Home Alone

Just got home from work, maybe a half hour ago, and no one's here. Denise and the kids are at the Taylors' apparently doing some baking and likely playing a card game or whatnot. I hope they're enjoying visiting. . .however, for me, I hate coming to an empty home. I like having family to relax here with. Sure, I could just as easily head on over there now that I've showered and changed, but that's not the same. Some nights that'd be perfectly up my alley, but some nights I'd really rather not have to go anywhere else to relax with Denise and the kids after a tiring day at work. Whine, whine, whine. . .and other bits.

Right now I'm still finding it difficult to force myself to write something daily. My mind just hasn't been made to keep with the discipline for so long. While some of these posts feel superfluous and arbitrary to me, I have to remind myself that it's exercise to get me back into the swing of constant writing again. Mental weightlifting.

So, I'm trying to figure out how to set my digital camera up as a device to use for Google video chat and am currently sucking ass at that as well. I am technotarded. Any pointers?

I Spit On Your Grave

So today a younger homeless couple came in to work, barely able to stand on their own two feet, ordered some food, ate 3/4 or so of said food before returning to complain the food was wrong and wanted it remade, then ate 3/4 of the remade food before returning it, saying it made them sick and they wanted their recourse, which I gave them in the form of the phone number to our local office. This earned me exactly one Getting Spit At.

How was your day?

I just finished watching last week's Pushing Daisies. I'm really looking forward to yesterday's episode, which crosses over with the other wonderful & canceled show Wonderfalls, so this post shall be all about brevity in order to allow me that luxury.

Peace be with you.

The Dead Zone

Coming off of what feels like working 24 hours straight. . .yesterday I worked form 4pm til about 1am at my store and was then on loan to the Wally World store from 7am til 3:30pm today. So it feels like I've lived the last day on Burger Planet. I feel very tired right now and a tiny bit loopy, having less than 5 hours sleep and no mid-day napping opportunities. :)

I was surprised business wasn't swamped today. I guess the holiday shopping wasn't such a big fuss today, enough to impact me anyway, for which I am thankful for.

Netflix recently decided they were no longer going to offer previously viewed DVDs for sale and had a clearance sale to announce this. I treated myself to two of my favorite films from the past year: Juno and Once. If you haven't seen either of these films yet, you really ought to. If for no other reason than because I said so.

This post is about to degenerate into ramblings for ramblings sake, so, love to all, adieu!

Higher Learning

In response to my last post, Travis asked:

Why don't you teach anymore? Maybe that could be a blog post or maybe there is one already that you can point me too. Knowing you and what you know and where your passions lie, I've often wondered why you don't teach.

The answer is relatively mundane. When I taught before it was as a graduate student. In order to maintain that job, I also had to maintain a minimum number of semester units myself. It eventually became pointless for me to continue paying for tuition when the few classes I remained needing for my degree kept getting canceled or not offered at all. With student loan debt increasing each year and my last class on eternal limbo, I couldn't rationalize continuing to go right now. My teaching job was contingent on my also being enrolled as a graduate student, and so no more teaching job.

As for traditional teaching, I need my Master's Degree completed (fastest way now) or a Teaching Credential (slowest way now), both requiring I return to school, which isn't fiscally possible right now.

The Day After Tomorrow

I'm going to try and force myself back into a writing routine. It starts with, no matter how mundane or simple, a commitment to write something new here every day. Some days it'll be a meme, some days a rant against the man or work or etc., some days posts of great meaning or esoterica, etc. but something. I can't let displeasure with my current lot in life continue to cripple my writing output, and so the rebound starts here. My request to you, faithful readers and friends: if a full day passes without me posting something new, post a comment to my most recent post demanding I get off my ass and post again.

* * *

Saturday was my grandmother's memorial service. I drove up with my sister Autumn and brought Lash & Aeia along. It was really good to share the trip with Autumn and felt like we connected well and was thankful we got to catch up as much as we did.

I had a lot of trepidation about this trip initially. Everyone in my family has a tendency towards melodrama, grudge keeping, making the occasional scene, and I had my fears this would be the case then as well and am thankful that it just wasn't the case this time, that my grandmother's memorial was filled with the respect and love she deserved. One of my aunts did say to me exactly what I'd been thinking for a couple weeks: "All she ever wanted was to bring everyone together again, and she finally did, and it's sad because it won't happen again except for another situation like this." Which is sadly true. We just aren't the best definition of function.

Many of my family members present, especially the successful ones, hadn't been seen since back when I still worked as an English teacher, and every conversation I had where I had to tell one of them that no, I was no longer teaching and that now I worked in the restaurant service industry (and not as a "real" chef or owner of an eatery) left me feeling lower, pitied. It has me bummed out, but at least I'm working, providing as best I can for my family, my children--that's the thought I have to stay focused with.

Home For the Holidays

Randomly mentionable ephemera:

I need to get one last ingredient today for my award-worthy cranberry sauce and the expectation of it waiting for me come Thursday. And though I have to work Thursday morning, I'm not too bothered over it; it means I get to escape the stress of all the other cooking and entertaining until then.

TV is more and more boring, poorly written, not riveting. . .this season. And then there are gems like Pushing Daisies. Canceled gems. I swear the TV Gods have it in for me: "Hey, check it out, Evan just fell in love with this quirky/entertaining/original show. . .let's make sure no one watches it so it'll tank!" a la Veronica Mars, Wonderfalls, Firefly, Angel. . .I've decided I need to convince the TV Voodoo that I really LOVE everything on the CW, House and the Law & Order franchise, while I really hate the shows I really love. . .

My grandma's memorial is Saturday. I have trepidation.

Blatantly changing painful subjects. . .Black Friday is nearly upon us and I haven't amassed enough crazy wealth yet. That said, if you are someone I would typically be sure to include in holiday gift-giving, I'm likely to just send you a well-wishing note this year in order to focus all my energy on the kidlets. Much love to all.

This has been a very enjoyable quarter for me when it comes to video games. For the first time ever, I have too many new games bought or borrowed that rock and demand my time, and not enough time to play them all equally. For those of you who've been wondering, and don't need full-fledged reviews to convince you (other than my golden word), Little Big Planet, Rock Band 2, Fallout 3 and Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe are all worth their price tags. I am a little annoyed that XBox Live is turning into a clone of the Wii, but am happy to be able to Netflix via my XBox--I might even use that feature now.

Kids are all healthy and happy and enjoying their Thanksgiving breaks. Denise has recently been diagnosed with an amazing number of allergies, and I'm leery of how this will effect the home life for all of us, even if I do want her to have more comfort.

Wow, it's 2 am. . .I should go to bed. 'Night!

50 First Dates

Happy anniversary, Travis & Shel!
It being the "wood" anniversary. . .

