Media Consumption

Between chores and more job searching (another interview hopefully this week!), I've been passing the time with:


American IV: The Man Comes Around definitely sounds like the album of a man who knew there weren't going to be many more albums. It's haunting. I literally can't listen to the whole thing in one sitting because of the all the pathos.

* * *
I've been dividing my time between Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies and Jonathan Lethem's The Wall of the Sky, the Wall of the Eye. There was a line in Lethem's story "Light and the Sufferer" that bothered me. I won't quote it analyze it, so as not to start any unnecessary roughness on my blog. Suffice it to say that there's every chance that I'm biased because of my continual exposure to the blog of Steve Barnes.

* * *



Flash - ah - Saviour of the universe
Flash - ah - He'll save ev'ry one of us
Flash - ah - He's a miracle
Flash - ah - King of the impossible

Come on, now. If you want a personal theme song, and you're upset that most everyone else has co-opted the "Theme from Shaft" and "Princes of the Universe," you can't get much better than this.

* * *
I'm sure most of you have read the reports, so I won't bother linking it. Stallone's mustered up the balls decided to finally go ahead with Rocky VI (followed, apparently by Rambo IV). I hope George Lucas is on board, because SFX are the only way you're going to convince me a 59-year old man is going to put on a show in any kind of boxing ring. Datu_B and I were talking about this yesterday: Wasn't the character of Rocky Balboa washed up in Rocky V? As far as story continuity, I better see people in skinny ties and rolled-up suit sleeves. I'm sort of glad Talia Shire isn't in this one. Maybe she learned her lesson from Godfather III. Hey, I liked that movie, but that didn't change the fact that it couldn't go more than three minutes without a reference to the first two films.

All right, that's enough for now.

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Why Wasn't I Told About This?

Lookee what the Electronic Frontier Foundation done found:

Secret Code in Color Printers Lets Government Track You

Tiny Dots Show Where and When You Made Your Print

San Francisco - A research team led by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) recently broke the code behind tiny tracking dots that some color laser printers secretly hide in every document.

The U.S. Secret Service admitted that the tracking information is part of a deal struck with selected color laser printer manufacturers, ostensibly to identify counterfeiters. However, the nature of the private information encoded in each document was not previously known.

The article has links to a list of printers they've researched as well as how to see the dots (of course, it's not easy).

The Secret Service quickly admitted to it, which sort of tells me that they're telling the truth about how it's only currently used to fight counterfeit. "What," you're saying. "You believe the gub'ment?" First of all, the "code" was easy enough for an EFF intern to crack. Second, I truly believe that if the gub'ment wanted this to remain a secret badly enough, this post would be about how some mysterious worm destroyed all of the EFF's computers, instead of dots. Which may yet happen, as people discover more ways your technology can rat you out.

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Biorhythms

For years, I've noticed that in the week preceding a full moon, my physical biorhythm always sinks. I mention the full moon as a point of reference, not as any sort of implication. No matter how much or how little I do, I feel drained that week. What's weird is how it sneaks up on me 95% of the time. I wonder why I don't feel like doing a damn thing, why everything seems like such a struggle, and when I start to feel better I look up, and there it is.

Anyway, I think I was it harder this past week as I was recovering from both illness and travel. Speaking of recovery, my dad was briefly in the hospital again last week for a pre-scheduled procedure. He's doing great!

Ok, as promised last post, there will be stuff to btich blog about...

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

It's been a week, and between sickness and traveling and more sickness, I'm feeling a bit more like myself. I have been feeling better, but I swear this thing is moving up and down my body. First my head, then my throat, then my lungs, and yesterday, to my stomach. So, I apologize for the lapse. When was the last time you saw two weekly personality analyses back to back? Don't worry, I've got lots to btich blog about.

But, until then, I said I've been feeling a bit more like myself. What does that feel like this week?


Destiny - You are mature and saddled by
responsibility. Sometimes you seem cold because
of this. You need to learn to have fun and
loosen up.


Which one of Sandman's Endless are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

Sorry, it's late, but yesterday was the first day I've felt like myself in a week. And, I had exactly 12 hours to enjoy it, because we hosted a friend of E's from Columbus last night and this morning. He's on a trip to Karma Triyana Dharmachakra in Woodstock, NY and stopped here to spend the night, take us to dinner, and to visit another similar place about five miles from here on his way to KTD.

And, today, I get to finish getting things ready for another long-@$$ road trip to Cleveland to see my folks. It sounds mean, but I probably wouldn't go if my father hadn't been in the hospital in early September and if he wasn't due to go back in (for some "routine" procedures) late next week. The Columbus Day weekend is really the only time between when we saw them last and the holidays. The Wife really wanted to see them, too. Now, let me add the disclaimer :) --The Wife in no way pressured or intimidated me into going. I am solely responsible for choosing to go over my own protests ;). I take full responsibility for the resulting effort and stress which will undoubtedly make me relapse next week.

Okay, time for me to take The Wife to work, come back and see our guest off, get the car ready, get my stuff ready, get... Oh, here's the test already, for Pete's sake.

Don took the Which Star Wars droid are you? quiz, and is clearly R5-D4.

R5-D4 What can be said about you. Hardly anyone even knows who you are, and yet your very purpose in life is of paramount importance. You mostly keep to yourself and ponder your existence in this Mechanical Coil. You believe in the power of self-sacrifice. Whenever you're sad, you watch Amélie and feel better. Seriously, without you, most of Star Wars would never have happened. So bravo!

Enjoy the weekend named after one of the chief pawns of the Colonial Oppressor! ;)

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The Joys of 10 Hours of Sleep

I feel like I'm just barely over the worst of whatever's ailed me. This is just how I felt as a child when I would be sick of being sick and wanted to go play outside. And, then I would and end up relapsing. So, I'm just going to chill out and go back to bed after lunch. I've only been up two hours, and I'm still damn tired. My abs have been getting quite the workout though, what will all the coughing I've been doing.

The Wife and I were much too far gone yesterday to drive to Rocha-cha to see Serenity. (I've been meaning to ask just why people call Rochester that. On second thought, I don't want to know). We did make ourselves go out and see it at the movie theater across the way from our place, though. I might not have wanted to contaminate our friends, but I'm Chaotic Evil--what do I care about total strangers ;)?

Serenity was good. I think just enough work was done where you didn't necessarily have to have seen Firefly to understand what was going on. Sure, there was a lot of shorthand for things that originally took 12 episodes to go through. But, everything the audience needed to see was in there in just the right proportion to achieve what Whedon probably wanted to achieve, storywise.

So, what didn't I like? Eh, nothing I couldn't cope with, really. But, did Chiwetel Ejiofor have to dress up like Blade at the end, for pete's sake? Plus, I'm all for twists and shocks, but cram three or four together, and I'm going to think you're just yanking my chain. That's all, really. I'll probably get all of Firefly and this film on DVD.

