you like even though you know they are horrid and/or
the bands suck.
1) I Want it That Way - Backstreet Boys 2) Crazy -
Britney Spears 3) Nookie - Limp Bizkit 4)
Basket Case - Green Day
5) Negative Creep - Nirvana 6) Mandy -
Barry Manilow
6. Name an alcoholic drink(s) you've had beacuse you wanted to drink,
even though you knew it was nasty.
1) Genessee Light beer 2) Keystone beer 3)
Mad Dog 20/20 fortified wine 4) Pancho Villa Tequeila shots 5)
cheap gin colored with green food
coloring (don't ask)
7. Name a TV show you watch/have watched religiously even though you
knew it was awful.
You Can't Do That on Television.
8. Name two people you have heard of that got shot in the back of the
head in a theater.
1) Abraham Lincoln 2) the guy in the porn theater that
was sitting in front of Pee Wee Herman
(Okay. I realize that was uncalled for, but I had to sneak in a bad
joke in here somewhere. Ignore this and move on to the next question.)
9. Name something you've written that are you extremely embarrassed
of.
The ETBC smut files.
10. Name the stupidest thing you have done in the recent past.
I was standing on a swivel chair hanging up lights and posters, using
a Glock 21 as a hammer to get tacks and pins into difficult sections of wall
when the chair spun and I fell and broke my arm in two places.
That's all for today boys and girls.:)
Posted Late Monday Night
March 24, 2003
Three Degrees of Separation from a POW
I am just now reading the news stories about it. But I got the news
earlier from one of my best friends, Matt. His little brother went
to school with one of the POWs now being held in Iraq. I pray for
his safety and safe return.
Posted Even Later Sunday Night.
March 23, 2003
An Ode to My Cat
Last night was a very long and emotional night for me, for a number reasons
I'm not going to discuss on this forum. In the midst of all
this there was a young woman who wouldn't leave me alone. She
was very persistent.
She normally spends her days sleeping and getting into trouble.
She sleeps on her favorite chair, that's now so coated in cat hair that it's
hard to tell what color it used to be. Sometimes she sleeps under
a shelf behind an old stereo box filled with video tapes. When she's
awake she sometimes sits on the window sill in front of the blind and watches
the world go by. Other times she goes on long and perilous quests
to find something new to sharpen her claws on or to find some new hiding place
to sleep in. When she's feeling exceptionally brave, she goes climbing
on the table or kitchen counter or on top of the stereo speakers were she's
not supposed to be. And frequenty, she finds one of her toys
like the shaking lady bug (she can even pull the string by herself to make
it shake. <g>) or cat nip doll and takes it somewhere to eviscerate
it.
She normally bothers me twice a day for attention. If she feels
I've been sleeping too late, she comes and meows by the door until
I either get up or throw a shoe at the door to scare her off.
And usually right after I get home from work, she wanders in to my room
while I'm firing up the computer and rubs up against the chair for attention.
It never takes very much to make her happy. Sometimes
I only have to hold her for a minute or two before she gets tired of it
and wanders off. Typically, if she comes into my room after that,
it's to sniff at something, trying to find a way under the bed, or to just
sit or curl up by the heater.
I've met my share of dumb cats. My friend Schlake's old cat Stupid
used to fall asleep balanced on top of doors, and then try to roll
over and stretch in his sleep. We'd hear a thump and meow and
find a very stunned and confused cat on the floor. My friend GeoBob's
cat Unzu used to go into the bathtub looking for bits of pooled up water
when Bob forgot to fill the water dish. If someone was in the
bathroom and wouldn't let him in, he would get a running start from the
other side of the house and try the battering ram approach. We'd
hear galloping, a thump and a meow and find a very stunned and confused cat
on the floor. My friend Steve's cat Mojo would get startled
and run behind the fridge and get stuck between the fridge and the wall.
My cat is not stupid however. In fact she continues to amaze
me at how smart she is.
Pinky knows how to open doors that aren't properly closed, from either
direction. In combat, Pinky has wrecked a hundred pound pit
bull without getting a scratch. The only animal that ever
bested her was Mojo, and that was kind of a draw. When I cat sat
for Mojo, if you weren't in the same room with those two, you would have
swore I had pet snakes. <g> Pinky is an accomplished climber
and jumper. Pinky always recognizes her name when it is spoken to
her (and can always tell by the tone whether she's in trouble or not).
But these aren't the things that have been amazing me recently.
What has been amazing me is how perceptive she is.
I was in a pretty pissy mood the day after I broke my arm. A sleepless
night of pain and spasms will do that to you. Knowing you
are going to be in a cast for at least three weeks will do that to you
too. She knew. She immediately sought me out, jumped in
my lap and cuddled. She knew. I could almost hear her say
"everything will be okay".
Last night in the midst of my tears and emotional turmoil, she knew again.
And she wouldn't leave me alone. She was in my lap
for a great deal of the time, and even when I wasn't petting her, she
was very affectionate and comforting in a way only cats can be.
After I got off the computer, got back from my walk, and went to sleep,
she still wanted to make sure I was okay, so she curled up on my bed
with me and we went to sleep.