Everyday People

Not much of anything going on this past week. Work, chauffeur kids to school, work, play a little Rock Band, work, not get enough sleep. . .repeat daily.

Is it me, or is TV really crappy right now, too?

I got a call from one of my cousins the other day. She's had bronchitis for months that won't go away, and a recent shadow on a chest x-ray. I'm starting to worry my family has a genetic predisposition to turn second-hand smoke exposure into cancer and think I'll be making it a priority for my kids to be checked every few years. And while I'm on this train of thought, it's time for my yearly cancer check-up, so I need to get that scheduled too. I hate getting the contrast CT done, the radiation always makes me sick.

I've been dying for some physical comfort since my grandma passed. A little human security blanket. Denise and I have been working so much, and always opposite shifts, that I almost never even see her anymore.

Freaky Friday

New Halloween pics on facebook.

The kids had a great Halloween. As you'll see, Aeia was a witch, Lash was Boba Fett, Rael was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and Tasmia was a jack o'lantern. We, as usual, did our trick-or-treating together with the Taylors and were out for about two hours. The first hour Rael would come running up to me after every house (he was led to and from every house byLash) to let me know he wanted "more house dad!" During the second hour he started getting tired and demanded I carry his candy bag and Chrissy carry him to each house. He also made sure she knew he wanted to go home with her and "protect her from getting hurt." He was very sweet. As the weather was constntly on the verge of torrential downpours, Tasmia and Denise stayed home.

That day I also had the annual parent-teacher conference for Aeia. She's doing exceptionally well, enough that her teacher suggested we might have her tested as a gifted child. She also shared a writing activity the students had done about their lives that week. Aeia had written about her visit to my grandmother's this summer and how much she loved that time with her. This choked me up a little.

I kept Rael home from "school" that day due to an incident at his HeadStart preschool the day before (the other kids were given the day off by their schools) that left me and Denise needing to discuss whether we could continue trusting his school to supervise him and keep him safe. Rael had decided he wanted to see his brother, so he left his preschool and walked to Lash's school (they're on the same block) looking for Lash, without his preschool (6 adults to watch 18 kids. . .) realizing he'd left. The good staff at Lash's school took him in, protected him and got him returned to where he belonged, while Rael's teachers floundered about. Today I received notification that Rael's school has been cited for this incident and could lose their liscence if any other incidents occur. I can't say that I disagree with this. Of all my kids at that age, Rael is definitely the biggest handful, but taking care of and supervising kids, even energetic ones like Rael, is part of their training and job requirement

As for the rest of life: work sucks. My PS3 had a system update that caused my 3rd party controller to stop working with Little Big Planet so now I need a new controller. I don't feel myself conneting well with others right now and I feel pretty alone. Oh, and it's my turn again to do the part time shifts at the Wal-Mart store, which always completely sucks ass, but at least I don't have to do it on December for the holiday rush.

Patriot Games

My fellow Americans,

In case you've been hiding under a rock, today is election day. Go out and vote, if you haven't already. Vote for more of the same,vote for a blank promise of change, vote for a 3rd party exercise in futility. . .but vote. Some 48% of our eligible voters don't turn out and vote. That isn't sad, it's ridiculous.

Go vote.

The Omen

According to the stats on my log-in, this is my 666th post to this blog. Read into it what you will; not being a Christian I just think it's funny:

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday, dear Tasmia,
Happy birthday to you!

(and a happy birthday to comic creator and friend Batton Lash today as well!)

Legal Eagles

Spent six or so hours today being deposed for our lawsuit against various agencies, then had a stressful shift at work. We'll just say today's been a little frustrating and move on to bigger and better days.

Ferris Bueler's Day Off

My employers were generous enough to give me a day off to mourn. . .

I've spent it fairly numbly surfing the internet, without goal or real interest. I want to thank everyone who has expressed concern, love and/or condolences. I don't really feel any less pain, but it does make my heart grow two sizes knowing that I have people who care. Even so, right now I just feel very, very alone.

I'm not really sure how to reconcile the privacy of the pain and the experience with a life lived in parts publicly via blogging. Should I have not mentioned a thing, mourned alone and resumed posting as normal when I could? Surely it would keep from becoming a spectacle, but somehow it wouldn't feel honest to me. And waiting until I was better to mention her passing off-handedly would just be wrong. Regardless, I intend for this to be the final posting where I dwell a great deal this.

It's easier to "talk" to a computer than it is to a person. Every time I talk to a person about her passing, the tears come running again.

Last week my grandmother had surgery to correct some circulation problems. She's had the surgery before, and worry was relatively low. She called me when she came home on Friday to let me know the surgery went well, to ask if the kids got the camera she'd sent them, and to make sure to tell us she loved us. I'll always be thankful that our last words to each other were expressions of love. She passed away in her sleep on Sunday morning. We don't yet know the cause.

I received the news while our home was filled with guests over for our weekly gaming session (I was in another room for the call). Trying to find a way, the strength, whatever to tell people that you need them to go without telling them why (because the rest of the family shouldn't have learned that way) is a nightmare I would never wish on anyone. I eventually was able to rope Lash in to getting Denise so I could tell her to cancel our session and have everyone leave, after which I told her.

It took some time to gain enough composure to tell Lash and Aeia. They took it hard, but are faring better today. We spent a couple hours just holding each other, me sharing happy memories I had of her with them, they sharing their own happy memories of her with me. Then I went to sleep for a couple hours. . .and Aeia stayed with and watched over me while I slept.

My first news on waking was that my grandmother, as per her wishes, was not going to have a service (there will be a memorial in December). This brought on another bout of crushing despair. I don't feel as if I'll be able to say my good byes without one.

I ate something. Posted my previous post and concurrent Facebook status and commenced to numbly watching television.

Today, all I've wanted to do is sleep, but Denise still had to work and the kids needed me up, aware, capable and caring, which I have been. Tomorrow is also going to be very stressful for unrelated reasons.

Denise has been here for me, supporting me as much as I've asked, a little more than I've asked, actually, as I have trouble ever asking for much.

I have so many good memories to celebrate. And as soon as the hurting lessens, I'll get right on that.

Thanks again.

Sudden Impact

In my life, the relative to whom I've always been closest in my heart (after Denise and the children), is my grandmother. She passed away today. I'm not ok.

Friday

Before the more painful events of Wednesday night, I took the kids to Toys R'Us to pick out Halloween costumes and look into getting a second controller for my PS3. Halloween costuming was easy enough: Lash is going to be Boba Fett, Aeia is going to be a witch again, Rael is going to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and Tasmia is likely to be a jack-o-lantern. Anyway, you'll see pictures after the day comes and goes, so more on this then.