I'm going to watch the episode of Everybody Hates Chris that I... procured... the other day (since there's no UPN affiliate in Ithaca). Then I'm going to sleep for another ten hours.

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The Toll

Yes, we've exhausted ourselves into sickness. But, that's not going to stop us from somehow getting to Rochester to see the film Serenity tomorrow.

Had a job interview today. I'll hopefully know by Monday. It'll be a different sort of Diamond Mine, an HR dept. for a power transmission company, i.e. the transmission of power; nothing having to do with vehicle parts. I took my remaining energy for the day and pulled out all my metroerotic favorites before taking a six-hour nap. And, now I'm about to take another one.

I did bit of fiddling with the blog template, because I decided that I was sick of those old enetation.co.uk links on my blog causing my computer to take that extra microsecond going, "Oh... enetation.co.uk... wait, it's commented out of the code--nevermind." I also wanted to make use of the option to shut down comments when I feel like it.

Ok, goodnight.

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

Funny... I usually played Neutral Evil characters...

Chaotic-Evil 28% Good, 64% Chaotic

Plane of Existence: The Abyss, "Plane of Infinite Layers". Notable Inhabitants: Demons. Examples of Chaotic-Evils (Ethically Chaotic, Morally Evil) Jack The Ripper Baron Vladamir Harkonnen Blackbeard the Pirate Cruella DeVille Khan Noonian Singh Dr. Evil Professor Moriarty Lord Voldemort Actively opposes law, order, good, and all other sissy constraints on doing whatever he or she feels like doing. The stereotypical chaotic evil character is the black knight, roaming around on his own, looking for something nasty to do. Will not necessarily keep their word Would attack an unarmed foe Will use poisons Will not help those in need Prefers to work alone Responds poorly to higher authority Distrustful of organizations Self-preservation and personal gain are their ultimate goals. Less inclined to long term planning. Chaotic Evil "Destroyer" A chaotic evil [person] does whatever his greed, hatred, and lust for destruction drive him to do. If he is simply out for whatever he can get, he is ruthless and brutal. If he is committed to the spread of evil and chaos, he is even worse. Fortunately, his plans are haphazard, and any groups he joins or forms are poorly organized. Typically, chaotic evil people can be made to work together only by force, and their leader lasts only as long as he can thwart attempts to topple or assassinate him. These [people] will commit any act to further their own ends. Chaotic evil is sometimes called "demonic" because demons are the epitome of chaotic evil. Chaotic evil is power without control, selfishness unfettered by any law. Other Alignments and Tendencies (Tendenices are what you would more often sway towards; esp. for Neutrals): 0-39% Good, 0-39% Chaotic: Lawful-Evil 0-39% Good, 40-60% Chaotic: Neutral-Evil 40-60% Good, 0-39% Chaotic: Lawful-Neutral 40-60% Good, 40-60% Chaotic: True Neutral 40-60% Good, 61-100% Chaotic: Chaotic-Neutral 61-100% Good, 0-39% Chaotic: Lawful-Good 61-100% Good, 40-60% Chaotic: Neutral-Good 61-100% Good, 61-100% Chaotic: Chaotic-Good

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 4% on Good You scored higher than 82% on Chaotic

Link: The Alignment Test written by xan81 on Ok Cupid

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Because, the World Isn't Safe

Once upon a time, I blogged this:

I've read whole lists of "legal, improvised weapons" (pens, rolled-up magazines, and the like) that you can use to defend yourself in the case of a terrorist threat on your flight. Yeah, because only even-keeled, responsible, and law-abiding citizens read Black Belt Magazine.

Now, if you tried, but couldn't track down all those back issues and are afraid you missed out on all that valuable data, worry no more!

CITIZEN’S GUIDE TO STOPPING SUICIDE ATTACKERS: Secrets of an Israeli Counterterrorist by Itay Gil and Dan Baron

[snip]

Just some of the vital topics covered in The Citizen’s Guide to Stopping Suicide Attackers include

• facing off against knife-wielding airline hijackers alone or as a group, armed or unarmed
  
• identifying and subduing suicide bombers before they can carry out their deadly mission
  
• escaping from or disarming gunmen intent on mass murder
  
• recognizing and responding to a crazed driver bearing down on a crowd
  
• reacting correctly during the two most crucial stages of a hostage crisis

By absorbing the lessons in this book, you will be better prepared to confront the worst and stand up for yourself and your fellow citizens rather than helplessly accept the cruel death someone else has planned for you. That is the right and the duty of all civilized human beings in the 21st century.

No, I'm not laughing at the sincere desire to survive in today's world. Nor am I laughing at those who want to empower or want to be empowered by teaching and learning.

I'm laughing at a certain segment of people who are going to line up in droves to buy this book. The ones who will absorb these techniques while fantasizing about being Passenger 57, the ones who will actually say to themselves, "Man, I wish someone would try to take over my flight!" Even worse will be the segment of this segment who will actually be on a flight and injure some innocent Punjabi man in a turban who sneezed and then innocently reached into his coat for a tissue. You don't think something like that could happen? Tell that to the Brazilian embassy in England.

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Bare Knuckle Shotokan?

A friend of mine is a Western Martial Arts practicioner, and loves to collect old manuals on bare-knuckle boxing and European/Early American wrestling styles. This is from Ned Donnelly's 1888 text Self-Defense; Or, The Art Of Boxing:



A lot of people I've trained with like to make fun of Shotokan Karate. I've joined in the jokes, too... I've studied Song Moo Kwan Taekwondo, so I knew just where to hit. But, in my defense, I've always held that regardless where one stood on whether or not kata originally meant anything practical, you could always make that training practical.

Donnelly's technique... sang dan maki... hmmmm...

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Burnout

That's how I was after this weekend.

Thursday and Friday, I had to help The Wife through some wierd back thing she had. Pretty much what I had not too long ago. But unlike me and my blind Filipino faith in Western Medicine (not to mention the yummy pharmaceuticals), E just had to see her old chiropractor ASAP. Friday, in the middle of the day, I drove her 90 minutes out to Canadegua [SP?]. But it was good for her, believe me. You could feel the difference in her back's topography.
She was still in a bit of pain, though, but she was damned if that was going to stop any of her weekend plans. Saturday morning, we had breakfast with a friend before meeting other friends later in the morning. Didn't I say that E likes to keep the social calendar full?
I could be wrong, but I believe that E had no idea that the cafe we had breakfast and the place we were going to meet the second group were across the street from each other.

That morning, I busted out the Kingdom Come Superman-shield t-shirt, because after the breakfast was Ithacon 30, the local comic-book convention. It was the first time I actually looked around a con to see other things besides the freaks and the merch tables, like the folks pimping their art or their music. All-in-all, I wasn't all that impressed. I've seen samples, as good if not better, from high school seniors final art projects. Still, even Rob Liefeld Barry Windsor-Smith had to start somewhere. I did score a couple of cheap finds. One was a story arc from Greg Rucka's Queen & Country and the other was Peter Milligan's The Minx. My set was damaged awhile back, so I scored all new copies of the limited series, except for one.

