Total Eclipse of the Heart

Finished books 24 and 25 of the 50 Book Challenge: the third and fourth book in the aforementioned Anita Blake series (Dancing Corpse and Lunatic Cafe). More of the same from last post.

Watched all of season 1 of Dexter last week. Enjoyed it more than I expected, and I'm sure Julie Benz being in the cast helped that along a bit. It makes me want to read the Dexter novels.

The job hunt blows. I had to take a competency test (like the SATs all over again) for one job working for the school district, but I passed that (yay, I'm competent!) and have an interview tomorrow. Doing well on the interview doesn't guarantee me a job, however, it just determines my ranking in the list of available job candidates as positions come open in the next six months. Still, wish me well, please. And as this guarantees nothing, and no one else is biting, I have an interview with Burger Land on Tuesday. And still I get no love at home. :(

Playing Gun on xbox360. Graphics--bad; story/dialogue--cheesy; game play fluctuates between hard and too damn simple. Still, it was a birthday gift from Lash and he really digs seeing me play it.

Oh, and how absolutely fucked up was Y the Last Man #58? If I hadn't dropped all my comics already, this would have done Y in for me--even if it does only have two issues left.

That's been the parts of my week I'm willing to share online right now, y'all.

Vacation

Just got in from watching Fingers of Passion play a gig at Off Limits. Good fun, great energy. You can really tell Bandito's a skilled drummer; I just wish the instruments didn't drown out the vocals so frequently. Still, had quite an enjoyable time of it, as usual. Really enjoyed their Go-Gos and Kim Wilde covers (a statement likely causing Ian to cringe).

Ian's been visiting town for the weekend so I've spent some time catching up with him, getting a couple drinks, playing some pool, etc. Continued to get to know Bailey significantly better as well. It's been a while since I've made a new girl buddy. She's fun. Me, I lost our second game of pool (she was my partner) when prematurely sinking the 8 ball. I suck.

Opportunities missed. Opportunities bungled. All in all, a good night though.

Speaking of pools, I accidentally fell asleep for a few minutes while floating in the pool yesterday and now I have a somewhat uncomfortable sunburn on me legs.

12 days 'til Chris returns. A few more days after 'til Travis and Shel are down to visit and make me all jealous and proud. 3 and a half weeks or so until Drew comes to visit. All groovy.

Oh, venting moment--it's been how many years now since I stopped going by my first name and started going by Evan? All of the friends who seemed to have the most difficulty adjusting have finally adjusted and almost never slip up. So why do I still get e-mails from a certain someone I've been friends with for half of my life where she still insists on calling me "David"? It makes me grate my teeth.

Venting over.

Who's watching Bruce Campbell's new show Burn Notice on USA? Yeah, he's just the supporting lead, but still he makes the show.

This is Where I Came In

Ten days of silence. . .sorry.

The last two weeks have had a lot of me helping out with babysitting for a friend and intensive housecleaning--all keeping my online presence to a minimum. On some levels it is a little refreshing to disconnect though--on some levels.

Yesterday my kids all showered me with my Father's Day slash Birthday gifts and well-wishes. They got me a towel, some flip-flops, blank DVDs, ballpoint pens and an Xbox360 game. My kids are awesome. I spent the day yesterday being lazy, playing Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion all day on the 360 and letting Denise watch the kids for me. Thanks, dear, and thanks Shel for the clue on that quest I was stuck on--you completely got me through it. Rock on.

Today, my 33rd birthday (sigh), I feel generally fine (a little allergy annoyed) and will be spending the day watching all the kids, reading some comics and probably doing some swimming. I and two of the kids got pretty bad burns last week so I need to be more vigilant with the sunscreen. Ouch.

Thanks to Drew for the DVD (I've wanted and put off getting that disc for ages) and the Communist propaganda. Thanks to Chrissy for the forthcoming night out and to anyone else for the current and future well-wishings.

I'm going to go now before I find myself bitching about the season premiere of Rescue Me.

Blah-ditty-blah-blah

For some reason (the day is DULL), I'm watching Tyra Banks. It caught my attention as I surfed--she was telling the media off for the way they make women feel about their body image; told them to kiss her fat ass. So I stopped. . .and then dealt with her self lovefest over her recent photoshoot, pointing out how imperfect she is. . .though she, to her credit, did spend the rest of the time defending heavier as healthier than too-thin. Bleh. It was a bit vapid; not my thing.

My vapidity: I'm hating on my profile photo, but have no good self-pics (no one uses my camera but me, so few shots of me...). I'd love to replace it with a photo headshot of me any of you might have, or even an artistic rendering. Help me out. E-mail me a new profile pic and we'll get a new me on.

Yesterday we had to write a ten minute Cento in my poetry class (I'll be evil and make you look up a definition of the form). It was more fun than I expected.



This Is The End Of Them

(a Cento)
by D. Evan Peterson



The sea was a botch of red and whites,

the heavy surf still breaking violently,

spouting out blood and water as it rolls

where mariners had fabled news of its corruption,

stretching beyond us to the blue beard of God.




With you, my cousin, guns cradled on the tide,

this is the end of bilge and backwash,

hurdling muscles heavy with sand,

of the red flag hammered in the mast-head.

Cry out in the long night: "If God Himself had been by our side."




This is the end of running to these Atlantic shoals

the entangled, screeching mainsheet,

sailors who pitch its hell-bent deity

if God Himself had been on our side.




So, it's a first draft, and Denise doesn't get it.