In the PS3 aisle I spied that they had Little Big Planet (which, if you didn't already know, is THE primary game I've been looking forward to for the PS3 for a good six or more months now), having forgotten that it was supposed to have been released the day previous. With a bit of heroclix sales money still burning my frivolous meter, I scooped it up and we finished our shopping. At the teller, the scanner refused to sell me the game; manually entering the upc code refused to sell me the game. A manager was retrieved, the release date was verified and then the manager repeated the same check-out attempts that refused me before. And was refused again. The manager was kind enough to apologize, knock ten bucks off for the hassle and entered in a charge for a generic item so that I could take my game and they could figure out their problem. I leave the game unopened and wait 'til my day off to open and explore it.

The game, a puzzle platformer, extremely cutesy, is super fun and addictive on its own merits as just a puzzle platformer. However, the even bigger draw, and one that I think could change the face of video game programming, is the ability to also build entire new levels of your own from scratch, play them and post them online for everyone else to play them. It's a fantastic little toy (and now I need to get the Playstation Eye so I can even more greatly utilize this aspect of the game) and I totally dig it.

Unfortunately, whenever I tried to connect to the online aspects, I got an error message. I checked, everything else was connecting ok, even other games on the PS3, the PS3 store, etc, just not Little Big Planet, so I went online and researched whether there was a bug or an update I needed, only to discover that the game's online servers weren't up for anyone at the moment, and wouldn't be up before the game was released. That isn't a typo. It turns out that the original print run of the game was recalled by Sony because one level's music track contained a song that had lyrics that included a line or two from the Quran and they were afraid of offending Muslims (let's not dwell on how further research has found some bigger Muslim groups have come out to say they aren't that bothered by it and that there are more important offenses for them to worry about in the world than a child's video game that has two lyrics from a passage in their holy book) and that a new cut of the game would be released with the music track from that level changed. Depending on where you live, you could get the new cut of the game as early as this coming Monday, or sometime around November 7th.

So I've been enjoying a new game that wasn't supposed to be released to me yet, with a $10 discount. I'm ok with it, and I'm not offended by the music in the first level of world three in the slightest.

Max Payne

Wednesday night (or technically Thursday morning, around 1 a.m., shortly after Denise came home from work) was a painful night for me. It was very late; Denise and I had just gotten Rael into the shower with Denise upon discovering he'd soiled himself in his sleep and I went to descend the stairs and retrieve the sleeping Tasmia for bed.

Around the third step from the top, I missed the step completely and ended up falling down the entire flight of stairs. This was not a fun experience.

All told, I tore one of my toes up, all bloodied and gross, the toenail bent off. Another of my toes hurts a great deal. My entire right foot, right wrist and forearm have bad rug burn (our stairway is carpeted) and I sustained a nasty welt above my left elbow. I also hink I might have been very mildly concussed.

The next day at work, my boss was kind enough to assign me to back drive-thru for the majority of my shift, where moving around would be very minimal. A lot of standing though, which is when I came to discover I'd hurt my side and sored up my back as well.

I did a lot of resting Thursday evening, and had Friday off for more rest, which was nice. As of today, I still have a lot of pain in one toe, and the burn on the same foot is still very tender to the touch, but otherwise I think I'm ok.

Book of Kings

Some of you longer-term readers may remember my previous disgruntlements over the laziness of our postman when it comes to the recycling bin being too close to our mailbox and refusal to deliver our mail when this occurs. This extends to many other things too, and since I live in an apartment complex predominantly populated by college kids, it seems at least once a week I'm moving some sort of misplaced trash from behind our mailbox and into our dumpster so that we can continue getting our mail. . .so last night when I get home from work around one in the morning, I see two sizable piles of refuse behind our mailbox and let out an unhappy groan. I'm already dirty and grungy from work so I may as well deal with it promptly than to let it sit.

When I get over to the garbage I have to stop myself a moment. My initial reaction is "Holy shit, Denise has kicked me out of the house without telling me! What did I do this time?" Why, you might ask? Because I find myself staring at two sizable piles of books, almost all hardcovers and, from what I can see, almost entirely Stephen King (which anyone to visit my home would be able to say is a fair assessment of my own library--a lot lot lot of Stephen King hardcovers). Upon closer inspection I stop having my mini paranoid experience, as there are also books I've never seen, as well as books that are very much not the editions I own.

All told there's probably about fifty books, three-quarters of which are hardcover editions of SK novels and all seemed to still be in good condition (some old, some a bit scuffed, but no weather damage from being next to our garbage for somewhere between one and eight hours) and there was just no way I could ever bring myself to throw away all those books. So now I have two giant boxes full of books that I need to sort through, decide if any are to be kept and what to do with the rest.

Why somebody would just throw their library away is beyond me, but whoever you are dude, I suggest you kiss your wife's ass and make up already before she throws out your electronics.

Time Bandits

I'm in a fairly bad place right now, but rather than talk about that I'd like to talk about something that hasn't come up for a while: Stephen King's epic serial novel, The Dark Tower and some new revelations I've had into reading it. I've come to rethink my entire take on the series based on the one immutable fact that Roland Deschain is actually the greatest evil of all in the series, and doesn't realize it. That Roland is an agent of chaos attempting to destroy the natural order in things. I apologize to any readers who are unfamiliar with the series, as I spoil plenty and otherwise won't make much sense to you. Now readers of the Tower, ask yourselves a few questions, realize a few things:

If the beams are meant to be eternal, why are their keepers all frail and mortal things? There isn't a set of rules in place to create new caretakers of the varied beams, and all of the caretakers still extant in the series are near death in one form or another. The answer, of course, is that the beams aren't meant to be eternal. The great wheel turns, the world moves on. For everyone except Roland.

Benjamin Franklin defines insanity as "doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." By the end of the series we discover that Roland has done this all before. The insinuation is made that Roland has done this before many, many times. All to the same result.

The natural order of the universe is to tend towards death, decay and then rebirth. Roland is an enemy of nature as his ultimate goal is to stop the world from moving on, which is ultimately a crime against nature. The Tower actually tries to teach Roland this lesson early in the series by killing Jake in book one and rebirthing him in book two. Roland's too busy vowing to do right by Jake this time (which he ultimately doesn't do anyway) than realizing that Jake is a message: stop fighting the universe and let the natural order of things progress the way they are meant.

Jake isn't enough of a lesson to Roland, however. The Tower also tries to clue Roland in on the evils inherent in his actions via the other partnerships it sends him: an addict, mule and dealer of hard drugs; a woman with a fractured personality whose every personality is a psychopath; a fallen and faithless priest. All of them have a nugget of purity in them, true, and what better lesson is there for Roland than a realization that even those who might think they have the right motives in mind can still be wholly wrong and doing the wrong thing? The Tower surrounds him with bad people so that he can realize his mission is, in fact, flawed and wrong.

