*taps microphone*

Helloooooo?

The Onion A/V Club does this feature when they pick a celebrity (in their cases, usually very low key ones - think one of the members of Bloc Party, or some author you've never heard of... etc,) and have them describe the first ten songs that randomly pop up on their iPod, mp3 player, computer, whatever...and what those songs mean to them.

I've decided to do same. Ignore this if you find me boring and/or pretentious, because this won't likely help any.

( teh list )

Soooo. Just a couple of things to bring everyone up to speed.

--

This weekend, Aly damaged the garage door (again). I took it apart (literally) and bent the metal back into shape. I'm not sure if it's going to play nice now that I've got it back together or...if I'll have to spend hundreds to fix it.

In Aly's defense, when she fucks up, it costs us hundreds. When I fuck up, it costs thousands. And unfortunately, I seem to fuck up more frequently.

That all said...man do my shoulder and neck muscles freakin' hurt. I mean, they are screamin'.

--

I've chosen to stay in Phoenix and not move to Boise until the house sells. However, once the house sells, I'm outta here.

--

Children of Men, the film. Rent it. It's fantastic.

I'm not a Clive Owen fan, and I actively dislike Julianne Moore...but this movie is wonderful. It's violent as hell, but in a good way...like Saving Private Ryan was.

--

Not being a completely useless fuck-up at work for the last week (Tammy is in Coachella - I've had to pick up the slack) has done wonders for my self-esteem. We'll see if I can keep it up once Tammy returns. It's amazing how much I've ceded...not control, but...leadership, I guess...to Tammy. I used to totally try to domainate this area, as if I were the de facto 'lead tech'. Now I do my best to be Tammy's loyal lieutenant and confidante. It's a dynamic that works very well for both of us. Since she's officially the Sr. Tech, I suppose it's something that should've happened anyways. But she never asked, and I never really decided to play this role. It just happened. I have a lot of respect for Tammy. She works her ass off. I used to. Then I became disillusioned with SAA, management, etc. I'm still somewhat disillusioned, but I guess I change roles when Tammy isn't around. I'm less the cynic and more the 'suck it up, do what's right' type guy. Odd.

--

I had a post-apocalyptic dream this weekend. I believe a nuke hit Phoenix (and other major cities), but in the dream, I was far enough away that the shockwave hit us, but didn't level everything around us. Which...is likely what would really happen, since I'm 40 miles from the city center (assuming that's where a nuke would land. Chances are, they would put one about 1000 feet above Luke Air Force base, which is another 30 miles further away from me. So I'd have a nice 60 mile buffer), and then it was about surviving with the other people. It kind of became an episode of Lost, from what little I remember. It was vivid and very real at the time. I remember the fear that the world was ending, and that the eventual nuclear winter / radiation fallout would kill us, but at the same time - the exhilaration of having survived the initial attack. I remember Aly being there, but not little Alex.

--

I'm listening to the 80's a lot. I made an .mp3 CD for the truck/work that contains about 7 hours worth of music. Everything from the Pet Shop Boys to Rush. Wheeee.

--

WoW. A couple of guildies have passed me (level 68) and hit 70 while I've been working on other things...like not playing WoW...working on my Priest (currently lvl 50, 320ench, 305tailor), working on a Warrior (lvl 18), other stuff. I'm not into grinding, and I refused to feel 'forced' to do anything in this game. Fuck that. I'm down to less than 200g between all of my characters. That's not good. Likely need to fire up Welchkin again, hit level 69 (new axe, riding crop) and get the war chest built back up. Can't max out professions and be the guild whore without any cash, don'tchaknow?

--

I miss my child.

--

In Other News: I have two things of interest in my cube. Well, 3. One is a small picture of Rick James with the words "I'm Rick James, bitch!" on my monitor. A 'Crunk Ain't Dead' picture of Lil' Jon on my cube wall. And desktop wallpaper that is the guy from that one video game, but his head is replaced by the shouting visage of Gerard Butler from 300, and at the bottom, it says 'All Your Base Are Belong To Spartaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!'

Whee.

The best book I've read this year has just won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy.

I'm stoked for the author, and I'm grateful that I found this book and Amazon and gave it a try. Check it out.

Didn't realize it was part of Oprah's book club until seeing the paperback page on Amazon (which contain some more professional reviews), but...don't hold that against it.

