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Navigating the 21st Century waters in a 20th Century vessel.

Friday, February 13, 2009

This Week's Learned Lessons

1. The time to buy candles is before the power goes out.

2. If the can says "Shake Well", it does not mean "Open first, then shake well".

3. A sofa hauled out and left next to the dumpster will violate my dog's sense of the universe.

4. It is not a good idea to buy popsicles if you won't be going home for another couple of hours.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Updates

Broke up with the wife. She took it hard. So did I.

Taylor got a major role in her acting class' new production. Which means a lot of extra rehearsals on Saturdays - 40 minute drive each way. But worth it.

Still haven't cleaned the apartment.

Monday, February 09, 2009

Why Is Everything Wet?

Doesn't rain much in Texas under normal conditions, and this past year has drier than usual. So Buffy still doesn't "get" rain. Our walk this morning went something like:

This is interesting
*shake*
This is still interesting
*shake*
Why am I so wet?
*shake*
Not sure I like this anymore
*shake*
*shake*
Can we *shake* go back *shake* now?
LET'S GO! LET'S GO! LET'S GO!
*shake*
*shake*
*shake*
*shake*
*shake*
*shake*

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Well, I Can Say It To Myself

Question is, can I say this to Brett?

Our relationship is broken. This has been clear to me for quite some time. What wasn't clear was if it was still fixable, or if it would turn out to be permanent. If so, then I believe it would be best to accept this and move on, rather than tear ourselves apart, becoming increasingly bitter and resentful.

It's now been six months since I moved out. In that time, neither of us has taken any steps to address what is really broken in our relationship. I feel that this indicates that, regardless of what we may want or tell each other, we both feel inside that this is not reparable. I don't want to point fingers or cast blame on you or myself; I think it's just how things are.

At this point, I no longer wish to try to maintain the level of closeness that we have both been seeking the past few months. By this I mean lunch dates, dinner dates, me hanging out at the house to watch tv or do laundry or sleep or have sex. These things are all comforting and familiar, but they are not helping me any more. I have been feeling torn and stressed the past couple of weeks, as my heart and my brain tug me in opposite directions. So I have decided to bring it to a close, to make it easier to move on with my life. This is distressing to me, and I expect it will be to you as well, but I feel it is necessary.

This does not mean I wish to end all contact. Obviously we are both still Taylor's parents and act together for her benefit, and there may well be other items where need to interact. But contact just for the sake of familiarity, or to keep loneliness at bay, is not something I am okay with anymore.

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Yeah, That's Pretty Much What I Learned In School

The inhabitants of Egypt were called mummies. They lived in the Sarah Dessert and traveled by Camelot. The climate of the Sarah is such that the inhabitants have to live elsewhere, so certain areas of the dessert are cultivated by irritation. The Egyptians built the Pyramids in the shape of a huge triangular cube. The Pramids are a range of mountains between France and Spain.

The Bible is full of interesting caricatures. In the first book of the Bible, Guinesses, Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. One of their children, Cain, asked "Am I my brother's son?" God asked Abraham to sacrifice Issac on Mount Montezuma. Jacob, son of Issac, stole his brother's birthmark. Jacob was a partiarch who brought up his twelve sons to be partiarchs, but they did not take to it. One of Jacob's sons, Joseph, gave refuse to the Israelites.

Pharaoh forced the Hebrew slaves to make bread without straw. Moses led them to the Red Sea, where they made unleavened bread, which is bread made without any ingredients. Afterwards, Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the ten commandments. David was a Hebrew king skilled at playing the liar. He
fougth with the Philatelists, a race of people who lived in Biblical times. Solomon, one of David's sons, had 500 wives and 500 porcupines.

Without the Greeks, we wouldn't have history. The Greeks invented three kinds of columns - Corinthian, Doric and Ironic. They also had myths. A myth is a female moth. One myth says that the mother of Achilles dipped him in the River Stynx until he became intolerable. Achilles appears in "The Illiad", by Homer. Homer also wrote the "Oddity", in which Penelope was the last hardship that Ulysses endured on his journey. Actually, Homer was not written by Homer but by another man of thatname.

Socrates was a famous Greek teacher who went around giving people advice. They killed him. Socrates died from an overdose of wedlock.