Forgive if I'm too blunt in reiterating this: in retrospect, our hero Roland Deschain is actually the bad guy. And if you think about it, most of the world's biggest bads have all fancied themselves good guys, saviors, benevolent, etc.: Hitler, Bush, Christian Crusaders, Catholic Inquisitors, Doctor Doom. . .

For a time this realization that Roland is the bad guy, that his entire quest is flawed and abhorrent to the natural progression of the universe, that Jake dies (twice) in the service of helping the bad guys. . .troubled me. Why does King have us follow this for seven increasingly large novels? And the only answer that rises to the top for me is this--that the Dark Tower is in fact a morality play for the rest of us to stop trying to control the universe, to stop trying to fight nature, and to let the world be what it needs to be and just live in it.

Just live in it, people. And live in it well.

Hi-Fidelity

Top 5 Things I Have Been Fallaciously Called This Week (I Shan't Elaborate):
1. A druggie
2. A Christian
3. A minor
4. A racist
5. A pussy

Care to suggest any of these are actually true?

Canadian Bacon

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday, dear Adrienne,
Happy birthday to you!
eh.

The Neverending Story

What holiday is your birthday closest to? Father's Day.

Where was the last house you went to besides your house? Um. . .the Taylors' I think.

Has anyone ever said you looked like a celebrity? Yes; I can think of three, agree with none of them--any guesses?

Do you have freckles? A very few.

How do you like your steak cooked? Bloody.

What is the best thing in your refrigerator right now? I think there's some hard salami calling my name.

Were you ever rushed by an ambulance into the emergency room? Yes.

Have you ever seen a dead body? Yes.

What's the first thing you did this morning? Vomit up bile.

The last website you visited? Amazon.com.

Is anything alive in your room? There's life in absolutely every room. Microscopic bacteria exist pretty much everywhere people do, and the statistics on spiders per square foot in domestic dwellings pretty much guarantee there's some in every room of the house (goodness knows I have to kill enough in the downstairs restroom often enough).

When is the last time you ate peanut butter and jelly? Maybe a month or so.

Do you have a desk in your room? I do.

What happened at 9:00 am today? I woke up and headed to the restroom to vomit bile.

What is the last thing someone bought you? My boss bought me a 7-Up this morning.

Do you plan on moving in the next year? I hope

What were you doing at 8:30 pm last Saturday night? I was home enjoying Rock Band 2.

Do you have a job? It's not just a job, it's an adventure! A shitty adventure.

What are you doing right now besides this survey? Watching X-Play and hoping Rael successfully went pee in his potty.

What are your plans tomorrow? Work.

Have you ever done something outrageously dumb? Not at all.

Who was the last person you saw? That I don't live with? Tonia.

What was the last movie you watched? Hmm. Tropic Thunder.

Have you ever cried when you're mad? Of course.

Is there anyone you wish was still in your life that passed away? A couple folks, yeah.

Name something that made you mad today! Gravity pisses me off. All. The. Time.

What were you doing at 12:00 today? Playing register jockey at a fast food joint.

Is there anybody you wish would fall off the planet? More than one.

What were you doing an hour ago? Stripping down from my work clothes.

What was the last thing you said aloud? "Aeia, go make sure Rael made it to the potty and let me know if he didn't."

3 different things you will drink today? Not much of the day left, hmm. . .:water, Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi, maybe a small glass of juice.

Is success in your future? I'm sure to find many successes in the future, it's more a question of successes that matter, because who really cares if I can rock out on Hard guitar and Expert vocals on Rock Band 2?

Are you a heavy sleeper? Usually only if I've been drinking, which is fairly infrequently.

Was today a good day? It was fair.

How do you feel about Valentine's Day? Ambivalent.

How is your hair? It effing rocks. It's one of my finest physical qualities.

Are you typically a jealous person? Not particularly but I do have my moments.

Do you chew on straws? Nope.

What's on your mind? My scalp.

Terminator

A typical occasion of Denise and I watching television:

Denise: Hey, is that River Tam?
Me: No, that's Cameron. She's a Terminator. River Tam is a character on Firefly.
Denise: *sighs* I know. I meant is that the actress who played River Tam?
Me: Yep, that's Summer Glau. . .

This sort of conversation happens a lot, enough that it's had me noticing more and more how all of us seem to have our personal cache of actors whom we identify more as the parts they play than as the actors they are.

I do it all the time; Josh Jackson may be in Fringe now (which I find terribly not entertaining and have already stopped watching after the Jurassic Park episode) but he will always, always be Pacey (as Van Der Beek will always be Dawson to me, but oddly enough Katie Holmes is Katie Holmes). I go giddy at Veronica Mars being a cast member on Heroes now (and Weevil too!), even if I'd like a more interesting direction for her character.

Lash is so much like this that he recognizes voice actors for animation and refers to them as the various Titans, X-Men and JLA members they've played.

Is it disrespectful to the actor to not bother with their real name (a la the "Brenda" line from Ethan Suplee at Shannon Doherty in Mallrats)? Or is it more a testament to their impact on our hearts, our psyches, our whateverness that they have a character that imprints on us so strongly that we refer back to them as such?

Most of all, I'm curious: which actors are like this for you?

Changing Lanes

Hey, they can't all be birthday posts. . .even if today is my mother's birthday, and I'll have another one to post in a little over a week.

As a quick aside, I actually like the eponymous movie for this post, even though I'm not typically a fan of any of the principal cast. There are exceptions to everything, I guess.

Some inquiring minds have wanted to know: I am still currently in the fast food management job. After I put in my notice, they rebutted with an offer of more money, an offer which my sense of responsibility and Denise thought I shouldn't refuse--putting us a little bit better financially until I can move on to something more in line with what I want to do with my life (and a nod to friends who have put the idea of relocation out there--I actually will be expanding our focus to include Washington and Canada after the outcome of certain other things are resolved).

Right now, what I most need to do is get myself properly motivated to continue working on story pitches, writing said stories, and trying to get them out there. There are a couple small comics presses I've had my eye on and have kept from moving in on for whatever reason. While I'm thankful to Sean for trying to help me get work at Elfin, I haven't had any response from them to my pitch, so I plan to rework it and try to shop it around somewhere else as well, since I think it's a pretty darn good fantasy story and I want to share it. So, have to move on with that one as well. If anyone wants to volunteer to be my motivational nag, that'd be cool but I'd probably grow to hate you almost as much as I already surely love you.

I feel like there are aspects of my personal life in massive flux right now as well. I feel like many of my friendships are on the cusp of redefinition and something (nostalgia? fear of change?) is keeping me from acknowledging and nurturing these changes in my various relationships: people I feel growing closer, people growing apart, people I want to grow closer. . .such is life.

Neither here nor there: ADJ, I don't believe I've seen any response from you regarding Steph's resurrection and the silence on this is killing me.