I hate my society.


We have now entered the era of Hairism.

Pisces February 19 - March 20
Fortune will smile upon you this week, only it'll do so in that shitty, passive-aggressive way Fortune has of smiling—you know the kind where you can tell it's just being polite, but that, really, it doesn't give a damn about how you're actually doing. Ugh, seriously, fuck Fortune.

We termed someone today at work that I've always hated. Someone who didn't know him well asked what his job title had been.

Without hesitation, I answered 'Chief DoucheLord in Charge of Asshattery'.

HR: 0, Me: 1.

that Zombies are the new Vampires.

1.) Idaho. You da ho.

That's right folks, I'm moving. After 10 tumultuous years (2 marriages, 1 divorce, 1 childbirth, 1 house, 4 or 5 accidents and speeding tickets...) in AZ, I've made the committment to my child to move up to Boise, ID, where she now lives. I 'allowed' her mother to move up there without turning it into a huge legal fight. Her and I agreed that lil Alex would come down (or I would go up, or a combination thereof) at least two times a month. Thus far, that's been adhered to. However, I can't stand being this far away from my child. When I move up there, although we haven't formally agreed upon it, I'm confident that I'll have unlimited access to my child, and I'll finally be able to completely fill my role as her Father. Amy has remarried to a very nice young man named Kiev, who I like very much. We all get along pretty well. Amy and I still have this slightly antagonistic brother/sister thing going, but that's better than having a hostile ex-spouse, IMO. Anything is better than that, actually. So. 6 months or so, and I'm on my way. Just waiting for Aly to finish her schooling and get her Teaching certification. And for me to get a job up there. And to sell our house down here. And to buy a house in Boise....blah blah blah. In better news, we already found the model we want: Potential Hizzy, and it's considerably less money than a similar house in AZ. By, uhm, like 100,000 or so.

2.) Music.

Shiny Toy Guns - Le Disko is rocking my socks. I love that song. I wasn't the biggest New Wave fan in the world, but damn if I don't love some powerful synths in my music. Boo ya. Other than that, Keane's Under The Iron Sea is my record of 2006, hands down (trumping Muse, The White Stripes, and many others). Fantastic album. Only one song on it I don't really like, and that's Broken Toy. It's too Jazz-informed, and I hate me some Jazz.
Oh - I almost forgot - band of the moment - Kasabian. Their debut album, self-titled, which came out in 2005 is flippin amazing. I love it. It's dance rock...which...sounds bad, but I really love it. Still trying to get into their recently released sophomore effort called Empire. However, I strongly suggest those in search of a new band to like, so long as you like a melding of guitars and synths, with strong basslines (think a less insane Happy Mondays, or a less spacey Primal Scream)...you'll dig.

3.) Kitties!

We still have 6 cats. Max, Chief, Naala, Willow, OC, and Jasmine. Jasmine, who I've raved about before, is my little lover. I've never had a cat that followed me around the house just to be close to me, but not annoy me. She just wants to be in my orbit - doesn't want to be on my lap necessarily. Funny, that's precisely how I feel about my loved ones as well. When we're all relaxing, I want them to be doing their own thing, but where I can look over and see them, see that they're content and safe, and then go back to doing my thing again. I want them in my orbit. Jazz (her nickname, ironically) and I understand each other. We are so in love.

4.) Writing for fun and hopefully profit

I really don't want to jinx anything, because I'm roughly the worst person in the world when it comes to following up on these sorts of things, but I've been able to spit out two plot treatments in the last month.

One is a modern update of the series I wrote as an adolescent - essentially me and a high-powered, uber-technologically advanced bike. In the originals, it was a BMX bike with things like flamethrowers, missles, guns, teleportations devices, etc.... I plan to update it to the 'Spy Kids' type crowd - the tween market, essentially. I think I can make it work - I know I have an engaging story. The proof lies in whether or not I'm a good enough writer to pull it off execution-wise. I've already plotted out a trilogy of Tween novels (which should run considerably shorter than a 'normal' novel - 150-200pgs each max). Hopefully it's something I can make work. We'll see.