Ithacon is a small con, and according to E's friends who we met there, it's gone downhill in recent years, due mostly to the post-90s comics bust. The con had no panels, and was held in a room that couldn't have been more than 60' x 60'. Their only big name was Roger Stern, whose heyday was back in the 80s and whose most recent work was the novel Superman: the Never-Ending Battle. I guess he attends all of these Ithacons, being an Ithaca native and all.

After that, I got some time to catch up on some reading, but not too long because later, we would head to Elmira where E set up a dinner with her mom, followed by a night at the local Irish pub with the couple we met up with at Ithacon and another. It was fun, except for stuffing myself with too many wings. I think that's what stopped me from going all Withnail & I at the pub--that, and having to drive home.

Now that I sit here thinking about it, Sunday was a total blank. I do remember a three-hour nap late in the afternoon. Crap, I didn't drink that much.

Ok, I got errands to do, now...

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

C'mon, you knew this was coming...

Withnail Congratulations! You scored 40, out of a possible 50!

Most impressive, sir. Let me get you a pair of quadruple whiskies and another pair of pints, and pass you this almighty carrot.

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 66% on Double Whiskies

Link: The Withnail and You Test written by redSpikes on Ok Cupid

I demand to have some booze!

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Once Upon a Time in Ithaca: Old School

I finally decided that I've had enough of half-heartedly working through dead patterns on chairs and doing footwork drills in the living room, so I decided to take it back and do it Old School. (If you're wondering, I fell out of contact with the local FMA guy, but I'll pick it up again as soon as the paychecks start rolling in.)

I forget which of the Old Masters--I want to say Punong Guro Edgar Sulite (Datu_B, check me on my facts if I'm wrong)--was trained like this: His father would hang a single stick, held in the middle by a piece of string, off of a tree. The object was to hit the stick, and just have to deal with all the different ways it would bounce and spin around. Not necessarily the safest thing to do.

Needless to say, I said "Screw it."



I worked that for about twenty minutes before I realized that I was just hanging out on the outside. I played around with it, and came up with this configuration:



Now, I worked this facing the tree (my "opponent") as my frame of reference, the idea being to have to stay inside those boundaries, which I could modify as I saw fit. Then, things started getting fun for the next fifty minutes.

Now, I realize that all I've done is reinvented the wheel (one of my biggest pet peeves), but since this is the first time I've actually tried this, I learned quite a few things right away. (And, no rolling your eyes and going "Duh!")

• Somehow I managed to figure out that how much more effective it is to keep hitting, as opposed to hitting and waiting for a "counterstrike" to deflect and attacking again. I suppose this means I've finally made the connection that deflection isn't necessarily a "passive" act, so to speak.
  
• When in doubt, "candlestick."
  
• If you keep the angle of the stick to your wrist at 90° it's easier to do that.
  
• When I could pull them off, gunting movements with the double stick are nice.
  
• The strangest thing, I managed to work in every deflection (depending on how high or low I hung the stick) except my favorite, the reverse umbrella. And, I tried, believe me. Oh well, guess I'll always suck at that move ;).

Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated. I gotta go do some chores... can't train and blog all day ;).

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The Finest Film Available to Humanity

I originally wanted to see this movie as part of a Doctor Who Movie Marathon where I'd seek out films with appearances by various actors who've played the Doctor. I got it after stumbling onto Nicole Kidman's The Others which featured Christopher "Ninth Doctor" Eccleston as her husband. I decided the next one would be Withnail & I, with Paul "Eighth Doctor" McGann as "I" and Richard E. Grant, who played the Doctor on a BBC webcast, Scream of the Shalka.

The movie appealed to me immediately because Withnail's dress (on the right) resembles the way I dressed back in the 80s (even if the film itself is set in 1969). I almost forgot how Warren Ellis noted the resemblance between Withnail's dress and the Tenth Doctor's costume.

I thought the film was hilarious, even before I realized what a cult it was. I knew I'd seen it referenced a lot online, but now I understand why. It's a dark, almost plotless, and eminently quotable (just ask The Wife ;)) film about two out-of-work actors who "Went on holiday by mistake" out in the country. They expect peace and quiet among friendly country folk. They get anything but. That's pretty much 95% of the plot right there.

It's really a combination mood/character piece. Alcoholism, drug use, swearing, debauchery and a person's desire to get away from it. It's Trainspotting before there was a Trainspotting.

You just have to take my word for it and watch it. Go here for some quotes.

Next on the agenda, providing I can find it: 24 Hour Party People, with Christopher Eccleston, to be followed by The Omen with a cameo by Patrick "Second Doctor" Troughton.

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Monday Bloggery

It feels like I've been away longer than I have. Anyway, let's get started. One of the things that's kept me away was our social calendar which E keeps pretty full. To be fair, I was never forced to take part in any of our impromptu social gatherings. But, you know how it is--you don't want to look anti-social, and once you get past the initial nagging "I got other siht to do" feeling, you find you're actually having fun.

Other things that have kept me away are movies (one in particular that I'll write about later) and an overload of RSS feeds--48 at last count, mostly blogs. Yes, it's information overload, and I haven't had time to comment until now, and that's only because I'm making time (that is, until the temp place deigns to call me back or I hound them again, which I will later this afternoon).

ITEM ONE
A good number of the thirtysomethings I know wonder, in our nostalgia, why we no longer see certain things on TV, like The Muppet Show.

Personally, I miss Crazy Harry. (Via Monkey Disaster)

ITEM TWO
Whoever said Bruce Lee is God apparently isn't all that far off.

The Art of Fighting Without Fighting

Muslims and Catholics unified by image of Bruce Lee.

Two years after the Urban Movement came up with the initial proposal, the Bosnian town of Mostar, has collected enough financial and popular support to erect a monument to Bruce Lee in their town center.

ITEM THREE

I posted awhile back about what became and what is still my favorite episode of This American Life, called "My Experimental Phase," which featured the story of a Hassidic Jew who led a double life as a local rock star.

Tina Fey's working on a script for the movie.
(Via lindsayism)

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

No no... It's not true... That's impossible!

Your Daddy Is Darth Vader

What You Call Him: Big Daddy Why You Love Him: He takes you to Disneyland

Who's Your Daddy?

Noooooo... Noooooooooooooooo!

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Temp's Up

Yesterday, I caved and went out to a temp place. In truth, we could probably go until the New Year without me getting a job. Well, maybe Thanksgiving. In any case, I admit it, being a house husband was boring me to tears. And sure, being a kept man is nice. But, I'm also trying to keep it from getting old to the Wife, too.

Our most recent in-joke (well, mine) was from Family Guy where Peter's talks about how hard he works, etc. so that he can talk Brian into doing a dog show as a favor. Brian's response:

"If you want me, I'll be out on the veranda, since you're already on the Cross."