Speaking of comics, my quest for an HDTV has me selling more of mine here. Help a brother out, eh? Besides, my friends get shipping discounts.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday, dear Lash,
Pride of my life and fantastic kid,
Happy birthday to you.

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday, dear Bandito,
Happy birthday to you!

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday, dear Chrissy,
Happy birthday to you!

Yay!



***

And to my old friend Robin Brokenshire (now Williams), happy birthday to you too.

Click

So far today we've seen two black-outs/brown-outs whatever they're called these days, at Casa de Peterson. While not fun, especially when you have to re-set so many clocks (why oh why do we have so many clocks?), it's even less fun for the kids who freak out when the house suddenly goes pitch black on them (though it somehow made Tasmia decide it was time for bed, for which I'm grateful).

The other thing I hate about powerloss? Powersurges when they come back on. Despite being connected through surge protectors, this power outtage seems to have killed Lash's television. If I want to allow him video game time as a reward for doing chores, homework, just being awesome, I need to look for a new tv for him. TV was perfectly good before too. Damn. Now when you plug it in it just clicks over and over again constantly. Le sigh. I think the surge may have damaged my wireless router too, as it seems to crap out about every half hour or so now (and if it happens mid-posting of this I will kill).

Grr, argh.

At least I was planning to do another big culling of old comic books in my quest for an hd tv this weekend. If I ever get close enough to that, I can always give Lash the tv in the family room. Crossing fingers (a big wish there, comics are so fickle in how lucrative they;ll be on ebay).

Splash

I'm a little muddled, a little scattered. Haven't felt well at all the last few days, but think I'm way overdue for giving this blog some attention. Seriously, I've been a bad blogger ever since returning to the McWorkforce.

How's my month been so far?

The kids have returned to school and are enjoying it as usual. A couple Saturdays have passed without Rock Banding; this is cause for a little sadness.

I finally have my PS3. Tired of slowly saving up for it and then needing to spend the money on something else, I sold off about a third of my heroclix collection and got the requisite money--only to spend the day discovering that every store in town was out, every online vendor I would usually go to (Amazon, BestBuy...) was out. No way was I getting a used one on eBay or Craigslist, or anywhere. On a whim, despite being told by the clerk at Circuit City that they were even sold out online, I went to their website anyway and, sure enough, they were still available and two days later I had my pretty new toy. Shiney. Now I need to save up slash sell something and upgrade to an HD television set and really enjoy it.

I've finally seen the first half of the Dark Knight and, so far, it is not all that or a bag of chips. Maybe the full film will see it prove otherwise. Of course, I am hard to please cinematically. I finally saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall as well and thought it had funny moments but was still only ok.

I'm a little bummed that I haven't had as much opportunity to enjoy this summer as I have in previous summers; I feel bad the kids didn't get to enjoy it as much either. Damn fires. Damn working weekends. Meh.

As if I didn't have enough time wasters--I usually spend an hour or so a week on sporcle. Can you name all of the planets in Star Wars? Because I can.

It is a sad sad day today in Casa de Peterson. Lash's beloved three year-old goldfish passed away. We're supposed to have the grand tank cleansing ceremony sometime tonight as well, keep it bare for a couple weeks in memorial and then start getting new fish to die and prep the water for the next long-timer. Lash is ok, but it was pretty upsetting to him this morning.

Sixteen Candles

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday, dear Aimee,
Happy Birthday to you!

Kisses and hugs.

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle

I have a new favourite hated customer type in fast food land: the bad parent.

As a unique example, we recently had a family come through the drive-thru. They had a young toddler, maybe two years old, in the car seat with a small microwave pizza on a plate while they drove through to get McMeals for themselves. Now any parent knows you don't go to the land of McMeals with your very young children without them expecting McMeals for Kids all their own. The kid was crying because she wasn't getting a McMeal and she wanted one (now let me interject--I am fully behind the idea that a child behaving inappropriately needs discipline, but I think disciplines need to be appropriate as well). The parents, getting frustrated with the child's crying, grabbed her pizza, threw it out the car window and made it clear she wouldn't eat at all then. In a year of extreme asshole customers, this is the first and only one whose meal earned itself being messed with as we then set out to short serve them old fries, soda that was 90% water, etc.

As a general example, working the night shift, we invariably get an average of 15 or so families who come through between the hours of 10pm and midnight to buy happy McMeals for their kids. Now some have pointed out that these could be people stopping in off the highway on their travels, or coming home extremely late from an event of somesort (usually something sporting and involving older kids). To the latter, while it could be possible at times, not for all of them and not for every night (and if I know I'm going to be unable to pick up food for my kids 'til after 10 I pick something healthier up before the event and bring it along for them to eat at a reasonable hour). To the former, our McBurger is not located right off of or very near a highway exit, while there are McBurgers located at both the northmost and southmost highway exits in our town, much more easily accessible and visible to any people travelling through.

So no, predominantly this is a group of people who just seem to think that after 10pm is a good time to feed their kids. I guess they should be applauded for remembering to feed their kids at all.

***

My week has been riddled with a few bouts of annoyances, disappointments and aggravations, but I don't want to air them out all that much. Moving on, that's my motto for the day.

Summer vacation for Lash and Aeia is almost over and I am so very ready for it.

Short Circuit

So our DSL went out for four or so days, very frustrating. It's amazing how much you don't realize how much something is a standard part of your day until it's taken away. But the smoke is finally gone so we got some extra face time with our friend Chrissy, played some cards & Rock Band, did some swimming. But all of that is perhaps for another post, this is all the harrowing experience that is AT&T tech support:

When the DSL goes out, I do all the things necessary on my end: check all the connections, turn off the modem and router for a while to let them reboot, wait a day to call and complain in case it's an issue they're already on top of (uually this means I'm going to borrow a neighbours wifi signal), check all the connections again, reboot the computers, etc.

After a day of this not working I call AT&T. With them, I spend five or so minutes with their awful automated support system (I most hate having to talk at a computer while it tries to decipher my words: "If this is a connection issue, say connection" "connection" "I'm sorry, I couldn't quite understand. If this is a connection issue, say connection" "connection" "I'm sorry, I. . ." "connection! CONNECTION! CoNECTion! Connection!"

Eventually the automated service walks me through all of the modem reboots, wire connections etc. that I have already done multiple times before it will then let me talk to a real person.

And so I'm finally connected to some quiet speaking thick accented support person from an outsourced customer service position overseas. This is our conversation:

Techie: Have you tried our technical troubleshooting help at helpme.att.net first, they have alot of ways to walk you through what may be your issue, sir.

Me: If I could get on the internet to use your help page I wouldn't be needing to call you about not being able to use my internet, would I.

Techie: (she chuckles here, "oh how silly, how funny" Argh).