In the Olympic Games, Greeks ran races, jumped, hurled the biscuits, and threw the java. The reward to the victor was a coral wreath. The government of Athen was democratic because the people took the law into their own hands. There were no wars in Greece, as the mountains were so high that they couldn't
climb over to see what their neighbors were doing. When they fought the Parisians, the Greeks were outnumbered because the Persians had more men.

Eventually, the Ramons conquered the Geeks. History call people Romans because they never stayed in one place for very long. At Roman banquets, the guests wore garlic in their hair. Julius Caesar extinguished himself on the battlefields of Gaul. The Ides of March killed him because they thought he was going to be made king. Nero was a cruel tyrant who would torture his poor subjects by playing the fiddle to them.

Then came the Middle Ages. King Alfred conquered the Dames, King Arthur lived in the Age of Shivery, King Harlod mustarded his troops before the Battle of Hastings, Joan of Arc was cannonized by George Bernard Shaw, and the victims of the Black Death grew boobs on their necks. Finally, the Magna Carta provided that no free man should be hanged twice for the same offense.

In midevil times most of the people were alliterate. The greatest writer of the time was Chaucer, who wrote many poems and verse and also wrote literature. Another tale tells of William Tell, who shot an arrow through an apple while standing on his son's head.

The Renaissance was an age in which more individuals felt the value of their human being. Martin Luther was nailed to the church door at Wittenberg for selling papal indulgences. He died a horrible death, being excommunicated by a bull. It was the painter Donatello's interest in the female nude that made him the father of the Renaissance. It was an age of great inventions and discoveries. Gutenberg invented the Bible. Sir Walter Raleigh is a historical figure because he invented cigarettes. Another important invention was the circulation of blood. Sir Francis Drake circumcised the world with a 100-foot clipper.

The government of England was a limited mockery. Henry VIII found walking difficult because he had an abbess on his knee. Queen Elizabeth was the "Virgin Queen." As a queen she was a success. When Elizabeth exposed herself before her troops, they all shouted "hurrah." Then her navy went out and defeated the Spanish Armadillo.

The greatest writer of the Renaissance was William Shakespear. Shakespear never made much money and is famous only because of his plays. He lived in Windsor with his merry wives, writing tragedies, comedies and errors. In one of Shakespear's famous plays, Hamlet rations out his situation by relieving himself in a long soliloquy. In another, Lady Macbeth tries to convince Macbeth to kill the King by attacking his manhood. Romeo and Juliet are an example of a heroic couplet. Writing at the same time as Shakespear was Miquel Cervantes. He wrote "Donkey Hote". The next great author was John Milton. Milton wrote "Paradise Lost." Then his wife dies and he wrote "Paradise Regained."

During the Renaissance America began. Christopher Columbus was a great navigator who discovered America while cursing about the Atlantic. His ships were called the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Fe. Later the Pilgrims crossed the Ocean, and the was called the Pilgrim's Progress. When they landed at Plymouth Rock, they were greeted by Indians, who came down the hill rolling their war hoops before them. The Indian squabs carried porposies on their back. Many of the Indian heroes were killed, along with their cabooses, which proved very fatal to them. The winter of 1620 was a hard one for the settlers. Many people died and many babies were born. Captain John Smith was responsible for all this.

One of the causes of the Revolutionary Wars was the English put tacks in their tea. Also, the colonists would send their pacels through the post without stamps. During the War, Red Coats and Paul Revere was throwing balls over stone walls. The dogs were barking and the peacocks crowing. Finally, the colonists won the War and no longer had to pay for taxis.

Delegates from the original thirteen states formed the Contented Congress. Thomas Jefferson, a Virgin, and Benjamin Franklin were two singers of the Declaration of Independence. Franklin had gone to Boston carrying all his clothes in his pocket and a loaf of bread under each arm. He invented electricity by rubbing cats backwards and declared "a horse divided against itself cannot stand." Franklin died in 1790 and is still dead.

George Washington married Matha Curtis and in due time became the Father of Our Country. Them the Constitution of the United States was adopted to secure domestic hostility. Under the Constitution the people enjoyed the right to keep bare arms.