See, right now, it's still funny when E talks about how hard she works and wants foot rubs when she comes home, and I say that. It might not be so funny in '06 if I'm still not raking in some money somehow ;). It reminds me of our other injoke. Picture this.

INT. OUR LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
DON is pulling a finger out from deep within his own nose, easing the flow of blood into the brain. He checks the clock, still in somewhat of a haze, and looks over at THE WIFE.

DON
Ahhh... it's 2007. I guess I better find a job.

Again, it's funny now. But who knows for how much longer, and why take a chance?

So I go back there with IDs and such today to take their little typing tests and their little true/false questionnaires with items like "Is it professional to cuss out a coworker who's giving you trouble?"

EDIT: Well, looks like they wanna try and get me into this 40 hour/week gig, 8-5, in Downtown Ithaca. Which is great, because if it pans out, it'll be yet another fulfillment of what E and I used to call our "pipe dream" of life in Ithaca. I remember thinking that when I'd get a job, I'd want a gig in or near The Commons.

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Sunday Dinners IV and V

Yes, we've still been having them, even if I forgot to write about them.

Two weeks ago, we went to a Labor Day barbecue and hung out with a small crowd o' people. It was a hike, but the food and company were more than worth it. The men-folk had a nice discussion of Western fencing and its similarities to FMAs. I got to show off the little bit I learned from Fight Club last year about the WMA mindset about the innovation of technique.

Last week was just going to be The Wife and I having "spisghettis" and "eye-talian sass-age." But, at the last minute, E threw out an invite to a co-worker of hers who could've used the break and the company. She (the co-worker) chipped in for beer, so it was a win-win situation for everyone involved.

As much as we miss old friends, it's nice to know that there's some cosmic yang to that ying in making new ones.

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Author's Comeback

Well, it's not really, but this is certainly the first piece of writing I've enjoyed from Anne Rice in over a decade. It's about her home city that's been in the news lately.

But to my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You looked down on us; you dismissed our victims; you dismissed us. You want our Jazz Fest, you want our Mardi Gras, you want our cooking and our music. Then when you saw us in real trouble, when you saw a tiny minority preying on the weak among us, you called us "Sin City," and turned your backs.

Read the full article.

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

I was lazy this week and only felt like answering a minimum of questions. All it wanted to know was my sign.

Star Wars Horoscope for Cancer

You may whine at times, but you've developed a thick hard shell (like that of a crab). You are strong willed and persistent - until you get what you want. You never shy away from a fight, even when things get dangerous. Mentally sharp, you are starting to master the elements of mind manipulation. Star wars character you are most like: Luke Skywalker

What is Your Star Wars Horoscope?

All that, and the power the cloud mens' minds! Mind-taking! Muahaha!

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Lost and Found

It turns out I've recovered not one, but two things at The Commons.

1. A nice, metrosexual haircut.
   
2. My sunglasses that I've been missing for about a week, which was not at one of five-hundred sushi places where I thought I left it, but the obvious choice, the coffee shop! Never occurred to me that I might have left them there, but there they were.

Now, all's I need is for the weather to drop about 8 or 9 degrees, and I can bust out my old leather Shaft coat!

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Can You Honestly Evaluate

...the story from within
Without part of you blocking the way

-The Sons, "Freedom"**

Yesterday, I sat down and went to therapy--with myself, that is. I decided to take stock of things after hearing news that Dad was in the hospital again last night. He's ok, now; blockage in his gall bladder that's now cleared up. But when I talked to him, he seemed less interested in discussing his condition than how my life was going up here.

That's when all these things inside came to a head.

I've been here about six weeks now. The first three, we were getting ourselves situated, trying to make the transition in time for The Wife to start her job at the School on the Hill. I mean, she started training the Monday after we got here, had a couple weeks off, then had to hit the ground running again.

About that time, I fcuked up my hand. It took about two weeks before it started functioning semi-normally again. Right now, I've got about 98% of my movement back, enough to swing shilelaghs around. But, it was a depressing time. I had started to confuse the feelings of unemployment with the bad parts of my self-image, which wasn't a hard thing to do considering there I was, hair growing out, 5 lbs. heavier (ok, 10), with a bandaged up hand.

So, now I've been at home, been a good house husband, letting my hand heal up, and I guess what I've been doing is sitting around going "Now, what?"

See, my normal pattern would have been to let the thing with my Dad pile up on top of all the other things I irrationally depressed myself over, and let it sideline me for a couple of weeks. And, as I was discussing with The Wife, I probably could've gotten away with it for another couple of weeks. After all, the clothes still fit, she's getting regular paychecks, and someone's gotta load and unload the dishwasher. Except that it would've been two weeks later and I would be no closer to accomplishing what I want to accomplish.

That's the other part of the confusion. It's not been a simple case of me twiddling my thumbs, watching Springer, and not doing jack crap. But, there was time wasted--or rather, misappropriated--and that's the issue. So, rather than being depressed doing nothing for two weeks, and I'm going to spend the next two weeks getting this train moving. Gonna put the metrosexual face back on and pimp myself out someplace. And, even if everything I try catastrophically fails, it still will not have been two weeks that would've been wasted otherwise. Even in the worst case scenario, I'll still feel better about myself than I have been.

**BTW, my copy of Hip Li'l Dreams came in yesterday. I'll do a review after I listen to it a few more times.

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RIP Little Buddy

'Gilligan's Island' star Bob Denver dead
Associated Press
September 6, 2005

LOS ANGELES — Bob Denver -- whose portrayal of goofy first mate Gilligan on the 1960's television show "Gilligan's Island'' made him an iconic figure to generations of TV viewers -- has died, his agent confirmed Tuesday. Denver was 70.

Denver died Friday at Wake Forest University Baptist Hospital in North Carolina of complications from treatment he was receiving for cancer, his agent, Mike Eisenstadt, told the Associated Press. Denver's death was first reported by "Entertainment Tonight."

Hey, I know there are much more important things going on in the world right now. Yes, I know there are living people who rightly deserve attention. But IMO, it's when the "little things" start losing their impact that people become slowly enabled to start caring less and less about the "big things."

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Rare Geek Post

RSS aggregation streamlined my online time. Yahoo! made it easier than what was arguably one of the best free RSS readers from a few months ago, RSSReader (or, whatever it was I posted about). Now, Thunderbird has made it even easier. Yahoo! took awhile to show new feeds, but Thunderbird's pretty up to the minute. You can control how the feed appears, too. And, it's free! However, you do need the Remove Duplicate Messages extension. The trouble with email/feed readers (at least the free ones) is that there's really no way to prevent duplicate messages from being downloaded. This extension not only does that automatically, but it compares feed messages according to whatever parameters I set. It's also been updated recently. I can autodelete dupes without ever having to look at them. There goes another 10% of the time I spend online, muahaha!

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There May Be Nothing to This, Part Deux

True, the action taken doesn't necessarily imply intentional wrongdoing. But, c'mon...