She then wants to walk me through rebooting my modem & router, rechecking my connections, etc. Even though I tell her I've done this repeatedly, even though the automated tech had me do this again not ten minutes prior. . .

So finally they agree to make an appointment for someone to actually come out and check on my outside lines, my modem, etc. Only they won't be out for four more days (we're on day 3 with no dsl already at this point). Sigh. I complain, they agree to try to move me forward.

Then we begin receiving calls from their automated system reminding us to cancel our appointment if the problem corrects itself. Then we get the call that the appointment is moved up 2 days (yes). And then the morning of the appointment, the problem corrects itself.

Sigh

Silent Hill

This past Saturday I got my nipples pierced. It hurt. A lot. Very few other pains in life that I have experienced do I recall hurting more. I'd rather sport an eyebrow piercing but, well, that would make me less employable. Interestingly enough, my piercer turned out to be someone I already knew IRL, my friend Bandito's band-mate Dirty Jim. "I got my nipples pierced by Dirty Jim" doesn't exactly sound the safest, eh?

Saturday I also invited a coworker to join our regular Rock Band get-together, and she brought one of her friends. And J&J both were fairly ogling and gawky. I hadn't the heart to tell them that the ladies were gay (so very many of my Burger Workers are. An unusually large percentage of the population). All had a blast, as usual.

Retrieved Lash & Aeia from my grandmother on Sunday. Both had a fantastic time on their trip & I'm glad they got to have this special family time they normally don't get as much of. Things are quickly back to noisy normal here.

Work still sucks, but they convinced me to stay (ok, Denise did) and I will continue looking in earnest for something better. Sigh. Denise has some tests she needs to take tomorrow for job qualifications of her own. Loots of luck being wished on that one.

The wildfires here in northern California continue to blaze. There has been very little of this summer that's been smoke-free and safe for the kids to play outside, swim, etc. This is frustrating. I've friends with homes in danger, and this worries me (we had some stay with us one night while they were evacuated. I can't imagine how horrible the feeling is for them). I just want the fires to end. There's been so much ash and smoke thick in the air for so long that I'm beginning to feel like I live in Silent Hill. And it's very hard on me and my incomplete set of lungs as well. Sigh.

I have tomorrow off. A little job searching and some decent r&r would be nice.

Next time...

Waiting

I've been boring. I'm going to work on that.

Eldest kids are at my grandmother's this week, camping, fishing, meeting new relatives, having a fantastic time. Lash caught his first fish and apparently really dug it. I only wish I could have been there.

Haven't seen any of the movies I want to see yet, and am more likely not to at this point. Bummer. Ah well.

Oh boy did my birthday suck. Really, really suck. I don't want to elaborate, though as I am now past that. But it s-u-c-k-e-d sucked.

Still waiting for news on my pitch, which will go slower now that it's convention season...working on something new though for another small press.

Saturday nights are becoming a regular Rock Band party here, which has been fun.

Friday the 13th

How often am I going to be able to sync that title with the day it airs? I'm sure there are people out there who actually know this, or who will feel the sudden urge to look it up--it was rhetorical.

Lemme see, things I may not have touched upon in the last postings. . .

Lash's baseball season is over. Unfortunately, Lash was the very last out of the very last inning of the very last game and some of his teammates used that to try and make him feel as if it was his fault they lost. . .because he's so powerful that team sports are entirely under his control one way or the other. Anyway, I'm glad baseball is over. With one car and conflicting work schedules, transportation was a logistical nightmare.

Speaking of cars, we purchased a new one at the auction while Adam was up visiting. It stopped starting the next day and I brought it in to the shop this morning. Turns out it wasn't starting for purely aesthetic and retarded reasons on my part that we won't get in to, but bringing it in was good as it needed a new front axle and had a bad oil problem, so that was taken care of. Needs a tune up still, coolant hoses replaced and such, but that can wait 'til I can get help from friends rather than paying another $400+ I don't have to mechanics.

Adam visited last weekend. We had a very pleasant time hosting him. A lot of geeky comic book conversation happened, as did the same "I must know NOW" conversation I had with ADJ earlier this year. Played cards, did movies, etc. I am repeating myself some here, I know.

Some of my sunburning from that weekend is still really bad, and that sucks. Have been worrying about friends in nearby wildfire ridden Paradise. Not fun. Have been checking out 4th Edition--don't think it's going to be for us. I said this about 3rd too. . .stupid hobbies. This week the defendants in our lawsuit decided to bog us down in paperwork--that will not stop us. But it blows anyway.

My darling friend Cammie gets married tomorrow. Congratulations, sweetie.

Bored yet?

Interview With a Vampire

Feeling entirely like it's time again for silly meme action, here are two which came my way via ladies I love:

Un:

Two names you go by: Ev, D-Slash

Two things you are wearing right now: Boxer-briefs, glasses and rings are all I have on right now.

Two of your favorite things: Stressing the word things, which allows me to not worry about hurting people feelings: Rock Band and bed.

Two things you want very badly at the moment: A better job and a long soak in a very steamy jaccuzzi.

Two favorite pets you have/had: Cujo and Isis, both RIP I believe.

Two things you did last night: Swam, exposed Adam to Veronica Mars.

Two things you ate today: A Big Mac, some cheese.

Last two people you talked to: Nia and Donyai.

Two things you plan on doing tomorrow: Testing out my new wireless guitar controller for Rock Band and reading a book, probably the new Anita Blake.

Two longest trips taken in the last five years: Our San Diego trip in 2004 and our trip to Stockton in 2007 are the only trips I've taken in the past five years. Sigh.

Two favorite holidays: Halloween and Walpurgis Nacht.

Two favorite beverages: Anything involving mixtures of coffee, cream and chocolate; Cherry Cola Zero.

Segundo:

100 useless facts about me!

Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed?
Open; I don't think our doors can close with the bit of perennial clutter situated at them.

Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotels?
No, I'm very particular about shampoo quality and have yet to see hotel stuff meet my needs.

Have you ever 'done it' in a hotel room?
Why yes, yes I have.

Have you ever stolen a street sign before?
I missed this calling in life.

Are you eating anything right now?
Nope, but I am drinking some Propel.

Who do you think reads these?
the internet, Aimee, Devon and ADJ.

Do you have a calendar in your room?
Yes, but I believe it's a couple years out of date.

Where are you?
Sitting on the couch.

What's your plan for the day?
After sleeping, enjoying my day off with the kids and stuff.

Are you reading any books right now?
Yeah, some anthology of fantasy stuff.

Do you ever count your steps when you walk?
Not often enough to think about whether I ever do.

Have you ever peed in the woods?
Does the Pope look like an evil muppet?

Do you ever dance even if there's no music playing?
I may have been known to do this on rare occasion, usually with children.