Two is a Zombie novel. It's unfortunate that I'm reading a zombie novel or two at the moment. Just finished World War Z - An Oral History Of The Zombie War, by Max Brooks who is Mel Brooks' son. Amazing book. Should be read by everyone, as it really has very little to do with zombies, per se. The other one I've just started is called Autumn, by David Moody and thus far, well...let's just say I could've written it...easily. I'm not impressed with the execution. Story is ok.

Anyways - my zombie story, which I won't give much detail on, is essentially Lost meets Jericho with zombies instead of nuclear war or a plane crash. How's that work for ya? My plan is to go with a full length adult novel, with an eye toward it being developed as a series, or a mini-series, or a full-length film. I completely understand that thinking along these lines can possibly be foolish, but we'll see.

To give you guys an idea of why I sound like such a confident writer (read: ass) - I spent my entire childhood and teen years - into my 20's writing. I wrote stories, poetry, non-fiction essay type stuff - everything. Even comedy. It's what I did, and it was who I was. I lost it in the early to mid 1990's. I want it back. Everyone in my graduating class, for example - if I made it big as a writer - not a single one of them would think anything of it. It was expected of me. So, we'll see.

Interesting side-note - all of my plot wrangling has been done while going anywhere from 60 to 100mph on my new Harley Davidson sportster. It's amazing what kind of thinking you can get done on that thing.

5.) Oh, yeah - I got a Harley.

2003 HD Sportster 1200 Custom. This was the last year before HD made all of their models with rubber-mounted engines, so...it vibrates. A lot. And it sounds....sigh...it sounds like a big, beautiful Harley. I really love this bike. It's a joy to ride, and it's everything I want and need in a bike. I can't imagine wanting to replace it.

6.) Wedding.

Oh yeah - Aly and I got married on 10/7/06. It was a really nice wedding, and all involved had a good time. My bride was gorgeous, and my daughter was radiant, thanks to her new stepmom. Here's the link to pictures from the wedding - hopefully you don't have to be a friend of Aly's journal to get to 'em. Oh Hell Yes

7.) Work.

Meh. Glad I'm leaving. I'm emotionally over the place. I look forward to a new chapter in my life. Speaking of which, my gut tells me that this Boise move is going to be a really good step for me. I wish the rest of my family (ex-wife and child excluded) agreed, but. Time shall tell.

8.) That is all. Still playing lots of WoW. Still gaining weight, sorta. Hovering between 185 and 190lbs now. Oh well. Oh, and I very much love Pinot Grigio.

Peace.

Spent the day shopping with Amy and Alex (my daughter). Boise has a very nice mall - I would put it on a par with Chandler Fashion Square, personally. It will have a Cheescake Factory in it later this year. Anyways - if you catch me in the right mood, I'm a shopper. Amy happened to catch me in the right mood today. We went into the Gap and she got a couple of pair of jeans for her upcoming birthday, and I got myself a nice sweatshirt. It's kind of a drab green. Then we headed over to ExpressMen (which I didn't even know existed) and I found lots of tops that I liked. I picked up a blue polo for $20, and two longsleeved tops for $20 each - one grey with white stripes and one black with red stripes.

We also went to Target to pick up something things for Alex. Amy was looking at large wall clocks, and these two ancient women (one was other other's Mother, we think) were there too. They seemed confused about how much one of them was, so Amy offered to take it over to the scanner to price it for her. At which point, the woman commented to me "What a sweetheart - that one's a keeper!"

So I replied, after a moment of stammering, "Well, yeah...she's a former keeper of mine..."

To which the woman then said, "Well, I wouldn't get rid of you - you look like Tom Cruise to me."

And then Amy and I dissolved into laughter. For the rest of the Target trip, I was reminding her that "I'm Tom Cruise, bitch..." and that we should find a couch for me to jump up and down on. Yeah.

Boise is a very nice town. Everyone is exceptionally nice here, but not in an annoying sense - they just...don't really seem to have an agenda that conflicts with yours enough to want you out of their way. You know, like...Phoenix.

Bascially, I'm very impressed with what little I've seen of Boise. I didn't know that we were so close to the Oregon border here - Boise lies in the extreme SW corner of ID.

Alex's kitten, Snow, is utterly adorable. Aside from the occasional bouts with biting everyone, he's soft, affectionate, comes when called....just an all around great cat. I wuv him.