Abraham Lincoln became America's greatest Precedent. Lincoln's mother died in infancy, and he was born in a log cabin which he built with his own hands. When Lincoln was President, he wore only a tall silk hat. He said, "In onion there is strength." Abraham Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg address while traveling from Washington to Gettysburg on the back of an envelope. He also signed the Emasculation Proclamation, and the Fourteenth Amendment gave the ex-Negroes citizenship. But the Clue Clux Clan would torcher and lynch the ex-Negroes and other innocent victims. On the night of April 14, 1865, Lincoln went to the theater and got shot in his seat by one of the actors in a moving picture show. The believed assinator was John Wilkes Booth, a supposedly insane actor. This ruined Booth's career.

Meanwhile in Europe, the enlightenment was a reasonable time. Voltare invented electricity and also wrote a book called "Candy". Gravity was invented by Issac Walton. It is chiefly noticeable in the Autumn, when the apples are falling off the trees.

Bach was the most famous composer in the world, and so was Handel. Handel was half German, half Italian and half English. He was very large. Bach died from 1750 to the present. Beethoven wrote music even though he was deaf. He was so deaf he wrote loud music. He took long walks in the forest even when everyone was calling for him. Beethoven expired in 1827 and later died for this.

France was in a very serious state. The French Revolution was accomplished before it happened. The Marseillaise was the theme song of the French Revolution, and it catapulted into Napoleon. During the Napoleonic Wars, the crowned heads of Europe were trembling in their shoes. Then the Spanish gorrilas came down from the hills and nipped at Napoleon's flanks. Napoleon became ill with bladder problems and was very tense and unrestrained. He wanted an heir to inheret his power, but since Josephine was a baroness, she couldn't bear him any children.

The sun never set on the British Empire because the British Empire is in the East and the sun sets in the West. Queen Victoria was the longest queen. She sat on a thorn for 63 years. He reclining years and finally the end of her life were exemplatory of a great personality. Her death was the final event which ended her reign.

The nineteenth century was a time of many great inventions and thoughts. The invention of the steamboat caused a network of rivers to spring up. Cyrus McCormick invented the McCormick Raper, which did the work of a hundred men. Samuel Morse invented a code for telepathy. Louis Pastuer discovered a cure
for rabbis. Charles Darwin was a naturailst who wrote the "Organ of the Species". Madman Curie discovered radium. And Karl Marx became one of the Marx Brothers.

The First World War, cause by the assignation of the Arch-Duck by a surf, ushered in a new error in the anals of human history.


A compilation of excerpts taken From Richard Lederer's Anguished English

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Reason vs Hope

I want want WANT that which I know isn't going to happen. Why is it so damn hard to let go of hope for a miracle that I know won't happen? It's never worked out. It never will. So why can't I just accept that it's all over and move on?

God damn it.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Buffy Pictures

Buffy, with the protagonist. Wow, the hair on top of my head is getting thin...

Kids and puppies. Is anything cuter?

The most comfortable place in the world is On Top of Dad's Clothes.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Things I have in My Apartment Now

1. Iron

2. Ironing board

3. Air purifiers (one per room)

4. Waffle iron (yay!)


Things I do not have in my apartment:

1. No-sugar-added fruit bar popsicles (CRISIS!)

2. Beer

3. Winning lottery ticket

Friday, January 16, 2009

3 Stages of Mouthwash

0 - 10 seconds: Aiyee this stuff burns

10 - 20 seconds: Ah, it's not that bad. I can handle it for 30 seconds.

20 - 30 seconds: It burns! It burns! Spititout spititout SPITITOUT!!!!

Saturday, January 10, 2009

I Has Videos!

Spent some time editing the video I shot of the play Taylor was in recently. Here's a few highlights:

Taylor played Frankie Fixit, head of the school's maintenance department. Here she and her assistant Terry Toole are working to relieve the "built-up sound pressure" acting on the school's structure.



Next, here she is attempting to warn the principal that there could be real problems.



Meanwhile, Rabin Capture, the school's former student now big-time pop star, is coming to give a performance. Frankie is less than thrilled.



And then weird stuff happens, and several of the students develop superpowers, causing various problems. Here, Frankie and Terry give one of the girls a pep talk.