What is your "Song of the Week"?
All You Need is Love, the Beatles

Is it okay for guys to wear pink?
I wear it all the damn time.

Do you still watch cartoons?
With four kids, I see cartoons most every day, unless they're watching Cloverfield incessantly.

Whats your favorite love movie?
Across the Universe or A Life Less Ordinary are in strong contention with each other here.

What do you drink with dinner?
Diet soda usually.

What do you dip Chicken Nuggets in?
Honey.

What is your favorite food/cuisine?
Thai

What movies could you watch over and over and still love?
The aforementioned love movies, The Big Lebowski, the New Jersey Sextet, Juno, many others I'm sure, these are just the ones that leap to mind first.

Were you ever a boy/girl scout?
I was almost a Weebalow.

Would you ever strip or pose nude in a magazine?
Stealing Cammie's answer:
Who says I haven't?

When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper?
I wrote one a couple months ago--March.

Can you change the oil in a car?
Yes.

Ever gotten a speeding ticket?
Yes, but only once of the many many times I've been pulled over.

Run out of gas?
Only metaphorically.

Favorite kind of sandwich?
I really, really am not a sandwich fan.

Best thing to eat for breakfast?
Fruit and water, some juice.

What is your usual bedtime?
1ish

Are you lazy?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no, often in long streaks of one or the other.

When you were a kid, what did you dress up as for Halloween?
I can recall only one Halloween outfit, a devil.

Do you have any magazine subscriptions?
Entertainment Weekly, Advocate, Instinct.


Which are better, legos or lincoln logs?
Legos!

Are you stubborn?
Usually.

Who is better Leno or Letterman?
I'll go with Letterman entirely because of how he handled the writer's strike.

Ever watch soap operas?
When I was a kid at my grandmas, the only channels she got during the day showed soaps, so yeah.

Afraid of heights?
Not usually, no.

Sing in the car?
If there's music to sing along with, always.

Dance in the car?
No, not really.

Ever used a gun?
I have, yes.

Do you think musicals are cheesy?
musicals are awesome

Is Christmas stressful?
Yeah, a bit.

Favorite type of fruit pie?
Cherry

Occupations you wanted to be when you were a kid?
firefighter, stunt man

Do you believe in ghosts?
yes

Ever have a deja-vu feeling?
yes

Do you take a vitamin daily?
no, but I should

Wear slippers?
No

Wear a bath robe?
No

What do you wear to bed?
A grin

Wal-Mart, Target or K-Mart?
Target


Nike or Adidas?
Adidas all the way. This is Run's House.

Cheetos Or Fritos?
I have a lot of nostalgia attached to Chester the Cheetah, nostalgia only my friend Tassy would probably understand.

Peanuts or Sunflower seeds?
Sunflower seeds.

Ever hear of "gorp"?
I will after I Google it.

Ever taken karate?
I have taken aikido.

Can you curl your tongue?
I have that genetic trait, yeah.

Ever won a spelling bee?
I've never been in one.

Have you ever cried because you were so happy?
yes

Own a record player?
No longer

Ever been in love?
yes

Hot tea or cold tea:
Cold

Tea or coffee?
Cold coffee

Favorite kind of cookie?
oatmeal chocolate chip

Can you swim well?
I can swim ok and can hold my breath really well.

Can you hold your breath without manually holding your nose?
Absolutely

Are you patient?
I can be.

Ever had plastic surgery?
no

Which are better black or green olives?
black

Can you knit or crochet?
nope

Wash room or bathroom?
Bathroom

Do you want to get married?
Maybe.

Do you cry and throw a fit until you get your own way?
Um, no. I just do what I want.

Do you have kids?
yes - vier.

Do you want kids?
More? Maybe.

Who do you wanna see right now?
The person I am IMing as I write this.

I'm Not There

A couple weeks ago Tasmia had her regular baby check-up and they detected a heart murmur, so today was the echocardiogram to test whether the murmur is a problem or not (again, not there due to Burger Emporium not giving me the time off requested). I hadn't mentioned any of it here before because I didn't want to put it out there and give Denise more to fret over. So anyway, they won't have an answer as to what the echo showed until next week, so we still wait wait wait, but with less fretting under the assumption that if there was something overly worrisome, it would have shown in their reactions. Anyway, good vibes and all that jazz please.

Rael is fine, thanks.

Lash's regular baseball season is over,but his team did well enough that they're in the local play-offs (play-off record of 1-1, two losses will eliminate them). He's still enjoying them greatly and work has kept me from viewing as many as I'd have liked.

The kids finished school today. Both did spectacular on their report cards. Next year Lash will be in 6th and Aeia 3rd grade. Lash had a great time at Whiskeytown Environmental Camp too. Groovy.

I'm working on a couple new writing pitches with another company in mind--spreading out my writing search.

Rock Band is still my mistress but some of its idiosyncrasies leave me a little ambivalent. My band with John and Brian is named "The Gay Cabelleros" and Microsoft chimed in when we selected this to let us know that the name was unacceptable for online/community standards and we wouldn't be able to play on XboxLive without changing the band name (we haven't, and I rock it hard with my pink chaps and cowboy hat). Then, when Aeia was singing "This ain't a scene, it's an arms race" by Fall Out Boy, I realized another quirky censorship issue of theirs: in the chorus when he repeatedly sings "god damn arms race" Rock Band has "god" deleted, it's just a silent vocal beat there, but "damn" is still there. Funny, not ha-ha, to me as I would have prefered Aeia not saying "damn" over her saying "god." Funky. All of the songs are radio edits (which is no different from Guitar Hero), so no "so fucking special" in "Creep," etc.

Still, extremely super fun and addicting. Just waiting for EA to send me my replacement for the defective guitar that came with it; thankfully the GH guitar works with Rock Band (but not vice-versa, grr).

Work. . .blows. And we've added more things to the menu that I won't eat.

Old friend Adam is coming up for a visit this weekend, am looking forward to some groovy hang-out time, see the Hulk, go buy another auction car. Good times.

M*A*S*H*

Let's see. . .

Denise was very nice to me and got me my birthday gift from her early--Rock Band for the Xbox 360. I am now so very completely breaking up with Guitar Hero. I'm not even going to return her calls. I'm sure we'll still have make-up music together, though. At least until Rock Band gets some Primus and Modest Mouse up in there to go with all the far superior music selection it has. I spent Friday night with Lash and Aeia rocking it out. Spent most of Saturday with John, Josh and Brian also rocking it out, with some duet action with me and Denise on Saturday and today. Great fun. I got a little 'tude earlier today, apologized for it and thought everything was fine, but apparently not. . . anyhow, super super super fun game. Thanks, Denise.