Made dinner for Amy, Alex, Kiev, Kiev's Mom and two sisters last night. Made my famous ribs, baked (Idaho!) potatoes and steamed sugar-snap peas in the pods. It was lovely.

I'm watching Alex and Kiev play Super Monkey Balls Deluxe on the x-box, remembering why I don't really get into Asian culture.

Bought a nice pair of laptop speakers for my...uhm...laptop the other day too. They're pretty compact, and can work on 3xAAA batteries or DC power. Sweet! I'm starting to like this laptop more and more - which is good, because Amy has my other one (this one is better). We took apart her Sony VAIO to find out the problem, and quickly surmised that we should part it out. She might get $150 for the screen alone on eBay.

Poor Alex's nose has been stuffed up the entire time. I'm on Claritan, personally, so it's not been so bad for me - but lil Alex seems to be suffering. Finally convinced her Mom to give her something like a decongestant after 3 straight days of asking. Meh.

All in all, this has been a nice and relaxing vacation - very nice to see Alex again, and nice to see where she now lives and goes to school. I love the houses here - they're all unique and have nice yards. This is a great place to live and raise kids. It also seems to be the white person capitol of the U.S. No wonder there are so many Supremacists up North - the worst thing they have to contend with in this state are Canadians.

Women who do not want their breasts ogled should not wear tight white tops without bras.

Everyone in the airport is remarkable for one of two reasons: either they are so utterly bland that they could be extras in a movie for a very nice living...or they have some remarkable thing about them - like the 5foot6inch black man with biceps larger than my thighs...or the incredibly stupid hat that they HAVE to be being forced to wear by someone or something that the rest of us can't see.

Also, African-Americans are the only people in the city of Phoenix with any sense of style whatsoever.

Also, that was the most expensive cheeseburger ever.

That is all.

Sitting in an airport bar balled Taberna del Tequila. The smell of smoke is very heavy in the air, cuz, like, every person except me is smoking. Well, I think technically, I'm smoking too at this point, but. Whatever.

It is my sincerest hope that the TSA doesn't monitor LJ, which...really...I don't even monitor LJ anymore, and I have an account...so. But I hope they don't, because here's what I feel about my 3rd or 4th flight in the post 9/11 era:

With all the standing in line I just did...if I traveled regularly, I think I'd rather take my chances with being blown out of the sky. Honestly. I'd rather be 'that guy' that tackled and/or harrassed every shady looking person on the plane....if that would get rid of the lines. I think we should just become a self-policing travelling global society.

Oy.

I'm on my way to Boise, ID, which, for those of you who've just tuned in...is the now-current home of my ex-wife, and subsequently, my daughter. I am grateful that the PHX airport is providing me with free Wi-Fi while I drink my $8 Gin and Tonic and yearn for the Clonazepam that is locked safely in my checked baggage. Seriously. I had to talk myself out of mini anxiety attacks while standing in line for the magnometers. Then I realized that if I tuned out all of the voices (the real ones - not the ones that are in my head), I wouldn't be so bad. Then I also realized that I was standing facing East-West on a North-South sloping...slope. So...that explained why I sorta felt like I was going to fall over the entire time.

Nothing to do but look at cute babies and perky breasts...with the two of course being not the least bit related. Sorry, Aly...but it's that fucking boring. You wouldn't have survived it. We're driving to our honeymoon, wherever that might be.

I miss Aly already, by the way. My ride to the airport blew me off (co-worker - she's heavily medicated, the poor dear), so I had to take a $15 cab. Coupled with my Cosmo-priced Gin and Tonic - that leaves me with $3 whole dollars. Whooo. I also miss my Harley, which I just purchased this week. It's a 2003 1200 Custom Sportster with 7600 miles on it. It's black with silver, uhm, highlights. It is very fast. It is very loud. It is dearly loved already, after 3 rides on it.

Everyone here has a Motorola Razr phone (including me). All of the young men are wearing their sunglasses backwards on their necks, with the ear-pieces going over their ears (including me), because putting them on your head is lame, and putting them on your shirt is apparently a huge fashion no-no. Everyone that has a laptop is using their laptop (including me). Everyone here wishes they were elsewhere, especially me.