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Ups and Downs, But Still As Confused As Ever

After my rant last week about the situation in my guild, a good friend suggested I let Fio the GM knowthat it was bothering me. No guarantee he could do anything, but either way it could help in the long run. So, I waited a day to make sure what I'd seen with the Naxx pug wasn't just a one-time thing, and then sent him an e-mail. Didn't bitch or whine, just expressed concern that the Naxx runs were sucking up the pool of guildies who could be doing heroics, and also that it still wasn't clear to me if I could raid as a tank, or if I'd have to switch roles (and gear) when we shifted from 10-man to 25-man raiding. And he was very responsive - told me he wasn't happy about the frequency of the Naxx pugging (by this point they'd already scheduled a fourth one for the week) and that he was gonna stop it. Which he did. He also told me I had a guaranteed position as a tank when we get to 25-man Naxx, so that was a relief. Yay for open communication.

Took Buffy to a meet-up for pug owners this weekend. Turned out to be a much bigger deal than I was expecting - probably 50 people and their dogs. Buffy had a blast, and I struck up a few conversations, but it's starting to sink in what a long, slow process getting to know people is going to be. No wonder people who know what they're talking about have told me that dating is hell.

The friendship I was worried about having damaged right before Christmas seems to have gotten through okay after all. At least, we're chatting again and doing a good job of pretending it didn't happen. This is a huge relief. If anything else needs to be sorted out, right now I'm happy to let it wait 'til later.

Relations with Brett have taken another turn. Not only does it look like we really are having sex more often than when we were living together (not hard to do), but the intensity and the passion and the fun when we do are all way, way up. Like, better than its been since maybe 15 years ago. And she told me she's interested in creating more opportunities for it. I gotta say, after so many years of feeling starved for affection, this feels very, very good. However, I need to be sure that we both know that this isn't a path to reconciliation. I mean, the lack of affection was a problem, but it certainly wasn't the only one. And if I did move back in, how long would this last, without any other changes to keep the daily stresses from overwhelming it? I don't want to lead her on. But I don't want to blow this by acting all rational and cynical and grim about it, if it really is just two consenting adults who know and trust each other enjoying the experiences. Geh.

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Buffy Pics

Took a look at the photo card on my camera, and found a few pictures of Buffy that I felt like sharing.


About a day after we got her, so roughly six weeks old. She were just a little thing:

After breaking her leg. Fortunately, she only had to wear the cast a few days. Unfortunately she had to be retricted from running or jumping for two months.



She and Athena, Taylor's 2-year-old golden retriever, are great friends. I take her over to the house whenever I can. They rip and tear and then collapse in an exhausted heap.


Christmas day. After I moved out, Brett and Taylor got a couple of cats. This one, Chewy (Chuy? Choowey? However the kid spells it...) thinks he's a dog too.

Friday, January 02, 2009

Things I Remembered Today

1. The remote key for the car does not work on my apartment door.

2. The time to buy a toilet plunger for one's apartment is before it is needed.

Monday, December 29, 2008

So Tired

Kinnavieve is about one heroic run away from being geared well enough to tank Naxx. Now, whoever is responsible for healing her is going to have to work at it - she won't be shrugging off hits from bosses. But a couple pieces of rep gear, a session with an enchanter, and she'll be good enough. Problem is, if she stays in Aetherial Circle, I don't think she'll ever get the chance.

Putting together heroic runs is not something I'm good at, but I came home tonight determined to make one happen. Except a few minutes after I logged on, it was announced there was going to be a guild-wide Naxx pug. Everyone who wanted to go should sign on, and then they'd pick who got to go - a mix of experienced people and rooks. So I signed up. What they hey. Not like anyone was going to commit to a heroic with Naxx being dangled. And when they got their raid together, there was a healthy mix. For the dps, and the healers.

But the tanks? Mili and Celli. Uber geared. Uber experienced. Mili, fine. He was organizing it, he should pick himself. But he made it clear he was waiting for Celli to log on before going. Nobody asked abou my stats (and since I logged out in dps gear, I know no one made an evaluation based on the armory stats). It was just tanks without epics need not apply. And with ten people in Naxx, there weren't enough people left for a heroic. So no gearing up for Kinna either.

I'm sick of being behind the wave. People on the wave get to go on the good runs, whenever they want, people behind the wave have to make do with scraps. Sure, I could find pugs for the instances, but if all I have to look forward to is pugs, then why bother? That was why I made my AC toon my main in the first place, so I wouldn't have to feel alone. But now, I'm tired. Tired of feeling behind, on the outside, on my own. It's no fun, and that's the whole point of playing a game.