Here's that first picture again.

Here's that second... hey, wait... where'd...?

(Via Dar Kush)

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There May Be Nothing to This

Might be real. Might be fake. Might be completely accurate factually. Might be inaccurate and completely, utterly unintentional.

Does make you think twice, though, doesn't it?

(From Hyphen Blog)

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Car Talk

(Courtesy of The Wife)

I've raved before about Ithaca's public transporation system. E's started using it to get to work at the School on the Hill, so the car's been sitting for like three days except for this morning when I ran it to do some quick errands.

Suffice it to say that we've been shielded a bit from the effects of $3/gallon prices thus far. E wants to see some friends this Sunday for a BBQ, but considering the car's been sitting, it's not going to break us the way it probably will a lot of people this holiday weekend.

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

You comment, you trackback, you Google, you technorati. You wish you blogdexed.

Actually, no I don't wish I blogdexed, but close enough. Way too close enough ;).

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Ohio/Michigan

Even though in the big scheme of things it's never really mattered to thousands upon thousands, the prospect of someone from Ohio wanting to spend time in Michigan (or vice versa) always raises eyebrows with some, especially if you've lived in Columbus (Go, Bucks!). So, why would an Ohio boy be heading out for a weekend in October?

For the Fall Gathering seminar from Innovative Martial Arts, of course. If I can work out transportation issues, I'll get to train with Mushtaq Ali al Ansari and Steve Van Harn, among others. I'm always up for more knife fighting techniques; the prospect of learning Zulu knife techniques is just too good to pass on. See, all those essays your teachers forced you to write about "Compare and contrast x, y, and z" can be good for something, in this case comparing Filipino, Western, and now African knife fighting styles.

And, my hand will probably be fully healed by then--I can now hold weapons again--so I might actually be able to do some work!

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Degrees of Separation: 3

Last night, The Wife and I entertained a government agent in our home.

I pondered letting that line stand by its lonesome in this entry, but I don't want to worry anyone :). Actually, this person is an old high school friend of The Wife's who was back in their old stomping grounds which are a stone's throw from Ithaca, so he visited.

He's a real nice guy. It was weird how much his mannerisms resembled those of our friend in Columbus who's in the CPD. They're even about the same height and build, now that I think of it. He and The Wife shared a lot of stories about the good ol' days, and he had a lot of cool stories about the vagaries of life as a G-Man. I learned lots of interesting things.

• According to him, it's rather difficult for his agency to actually arrest people. Now, there are circumstances where he could presumably just take you out. But, to arrest you, he has to get it cleared with his supervisor who in turn must have it cleared with the US Attorney.
  
• "The most powerful Federal Laws," as E's friend put it (jokingly, I think), are 18 USC §711 and 18 USC §711a which prohibit misuse of the characters and slogans relating to Smoky Bear and Woodsy Owl, respectively, either of which could get you six months.
  
• I'm a mere three degrees of separation from this incident

Hey, The Man is still The Man, but still...

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This Overload

I don't know how I did this to myself. Actually, I do know. My eyes got bigger than my, well, eyes, in this case. I've lost track of all the books I've borrowed from the library, purchased, or um, borrowed digitally. These include, but are not limited to:

• Sudden Fiction: American Short-Short Stories edited by Shaparo and Thomas
  
• The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction
  
• Collected Stories by Gabriel García Márquez
  
• The Notebook of Anton Checkhov by guess who
  
• Torso and Fire by Brian Bendis
  
• Not to mention about 5 books on writing that I'm just picking at bit by bit
  

Ah, how the sin of gluttony often goes beyond the stomach.

So, the agenda for today? To go down to the Commons, of course, to see if this indy record store that I know has an above-average Sons of Champlin selection has the new CD, of course.

Update

1. I forgot to add Aliens in America: The Strange Truth About Our Souls by Peter Augustine Lawler, which is sort of the anti-Bobos in Paradise.
   
2. The response I got from the scruffy indy record store guy: "I thought Secret was the last one. Last Tuesday? Really?" So, I had no choice but to do what I've done all of twice before, but order it. Now that I think about it, the last time I ordered a CD, it was a Champlin one.

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This Definitely Isn't PC, But...

Can it possibly get any gayer than this...?

Musical Lestat To Hit Boards

After more than two years of development, Warner Brothers Theatre Ventures on Aug. 23 told the Los Angeles Times that it will be ready to premiere a musical adaptation of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles at San Francisco's Curran Theatre in December, with a Broadway opening planned for next spring.

Called Lestat and featuring a score by the famed pop writing team of Elton John and Bernie Taupin, the production will star Hugh Panaro, who has appeared on Broadway in Les Misérables, Show Boat and The Phantom of the Opera, the newspaper reported. Also in the cast are Carolee Carmello, Jack Noseworthy, Jim Stanek, Roderick Hill, Michael Genet and Allison Fischer.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

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Childhood Favorite

One of my favorite games from childhood was to see two pictures side by side and have to spot the differences between the two. I got quite good at it, too.

Now, as an adult, I get to do the same thing, thanks to Glen Feron's The Art of Retouching site (via Neil Gaiman). Now, I get to click on models' photos, mouse over them and see what they looked like before they were Photoshopped.

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Why Champlin Rules

Unfortunately, I'll have to wait a bit before I get the latest Sons of Champlin album, Hip Li'l Dreams. The Wife'll kill me if I buy a CD while we still have to weed things out of our weekly grocery list. (Plus, she's not exactly the biggest Bill Champlin fan in the world, which isn't helped by the fact that I play his stuff constantly.)

Fortunately, to tide me over, I've got this video of saxophonist Grady Nichols ("Who?" Don't worry about it.) featuring The Champ singing Stevie Wonder's "Heaven Help Us All". If you have trouble with it hanging, close the window and try it a couple more times. Honest to God, you'll be glad you did!

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

You scored as A classic novel. Almost everyone showers praise upon you for your depth and enduring relevance. According to your acolytes, everything you say is timeless, erudite and meaingful. Of course, none of them actually listen to you. Nobody listens to you at all, but it's fashionable to claim you as a friend. Fond of obscure words, antiquated notions and libraries, you never have a problem finding someone to hang out with. The fact that they end up using you to balance their kitchen tables is an unfortunate side effect, but you're used to being used for others' benefit. Oh the burden of being Great. A classic novel 86% A coloring book. 82% Poetry 64% A college textbook 57% A paperback romance novel 57% An electronics user's manual 54% The back of a froot loops box 43% Your Literary Personality created with QuizFarm.com

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Not Getting Our Groove On

Ivy League and I had dinner plans tonight about 90 minutes away. But, between the fact that she's exhausted from her third full day at her new gig, and fighting off a cold, and the fact that, if how I feel today is any indication, I'm probably fighting off said cold, we're probably staying home tonight.

Probably just as well, because what was originally going to be a small dinner party sort of blew up into a full-fledged birthday party, complete with kids. We wouldn't want to infect a whole mass of our friends.