I've given serious thought to writing again lately. I've even considered poetry, but that seems lame, somewhat. Childish. To say nothing of 'not the least bit profitable'. So I've also been considering writing a novel, but I have no ideas. I've also considered updating some of the stories that I wrote as a teen, but those are rooted in childish ideas and would have an awful hard time being made current without completely destroying everything that they were. I had a naive innocence then. That ended approximately 18 years ago. God...I never thought that at 18 I'd still be thinking a lot of the same things at twice that number. Anyways - the best idea I've managed to come up with is making a chronicle of my friend Micah's life (mking19 on LJ, I believe). She's had quite the doozy and she's only 30. I've known her for the past 15, 16 years. We miss being around each other quite a bit.

I don't know why it's hard to keep the anxiety away today. It's not, like, major anxiety...but it's there. It's the lurking kind.

I think I can truly no longer handle being around crowds, or loud places, or places that I can't easily escape from. I don't have any anxiety about seeing Amy - we see each other all the time, and I can't wait to see my baby! I'm also excited to see Boise for the first time. Should be interesting.

I'll likely update more from Boise...maybe. Depends on whether or not there's wireless gods that like me at Amy's place. If nothing else, I'll update upon my return. Time to read my Irvine Welsh novel for this trip: Filth.

Peace.

~M~

Well, that was either the worst vacation I've ever been on, or the best disaster I've ever been involved in. Jury's still out.


In Other News: I want out of my life.

Well, at least I get to meet Shamu before the world collapses in on itself!

W00t!


In Other News: Bite me, Phoenix. I'm in San Diego alllllllllll week. 120 degrees my ass.

Soooo...new milestone in my life!

180lbs.


In Other News: I continue to handcraft only the finest icons for myself.

Oh, Paul did this and I just HAVE to do it, since my ex-wife thinks I'm spoiled. Over 40 means you're apparently spoiled. We'll see.

( spoilt )

Ohhhh!! So close!

This is the final paragraph from an Entertainment Weekly review of V for Vendetta.

It is the only thing I've seen in print that succintly describes how I feel about the political leanings of most people from the generation that came directly after mine...

Will audiences follow him, cheering the implicit detonation of America's institutions? Or will they find it all a bit...jejune? Coming out of V for Vendetta, a friend of mine called it ''radical'' and ''subversive.'' He was awestruck with disbelief that a film with a harlequin terrorist as its hero could actually be released by a major American studio. I was awestruck at his naïveté in a world where fight-the-power anarchy is now marketed as a fashionable identity statement — by the corporations that helped raise a generation on bands like Rage Against the Machine, by the armchair-leftist bloggers who flog the same righteousness day after day. V for Vendetta has a playful-demon vitality, but it's designed to let political adolescents of every age congratulate themselves. It's rage against the machine by the machine.

That's all.

//puts on flame retardent clothes

*edit*

Steve - I agree with you on the seal hunt thing. I'd love to see Mrs. Paul McCartney leaning down in an Alabama swamp to pat some endangered frog on the head. If baby seals weren't cute, we'd be using the fucking things as lawn dart holders.

Just a little note - hopefully this won't directly offend anyone my friend's list...but...

If you're doing your mascara in the car on the way to work, and you're the one driving...I feel that you deserve, and I deeply hope that, something happens that results in the mascara brush piercing your eye and travelling into your brain, killing you.

Thank you, that is all.

In the middle of playing Super Mario Party 7 last night, Aly and I were trading barbs about something.

Little Alex chimes in: "...and I don't think you're fat, Dad."

Me: "Thank you, Alex, that's very sweet of you."

Little Alex: "Yeah. And I'm just trying to be nice."

Me: "..."

Aly, meanwhile, is having a hearty laugh.

dammit...

All I care to listen to is 'classic' rock right now. I'm talking...Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Rush, Supertramp, The Kinks, The Who, The Beatles, The Cars, David Bowie, Def Leppard, Elton John, Genesis, and Van Halen.

Right now, I Love It Loud from KISS is on. I remember when this song came out, and I was in 6th or 7th grade, and my best friend, Matt Giles, was completely and utterly obesessed with KISS.

I think it was a life-changing moment for him when they took off the makeup.

Anyways, just wondering....does this make me a bad person? There's just something comforting about listening to "D'yer Mak'er" while I buzz down the road in my beat up lil truck, even if the sound is only coming out of the left speaker and can barely be heard above the road noise.