EDIT: Okay, so that was kinda QQish. Watching the oxygen get sucked out of the pool of people who can do heroics was pretty frustrating though. Hopefully that won't be a regular event - killing 1 boss a night in Naxx-10 isn't going to gear people up very fast, whoever you take.

Got Kinna's fishing to 300 this morning. As a special bonus, she got the weather-beaten fishing hat from the daily. Woot!

Leonid Brezhnev Woulda Killed For My Eyebrows


Assuming, that is, he felt his were insufficiently long and thick and inhumanly scary.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Women Would Kill For My Eyelashes

Long, thick, full-bodied, and A REAL FREAKING PAIN when you're eyes are dry and itchy and you just want to get some eyedrops in.

Grrrr.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Survived Another One

Me and Christmas, we don't get along too good. Goes back to when I was a teenager. As I grew up, it became less and less about feeling close to your loved ones for a day, and more about an orgy of materialism. Had a lot to do with our rising standard of living, and the winter mortality rate no longer running at 20-30%, I suppose. Whichever, Christmas became a day of deadlines and obligations and keeping score. Did you get a nice enough present for your mother? You don't want your grandparents to think you don't care, do you? God, I hated that. One year, we all agreed in mid-October that we would have a moratorium - no presents this year. Just be close as a family. Dec 24 rolls around, and everyone pulls out a stack of wrapped presents. Jeez, Michael, you took that seriously? Why? Well, you should apologize for that.

It's been a number of years, and I've made a lot of progress recovering from childhood issues and guilts, but this one still haunts me. There is much a love about the idea of Christmas, but much I hate about the reality.

A heavy North wind blew in last Sunday, bringing a shitload of cedar pollen along with it. My allergies are still running at full speed. Makes it hard to sleep at night, not being able to breathe. Then I got bit by some bugs on both my legs; fire ants, maybe. Wouldn't be so bad normally, but with the immune system in overdrive everything swelled and itched like crazy.

A few days ago, I was clumsy and careless and stupid, and as a result I caused a friend real distress. I feel terrible about having done this. I may have damaged our friendship - how badly I don't know yet - and I feel worse about this.

I began feeling real anger toward Brett this week, for the first time since moving out of the house. Kübler-Ross, stages of grief, all that. Healthy, normal part of dealing with loss. But this is Christmas, and I had promised to spend the Eve and the day with Brett and Taylor. So I chose to bury the anger, rather than let it hit everyone in the face. Doable. God knows I've had a lot of practice burying anger.

There is much I enjoy about Christmas. I like wrapping presents. I like baking pumpkin pies. I like The Grinch, and Ebeneezer Scrooge realizing he's alive, and eggnog. But I'm really glad this one is over.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

I Get Feedback!

Conversation I had yesterday regarding this post:

Friend: so...
Me: hmm?
Friend: if I am reading your personal blog correctly...
Me: rut roh
Friend: as a married couple it would be months for sex?
Me: well, that's how it was turning out for us
Me: like 4 or 5 times a year
Friend: Oo
Friend: oO
Friend: OMFG. You were like room mates.
Me: that sounds a little low to you?
Friend: ...
Friend: low
Friend: I think I would kill myself.

So, I guess I'm not the only one thinking things were out of balance. Moot at this point, but still reassuring.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

So, You Just Wish I Could Have Been Happy With You

Well, I wish a few things too.

I wish you had taken me seriously when I said I was getting close to the end of my rope.

I wish you hadn't insisted I was wrong when I said our home life was depressing me.

I wish you had been willing to come up with some kind of schedule for your farmwork, so the rest of us could know when to expect you and when not to.

I wish you hadn't insisted that we never throw anything out, ever.

I wish you had given me as much notice as you did your cows.

I wish you hadn't said that I would have to just learn to accept situations, because I didn't have any choice.

I wish you hadn't picked the wives of rich doctors, who spent their days being social and helping out with charitable events, as your role models.

I wish you had been willing to work with me when I said I wanted less complexity in our lives.

I wish you cared enough to give me a real reason to consider coming back.

Sometimes I Talk Too Much

I also think too much. Which is why I'm getting rid of what I'd originally wriiten here. Things'll be okay.