Incidentally, I'd just like to mention (in an entirely non-cry-for-help kinda way) that if it ever came down to it, my new preferred method of suicide is downing 116.03 shots of espresso or 80.02 cups of drip coffee while singing Suicide is Painless. Of course, since I've taken to combining the two lately, let's just call it 75 Shots in the Dark Juna Jolts.

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Gems

Shirley Jackson's The Lottery - What student of high school advanced freshman English didn't read this one?

Hunter S. Thompson's The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved - the historically first Gonzo piece

And now, my favorite, from writer Jay Pinkerton, with apologies to all my friends of the Caucasian persuasion. But, since a lot of you are fellow martial artists, I know this'll make you laugh...



$3.00? Sign me up!

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Behind the Curve

I've always been a little behind the times. This thing was vogue, what, two or three months ago?



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

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Pinball Wizard

E and I saw one of these inside of DP Dough, a calzone chain, near Ohio U. We regretted not taking a picture of it when we had a chance, but I guess there are others around the country, indeed, around the world.

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Liberal Stupidity in the Media

Is there bias in the media? Maybe. But, there's definitely no shortage of stupidity. I've read whole lists of "legal, improvised weapons" (pens, rolled-up magazines, and the like) that you can use to defend yourself in the case of a terrorist threat on your flight. Yeah, because only even-keeled, responsible, and law-abiding citizens read Black Belt Magazine. I've seen pieces that actually advocate using windshield wiper fluid like you would Windex, something that's contraindicated by the skull and crossbones on the bottle.

But NPR takes the cake by featuring a commentator giving some general tips on how you, yes you, the average citizen, can get away with murder!

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Good Advice

Well, I've taken lots of martial advice from Mushtaq. I thought I'd take some musical advice from him as well. I almost missed it, in fact, because he posted his suggestion to watch The Burns Sisters Band at the Ithaca Commons right while the Mrs. and I were smack in the middle of packing for the big move. But, I caught it, and I went, and he was right--it was good music. Not necessarily my thing, but good music is good music. The vocals were impeccable and the lyrics were just about as deep as any of my faves. Defintely a band I'd go see again.

Here's the band's site.

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Week in Review

Talk to the Hand - Well, the swelling is way down, and my hand doesn't look as deformed as it did a few days ago. Everything seems to be moving back into place and I'm even getting a bit more freedom of movement back in my pinky. Still can't hold a weapon, though, but my left hand's gotten some training.

Speaking of Training - I didn't get to go observe the FMA class, because The Dude never emailed me back directions. Possibly, he didn't because I mentioned my hand, so I'll contact him again once it's close to 100%.

Jobz - Well, I'm following E's advice and trying to "grade up" from the Diamond Mines. There are a lot of Diamond Mines around here, and they're all hiring, but she's right. Plus, we live in NY where, as I've said, taxes and such are fux0red. There are some good opportunities at that "school up the way" where E works.

"That's the second time you've used fux0red." - Blame Cory Doctorow.

Agenda - I think I'm going to hang at The Commons tonight, maybe check out some music. I was there last Thursday, but left just as they were starting the apparently weekly "Music at The Commons" show. Why did I have to leave so early? See below.

How To Deal With a Single Car and the Price of Gas - Unlike A-Town, the bus system here 1) runs you just about anywhere you want to go in Ithaca, 2) runs at convenient times, and 3) has equipped the entire fleet with these fold down racks at the front of each bus that you can slip a bicycle on.

Have I mentioned how much I love this town?

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

Wow, this fits in with my strange dream last night of cellos and short, blunt swords. Funny, that.

Which random phallic object are you?
Quiz by Andrea.

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Everything Old Is Still Old!

Someone with too much time on his hands wonders just why people are preparing to unleash remakes of Get Smart, Knight Rider, and The A-Team on an already frightened moviegoing populace.

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Sunday Dinner III

Today was another successful weekend day of food, fun, and friends. Ivy League and I got to see some friends that we hadn't seen in a few months along with a certain Irish clan who helped us move in three weeks ago.

Unfortunately (depending on one's POV), there were no pictures. We were all too busy eating, drinking, giving threepenny tours of the new place, and, well... eating and drinking. It was mostly a pot luck affair. My contributions were breaded chicken patties (there were supposed to be breasts, but, oddly enough, two out of the three grocery chains around us don't seem to have them) that I baked and topped with E's home made spaghetti sauce and parmesian cheese.

I'm mostly over being full and tipsy, but I'm feeling rather sore due to the impromptu chiropractic adjustment I got. Don't worry, it was from a practicing chiropractor who was one of our guests. He happened to be E's old chiropractor once upon a time, and she swore by him. From what I saw, his diagnostic skills are very, very good. I guess I had a lot of little problems, which isn't surprising.

I've had minor adjustments in the past, but by D.O.s. I've never been cracked like this. I never knew cracking that loud could be done so painlessly. And, there was loud cracking. Back and neck. I felt the cracks all the way up to the base of my skull. He did another Dx rundown, and I guess I was sufficiently messed up that he had to adjust my arm a little tiny bit. No cracking, but a third Dx rundown satisfied him.

E immediately noticed the difference in my posture. The Wife and I felt along my neck and spine, and all I can say is that it feels topgraphically different back there. Even better, I noticed a couple of hours later that my legs were awful sore. Why better? Because I also noticed my feet. I'm not sure how long they've been this way, but they had slowly taken to being turned inward about 5° (along the length, that is). Some other friends who do massage noticed this a few months ago, and wondered about any back tension I might have had, which of course they found before I told them where it was. Well, after this adjustment, my feet are straight and flat. I can tell the difference when I walk, too. My weight is being borne throughout each foot. Of course, that means the muscles in my legs/back are fighting as they try to figure out whether or not to stay where they belong, or go back where they were before.

I've got to go back to this guy. He's a little under an hour away, but his prices are very reasonable, at least they were five or six years ago as E remembers. In any case, he's worth every penny (that I don't yet have, but hopefully will be the time I can use another adjustment).