Tuesday Lash left for Whiskeytown Environmental camp and won't be back 'til Friday. I know that Rael, Aeia and I are all missing him (I imagine Denise does too, but she hasn't mentioned anything to me. . .).

Today (the 28th) was Rael's third birthday--we're waiting 'til Lash gets back so we can celebrate as a unit on Saturday.

Unfortunately, while I was at work Rael started having seizures and a skyrocketing fever. Denise ambulanced him to the hospital, and Chrissy was wonderful enough to come over and care for the other kids. Burger Hades didn't think it was enough of a family emergency to let me have a different manager come in and work a double shift so I could leave and be with my son. I feel a little postal (Dev--don't bring this up at work, please). I seriously need a new direction.

And I continue to wait, wait, wait for a sign on my writing pitch. Keep those good vibes continually flowing. At least no news isn't necessarily bad news.

Back from that intermission--the docs ran tests on Rael and couldn't find any definitive thing wrong with him, so diagnosed him with a "virus" and let him come home. I want to have confidence in the doctors (you know how I really feel). I want the doctors to be right. Fuck that, I just want Rael to be all right.

Ranting is done for now. My throat hurts; my head hurts; my heart hurts; my eyes hurt; my finger hurts; my feet hurt; it's beddy-bye for me.

EDIT: Today Rael is, while a small bit warm, running around, playing, jabber-jawing, digging on old Transformers season one cartoons. . .being his usual self again. Glee.

Running on Empty

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday, dear Drew,
Happy birthday to you.

***

Today I have a day of freedom from work so that I can sit with the kids while she tests for the job mentioned in the previous post. I hope to be able to work on some more writing and do a bit of job seeking myself.

If I don't change jobs before then, I've discovered that my next level of burger education will take place during three days in June that include my birthday: June 17-19. Still, though, there's no communication as to what these classes would mean for me promotion and/or salary wise, so I'm not exactly excited or anything, since I don't see a carrot dangled before me.

I've rediscovered my least favorite part of submitting creative work: waiting waiting waiting waiting. Sigh. If I get this it will be a major lift to my morale when it comes to motivating myself to push harder for more creative work. But as the genius of Tom Petty says, the waiting is the hardest part.

I'm not getting along well with a bunch of people right now. Not that any of them are actually putting forth any effort to get along with me either. It makes me a lot more introspective and self-assessing.

Last night I watched the assassination of Robert Redford by the coward Brad Pitt, or whatever it was called. . .it mostly bored me. It was quite pleasant to see Zoe Deschanel in yet another singing role in a film, though. Which reminds me, my copy of Across the Universe is malfunctioning so I need to go visit Amazon soon for a replacement.

So, surely someone has seen it--how is Indiana Jones and the Case of Crystal Pepsi?

Short Circuit

Number five is alive, baby.

Seriously though, I don't have any reason for not blogging lately. My output's been absolutely pitiful the last few months--sorry folks. What can I say? I will endeavor to rededicate my efforts here in order to be a little more entertaining for you. I have, however, been a busy beaver.

I've been working on a writing project that I'm still in the superstitious "too much talk will jinx me" stage, so without giving more information than that, bear with me, and wish me well. When I get out of the jinxy superstitious stage I'll surely be much more talkative about it.

My work at Burgeropolis moves along as it always does. Though I'm happily no longer twice-weekly exiled to the satellite store at Burgerburb. There's a high chance of me going to further burger classes next month too, which will line me up for better pay, benefits, etc. while I continue trying to improve my life beyond Burgeropolis.

Personally, I'm almost entirely a happy guy. There is one, one point in my life where this is quite not the case, and hasn't been for a while, but Denise and I continue to work at that and that is all I can really ask or hope for. Read-between-the-liners can note this is me making it clear that above all things I'm putting life and marriage first here and things are getting better.

The kids are great. Tasmia is a lot more mobile, which is of course nerve-wracking as you have to become hyper-aware of your entire surroundings now, especially when you also have a toddler who actively throws small choke hazards on the floor.

Rael is a lot more communicative, which we know was once a worry of mine. For whatever reason he just decided to take a really long time developing his linguistic abilities. Now he won't shut up. But he's adorable.

Aeia sang at a school talent show last week. Work kept me from attending, but I'm told she did well singing some Kelly Clarkson song. When I let them have Xbox360 time she is also still the clear superior of the two when she and Lash play Guitar Hero II and III. Though Lash is still more entertaining to watch play and acts like he gets more out of it.

Lash is still little-leaguing. His team wins most of their games and he's having a wonderful time. He still isn't fantastically skilled, but I like to think there's some improvement going on. He even stole a base last week. Season ends soon, unless their record decrees they go on to play-offs. I think their record will be making that decree too. We'll see.

Denise has a written exam coming for a new job she's applied for. Not a career-forward move, but better pay, etc. so we'll be finger crossing on that when we're done finger crossing for me. :)

Nerdgaming is nerdgaming and keeps on keeping on. We added a new member to our nerdgaming entourage. Now our chi is a little more in balance.

To Denise and all the other mothers out there, and as years go on I know more and more of you and will now avoid listing names for fear of leaving any out, I hope you have a fabulous Mother's Day. Sure, it's yet another holiday invention for the sake of selling greeting cards, but of them all, I think celebrating motherhood is one of the more honorable and righteous Hallmarkidays.

What else? Movies:
Iron Man: Loved it. Continue to feel RDJ was the perfect casting choice (yeah, yeah Jason, whatever), and am very pleased to announce that The Wooden Girl outright doubled her facial emotive range in this film from one to two. Part of me is afraid, though that maybe Iron Man wasn't really all that fabulous, just that the last 5 or so superhero movies in recent memory have been so displeasing that this one was only good but seemed great. In other words, I fear watching it a second time and feeling as if the origin story drags too long, Paltrow isn't refreshingly new, Howard is more squeekily annoying as Rhodey, etc.

Teeth: I wasn't going to watch this; I was quite clear on this. But I watched it anyway. Somewhat nightmarish. A bit more gruesome (did it also have to spit the bitten parts back out? Really. Ugh). Dug the ending.

I've been watching season 2 of Penn & Teller Bullshit and am now wholly behind the idea of ceasing recycling, other than for aluminum cans, and for after-use restaurant grease as alternative fuel sources. It's (the recycling episode) actually the first episode I went into ready to disagree with and went out of a transformed man. Heh.

You can guarantee that my absolute love for Speed Racer, coupled with my viewing of its various trailers, will most definitely be keeping me out of the movie theatre on that one. Go Speed Go. It looks like it's really just a longish plot-less eyegasm.

Total number of new words Evan's added to the universe's English-language lexicon today: two--Hallmarkiday and eyegasm.

I've come to realize I have a growing resentment for people who offer "help" but never offer babysitting.

lunch is ready and I am hungry, so this is all folks.