In Other News: I feel a friends list trimming coming on.

When you where a little kid:

What did you want to be when you grew up?
Bartender or Stuntman.

What fictional character did you dream of being?
Godzilla. I even wrote a series of Teenage Godzilla stories, as that was a period of his life not adequately covered by the TOHO Corporation.

What were some of your favorite toys?
Action figures, basically. I mixed Star Wars with GI Joes with Fisher Price ones. It all worked, strangely. Toward the end (which was...incredibly...7th grade!), I think I started integrating Legos.


Who was your first best friend?
Matt Giles, also about 7th grade. Prior to that I had friends, but can't remember referring to them as my best friend. Rachel Schlyer would likely come closest to fitting this bill, however. I learned how to ride horses on her mount, called Rocky. Damn fine horse, that Rocky.

What was the most important thing you learned during your first experiences with school, including preschool if you went?
That holy shit there were freakin' kids everywhere. And for some reason, that was daunting to me. I think I learned to pick one person to befriend and concentrate strongly on that relationship - something I still do to this day. I don't have a 'lot' of friends, but the ones that I have are very close.

What was the first move you can remember that caused you to have to change schools?
I lived in a small enough town that even when we moved about 5 miles into town, I still went to the same school (which, incindentally, my Mother taught 4th grade at). However, for 6th, 7th and 8th grade, I was shipped up to a Lutheran School (St. Peters), because my Mother felt that the animals in my 5th grade class were going to be a horrible influence on me. In retrospect, probably a damn good move on her part. They were combined classes (5th+6th, 7th+8th), and we had Catechism, if that's how one spells that. And we had chapel on Wednesdays. I used to put on a robe every once in a while and help light the candles. This was my first chance at trying to act deadly serious in a situation that I generally found pretty fucking silly. It also cemented for me why I thought Catholicism (and most other high-maintenance, organized sects of Christianity) were pretty much bullshit. I'm a Christian, don't get me wrong. But fuck all that noise.

Like it or pay the price.

In no particular order:

1.) I will usually skip over the Britney Spears songs on any mix CDs that Aly makes for the car...if for no other reason than this: I don't want that blaring out of the speakers if I'm involved in an accident, rendered unconcious, and the first person to find me judges me as someone who speeds down the highway listening to Britney Spears songs.

2.) This is the 3rd time that I've learned (and will likely forget) subnetting.

3.) When I was a kid, I missed 100 [non-consecutive] days of school in one school year.

4.) I now know that if you're given an IP address of 3.80.67.200, that you're looking at a Class A network, able to be chopped into 7 different Networks, with over 2 million (2,097,150 to be exact) Hosts per Network. That means 14,680,050 Hosts would be at your disposal. Of course, your Network would slow to the point of being unusable, but, hey.

5.) My paternal grandfather was not born a Welch. He was (from what I understand) born a Davison or Davidson, but was somehow orphaned and raised by the Welch family, and he took their name. This was in Canada, again, if I recall correctly. So my paternal lineage is kinda...huh?

6.) My paternal grandmother is still alive. My maternal grandfather is still alive.

7.) I'm from a very small town called Wilson, in Western NY (closest to Niagara Falls and Buffalo area). My Mother still lives in the 2nd house my parents ever owned.

8.) I do my best thinking in the shower, or while driving. More often than not, I come up with the thought or idea that will dominate my day in the shower that morning. On days when I don't actually hit the shower first thing (sick, days when I don't leave the house), it takes me hours to figure out what I'm doing or who the hell I am, basically.

9.) I find Internet Security a more daunting issue than Physical Security.

10.) I'm ... out of things to discuss.

Coming, in the next few weeks, to a garage near me (specifically, mine):


My Next Love

I took the Meyers-Briggs personality type test thingee, which I'd never taken before, but heard about.

I'm an ISFP. I suppose that's better than being an ISP.

( WTF is an ISFP? )

This will be a rare public post.

This will expose my geekdom and/or fandom for all the world to see/deride.

This will explain why I am disappointed with the latest Star Wars movie, Episode 3, Revenge Of The Sith.

This will contain both spoilers and me bitching a lot. Stop reading if you can't stomach either, or both.

( I have a bad feeling about this... )