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Bandwidth Conservation Post

...so that all that's wasted is my time and bandwidth ;)

1. First name? Don

2. Were you named after anyone? Nope, although my middle name is based on my paternal grandfather's name.

3. Do you wish on stars? Not for the better part of two decades

4. When did you last cry? The day I got married

5. Do you like your handwriting? At its best, my handwriting has been compared to Thomas Jefferson's. I find it a compliment, even if it's not meant that way

6. What is your favorite lunch meat? Hard and/or genoa salami

7. What is your birth date? We've been through this on here already

8. What is your most embarrassing CD? It's a tie between The Best of the Art of Noise and the soundtrack for Dawson's Creek. And, they were both free, so shut up ;)

(Don't know what happened to number 9) Number 9,
Number 9, Number 9...(paul is dead)

10. Do you have a journal? Well, duh--and yes, I've got a private one full of things that will dash any hopes of a political career

11. Do you use sarcasm a lot? What? Me? No, never, not in a million, jillion years.

12. What are your nicknames? I've been called "Master P," "The Last Dragon," "Don the Dragon," "Don the Last Dragon," "My Horny Asian Brotha," "Don Juan de Marco," "Don Ho," "bubba," (remember: I've lived in Appalachian Ohio) and currently "My Huzz-binnd"

13. Would you bungee jump? Yes

14. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? 98% of the time

15. Do you think that you are strong? Nope--but then, I've always believed that smarts and cunning were better

16. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Death by Chocolate

17. Shoe Size? Just keep clinging to your Asian stereotypes...

18. Red or pink? Better dead than pink

19. What is your least favorite thing about yourself? My inherent procrastination

20. Whom do you miss most? Dead or alive?? I miss everyone whose company I've ever enjoyed

21. Do you want everyone you send this to, to send it back? n/a

22. What color pants and shoes are you wearing? You'll have to dial 1-800-555-SLUT to find out. $4.99 for the first minute, $1.49 each additional minute. Yeah, it's steep, but I live in NY now, and the taxes are fux0red.

23. What are you listening to right now? "Gold Mine" by Sons of Champlin

24. Last thing you ate? Coffee

25. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Mauve

26. What is the weather like right now? What am I, Al Roker? (see #11)

27. Last person you talked to on the phone? The Wife

28. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex? Their face

29. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yes

30. Favorite Drink? Saranac Adirondak Amber, which I can now buy by the fcuking case!

31. FAVORITE SPORT? Anything involving competition between two, and only two, opponents

32. Hair Color? Black

33. Eye Color? Black

34. Do you wear contacts? Nope, too lazy

35. Favorite Food? Mom's lumpia

36. Last Movie You Watched? Batman Begins

37. Favorite Day of the Year? Any day with fall-like weather

38. Scary Movies or Happy Endings? Scary movies

39. Summer or winter? Winter

40. Hugs OR Kisses? Both

41. What Is Your Favorite Dessert? Coffee

42. Who Is Most Likely To Respond? Dunno

43. Who Is Least Likely To Respond? Anyone with anything better to do

44. What Books Are You Reading? Jinx by Brian Michael Bendis, among other things

45. What's On Your Mouse Pad? n/a

46. What Did You Watch Last night on TV? The Late, Late Show with Colin Ferguson

47. Favorite Smells? Coffee

48. Favorite Sounds? Coffee

49. Rolling Stones or Beatles? I don't dig too heavily on either, but I choose the Beatles out of principle--at least they know when to try something new other than be in the same band for 40 years

50. What's the farthest you've been from home? Manila, Philippines

51. Who sent this to you? DATU_B with the subject line "Touchy feely fun siht"

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My Week: The Expurgated Version

For the first time in a long, long time, I can truly say my week has been more or less quiet. That is not to say that nothing's been happening, though. I offer this truncated version, partly for the reasons I'll outline below.

Lefty - I sort of damaged my right hand in a training mishap. Ok, I wish. It was mindless punching as I went to sit down on the floor, and my hand connected with said floor. I think I dislocated my pinky knuckle, but managed to put it back before my mind could process what was happening, which is a good thing. Actually, I thought I broke it. But after enough balur and ice, the swelling is waaay down, and its range of movement is improving too quickly to have been a break. Obviously, this makes typing difficult, but not impossible.

Training Prospects - I've written about my contact with the instructor of the local FMA/WMA school here. In our second round of emails, I frankly explained my current financial situation (i.e. I have none), to which he politely and quite correctly responded with what his rates were and suggestions for alternatives around town. (Slightly pricey, but for who he is and the material he's offering, it's really quite inexpensive overall.) I wrote him back to thank him for his information and suggestions, as well as my intent to "see what your group is about as soon as I can." This, as well as possibly dropping a name that I resisted dropping to begin with, are the only reasons I can think of for him emailing me back with an invitation to check out his group next week, even after his frankness about his costs, especially his pricey one-time "Don't waste my time fee" for new students.

Currently Reading or Have Read:

• Cory Doctorow's Craphound, 0wnz0red, and Shadow of the Mothaship
  
• Brian Bendis's Hellspawn (Issues 1-5), with Jinx, Torso, and Goldfish on tap.
  
• Any peroiodical with job listings
  
• Ansen Dibell's Plot, and two other books from the Writers Digest series. Gotta love the Tompkins County Public Library.

I Dislike Remakes - How much? Next Tuesday morning, click here to find out.

Sunday Dinner III - Potluck party this Sunday with 4 adults and 2 children confirmed. I remember when 2 guests were too much for us to handle.

That's all my addled brain can recall right now. If there's anymore, I'll let y'all know.

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

I knew I was forgetting something today. It was because (seriously) I didn't get my espresso this morning!

You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

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First "Sunday" Dinner

It was actually yesterday's dinner, but Mamazoo has all sort of stuff to do Sundays, so we had her over yesterday. E picked her up out in Elmira and brought her back here to give her the grand tour. We did the usual stuff we used to do when we'd visit from Ohio: hang out, play Scrabble and/or Yahtzee, and eat! No lumpia that night, though. We had some spaghetti with some Italian sausage and our favorite Bully Hill Love My Goat vino!



After dinner, we spent a bit of time at a park that's right on one end of Cayuga Lake. It's not like living near Lake Erie, but it's close enough, what with the water, the lake breeze, and the gulls that would walk right up to you. It was the replacement for the usual visit to Harris Hill in Elmira. There were even swing benches.

The wierdest thing was knowing that it wouldn't be six months before we'd get a chance to do this again with Mamazoo. This is going to be regular, maybe once or twice a month. I can tell you, the ladies were ecstatic, too. Mamazoo was beside herself with giddyness when she sat down at our table to hang out and play games.

The other side of it is that spending time with E's family or mine doesn't have to be such a choice anymore, or the time-crunched misadventure that it usually is. Yes, the drive to my folks is a little longer, but neither of our families are out of the way.

Of course, this begs the question: What's for tonight's "Sunday Dinner?" Maybe some lumpia.

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The Nearness of You

Well, not "you" in particular--just in general. I remember a few days ago when I finally took a moment to relax and flipped on the TV. Regis was on, and when he mentioned NY, it occurred to me that I was a mere five hours away from him. That's roughly 300 miles, give or take a few. When I think of the sorts of things in a 300 mile radius of Athens, OH, I come up blank.

It was on or about the same day that I was rereading through my backlog of Eskrima Digest postings and found that Maha Guru Pak Victor de Thouars is going be in Cortland, NY in October, a mere 30someodd minutes away! And, that's another thing I love about this town. It's just the right distance away from everything. You don't feel clausterphobic nor do you feel like you're out in BFE somewhere.

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Once Upon a Time in Ithaca: Courtesy

Well, unless and until I step into a training hall here, there's no getting around the fact that I've got to start training on my own again. The recent photolog we've taken during our move highlighted this fact. It's been over a month since I've trained, and with the hectic pace of the past two weeks, my diet has been basically crap, and it's beginning to show.