Today she is pretty much back to her old tricks. I have still found
myself with a cat in my lap at various points this evening. She is
still checking on me to make sure I'm okay. But she knows things are
better now.
So in closing, to the one who checks on me, to one who always makes life
interesting, to the one that always gives me unconditional love and
support, to the one who forgave me for the syrup and newspaper incident,
to the one I share every day of my life with, here's to you Pinky.
Posted Late Sunday Night
March 23, 2003
Doing the happy dance, we're at WAR!
On September 11th, 2001 something happened which surprised me, yet it didn't.
I was back two days from the convention, and looking forward to Lisa
coming on the next day when my friend Bill woke me up and told me to come
watch the TV. It was a very strange thing for him to insist on, and
he looked very upset.
I sat looking at the TV blinking in disbelief for at least ten minutes
before the full magnitude of what I had seen sunk in. I was
surprised to be sure. But in a way I wasn't. One of the
first things I remembered was a night in the chat room a few months
before when Kate, Stephanie, Marisa and a few others were discussing
the world in general. I was carrying on about how the world was
sitting on a powder keg of rogue states, nuclear proliferation, terrorism
and other evil in general, just waiting to be lit. It was
like many other conversations I had had where many people insisted that
since the Cold War was over, the world was going to move past war and conflict
and be filled with shiny, happy people. I argued that this
same isolationist, nothing will happen to us attitude is precisely the
way people always thought before the world's biggest wars and upheavals.
I didn't know how or when the world would be set affire,
but I had a sneaking suspicion that it would happen soon. The thing
I remember the most from that night was Kate asking me, "what if it never
happens?" I remember bluntly telling her, not because I was trying
to be obnoxious or facetious, but because I really believed it, "It's not
a matter of if, it's a matter of when."
I remember very clearly how President Bush vowed to fight back.
I remember very clearly how he said even if it took years, that he
would seek out all terrorists and enemies and make sure that something
like that would never happen again. I remember how every
Senator and Congressman vowed to back him and how the country united
behind him for this cause. I thought to myself, "wow. looks
like this country finally got it's head out of it's ass and is going to
do the right thing." It would appear I spoke too soon.
This last year and half has been very educational. It's been very
interesting to see who actually meant it. Not even
two years have passed since the deadliest attacks on Americans in
history, and a distressing number of people are already wanting to
forget it and go back to their head in the sand nothing will happen to
us complacency. Now there are a distressing number of people
saying this isn't our problem. Now there are a distressing number
of people willing to turn their backs on hostility and evil.
Tom Brokaw once called the generation of young men and women that fought
and won World War II "the greatest generation". At his point
I am really beginning to see what he meant. There was evil in
the world that aggressively attacked America, and every American was
ready to rise up as a nation and fight until the threat and the evil
was gone. Whether they were volunteers or draftees or women
that were building ships, everyone did their part.
Sad that we've suken this low. Sad that even after an attack even
deadlier than the Pearl Harbor attack that started World War II, that
targetted civilians instead of military personnel, that we as a nation
don't even have the resolve to fight anymore. Sad that
so many of us can turn our backs on an oppressive and meaglomaniac tyrant
that may have nuclear weapons and say it's not our problem. Sad
that we can so easily shrug off a deadly attack, and the suffering of
others and not want to get involved.
I've been hearing quite an earful lately from so called pacifists and
progressive thinkers. I've been hearing a lot from the political
left about why we shouldn't attack Iraq. I've been hearing about
how Bush is nothing short of a fascist. All I have to say
to those fucking hypocrites is I guess when your name is Bill Clinton,
it's Milsovec instead of Saddam, it's Serbia instead of Iraq, and you
call it "a peacekeeping operation" instead of a war then it's fine.
And the best definition of pacifism didn't come from any political scientist
or professor. It came from a Star Wars novel. But I think it
illustrates what pacificism is better than any textbook. The quote
was:
"Pacificism is the ultimate expression of arrogant self-indulgence if it
prevents you from keeping other people from getting hurt"
Yesterday, George W. Bush did something not many politicians do these days.
He kept a promise. He did something he promised he would do
the day after the 11th. He sought out all manner of threats and
evil in the world and now he his dealing with one in a descisive and thorough
manner. And it makes me proud that he had the strength, courage
and conviction to follow through with what he promised to do. To
follow through with what so many American's claimed to be supporting him
in doing. He stuck to his guns in the face of all naysayers and
peoople who changed their minds. He did so in the face of protests
both at home and abroad. He did what needed to be done in the face of
all the politically correct claptrap people have been clinging to as an excuse.
We are at war. We are fighting evil both in Iraq and Afghanistan.
If the need arises, I have faith that Bush will fight it no
matter where it is, and wherever the threats may arise. Bush
is a man not afraid to take out the trash. And taking out
the trash is something long overdue. We are at war. I am
proud of Bush. I am proud of the war effort. I am proud to
be American. And no amount of bitching and protests will change the
fact that Bush is going to do what needs to be done.
Posted Thursday night.
March 20, 2003
Wooohooo, I have an archive now.:)
Posted early Thursday Evening.
March 20, 2003