It's one thing to eat crap when I'm working out. When I'm not, it definitley wreaks havoc on the waistline. So, at minimum, I'm going to pull out the old MMAC summertime curriculum and see what I can't do about starting up a small curcuit routine again. At least I finally managed to get in touch with the local FMA/WMA instructor via email.

I admit that I made a pre-judgement based on some of the photos I've seen of this person and things I've heard about his associates. Our email conversation shattered those prejudices a bit. I started out, thus...

I was writing to inquire about the [school's program]. I have recenly moved to Ithaca from Athens, OH where I trained with [my old club]. While there, I trained (among other things) [two styles of kali]. Also, I got to know two of the officers at the time, [guys I trained with whose names I dropped, and why the instructor would care]. While I possess a stick, my training with it has been minimal, but I would be very interested in expanding my skills there, too.

I'd really appreciate any and all information about your school. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Don

Now, one would think, based on common sense, that this should be Standard Operating Procedure for anyone looking for, well... anything. I didn't think this email was anything more than a solicitation for information. So, I was pleasantly surprised by this response, which began...

Don,

First off, thank you for writing a very nice, polite letter of introduction. That is a rare thing these days and much appreciated.

[stuff snipped]

I was wondering what kinds of letters of inquiry he usually gets. Knowing some of the freaks that inhabit the martial arts world, I shudder to think. But, it saddens me in a way. Are manners, even in the martial arts world, so passe that to see them is that much of a rarity? Even in the Filipino Martial Arts, where one misspoken word or stick pointed in the wrong direction in a salutation is enough to get that stick jammed straight up your earhole?

I remember when I first met DATU_B in Club. We were as polite and cordial with each other as we could be, for fear of putting off the other one. Of course, he found out in short order how much I sucked compared to him, but at the time, he saw a Filipino with sticks walk into the room. For all he knew, I could've been GM Cabales's grand-nephew or something. For all I knew, he could've been a recent grad of Hock's Scientific Fighting Congress.

But, even without the fear of unintended insults turning into challenge matches, you just don't walk up into someone's house for the first time and immediately announce that you're going to raid their 'fridge. But, maybe that's just me. Like a wise person said, "Common sense ain't so common anymore."

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My New Second Home

At this moment, I'm spending my second day at the Commons. I was here two days ago, looking around and remembering all the good things I loved about this place the last time I visited.

I found the coffee shop in the picture that The Wife took, namely Juna's Cafe. Now, I probably won't be spending as much time here as I did at Donkey. But, why didn't anyone tell me that this place is the love child of Donkey and the recently renovated Village Bakery?

As I walked around the Commons two days ago, I couldn't help but represent...

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Settling In

Well, Ivy League, being the busy-bee that she is regardless of her energy level, has managed to get most of the house in order. Not that I haven't done my fair share, mind you (I think even she'll admit that much ;)). My favorite of her work: the swanky shower curtain in the bathroom.



Sometime after the kitchen and dining areas got done, I got around to fixing up my new "command and control center" aka my Office Space.

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

Lest I forget...

You Should Learn French

C'est super! You appreciate the finer things in life... wine, art, cheese, love affairs. You are definitely a Parisian at heart. You just need your tongue to catch up...

What Language Should You Learn?

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And Now For Something Completely Different

Call it a little break from the posts about moving and adjusting to life in upstate NY.

Did we learn nothing from Highlander 2?

New Highlander To Shoot

Highlander: The Source, envisioned as the first of three new films in the popular supernatural franchise, will shoot in Lithuania starting in October, according to an announcement by Davis-Panzer Productions, Sequence Films and Grosvenor Park. Brett Leonard (Lawnmower Man) will direct, with Adrian Paul playing the immortal Scottish swordsman Duncan MacLeod.

I just know this thing is going to make Highlander: Endgame look like Highlander: The Final Dimension.

It's meme time
I rarely do the long ones. You know, "Name five things..." But, every week, American Nerd does a survey with more or less interesting questions. By far, the most interesting question was last week's...

Describe the movie adaptation of your adolescence.
Go on, take a stab at it. You know you want to.

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Recap: Moving Day 3

We had a problem the night before getting into the apartment itself, since we arrived after the Rental Office Hours. But, thanks to a nice, new neighbor and a responsive maintenance man, we got in after a brief wait.

The next day, after much hanging out with our help, we started the unpacking process, which really amounted to unpacking a few things and blowing an ungodly amount of money on miscellaneous things we needed. But all in all, it was still good.

Needless to say that we did follow the truck's advice as we were emptying it the night before.



By the way, Budget kicks ass.

The first two rooms we cobbled together were the living room and the dining room. A dining room with tables and chairs so that, as DATU_B said about his similar experience after his recent move, we can actually sit and eat like adults.

I love having furniture from each of the periods of my life. Ivy League likes the "retro swank," but it's something else for me. For instance, that bulbless lamp and coffee table are just slightly older than I am. As a toddler, I smashed my head into every corner of that table at one time or another. The futon is straight from Athens and used to belong to Mr. and Mrs. DATU_B. Ah, all the beer drinking and movie watching...



And, at the risk of sounding maudlin again, the other picture is that of our first Sunday dinner in our new home. Ivy League, partially due to her half-Italianness, was determined to reinstitute "the Sunday dinner" into her life, which is more than fine with me. Next week, we'll probably have Mamazoo over, now that she's a mere 45 minutes away.

Well, that's our move. Thank God "Ithaca or Bust" was not a bust. I need to find something productive to do, now, not the least of which is find a jobby-job.

Anyone hiring a former mental health worker with retail skills, fair-to-middlin' martial arts skills, an overactive imagination, and an overstocked vocabulary in the Ithaca, NY area?

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Recap: Moving Day 2

We got the rest of our stuff, sans one bookshelf, onto the truck, hence the look of disbelief on my face.



While we were packing, my dad "supervised" as dads are often wont to do while Mom packed enough food to last us a week.



So, we hit the road about 11:30 in the AM, and soldiered on. And, at exactly 2 PM on July 30th, 2005, we became New Yorkers!



Although, we still had another five hours of driving ahead of us...

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Recap

T-minus 12 hours until move time:



The looks on our faces still haven't completely faded.

T-minus 9.5 hours until move time: No, more than 2.5 hours had passed. It's just that we grossly underestimated the moving and cleaning time.



These were our last purchases from Donkey Coffee. Note the "symbol of the day"--very appropos in Ivy League's eyes.

T-minus 2 hours until moving time: 75% of the truck filled with 95% of our stuff. The other five percent we would pick up at my parents' house in Cleveland.



T-minus 30 minutes until moving time: After cleaning up, dinner, and a quick shower, we spent time pondering the close of the first chapter of our lives--not that we got all maudlin or anything ;).



More when I get more energy back...

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