Seven Things

Since Mushtaq tagged me...

Seven Things I Will Do Before I Die

• Have a child
  
• Write and publish a book
  
• Find a way to get my black sash (i.e. permission to teach) in my old kung fu system.
  
• Complete my list of all the similarities between the techniques and principles of my old system and those I've learned studying FMA and dabbling in silat.
  
• Have enough martial arts knowledge to pass on to my child. Because few things are scarier than a Filipino descendant with a stick being asked "What system do you know?" and answering "Just some stuff I learned from the old man."
  
• Go to the Philippines and find an old GM to have at least one lesson. If none are living by the time I get to it, I'll settle for a first generation student.
  
• Finally learn how to play the jazz standard "Joyspring" on my trumpet. It's been a decade, and I still haven't mastered it.

Seven Things I Can Do

• Learn just about any skill if I'm apprenticed to the right person. I tell myself, "If I can learn kung fu, I can learn this..."
  
• Listen. Even now, the mental health counseling bug hasn't completely been eradicated from my system.
  
• Generally see the "big picture" or the general principles of a given thing, without necessarily needing every last detail.
  
• Hum along with the horn licks of every Chicago song from any album, all the way back to Chicago Transit Authority.
  
• Take care of my wife (I know I can do this, 'cos she told me so).
  
• Hang out comfortably with and feel accepted by lower-middle-class Appalachians in the morning, and rich, Liberal, semi-elitist snobs in the evening. It's all about how you listen to and talk with people.
  
• Stay calmer than average in a crisis situation. One of the lasting benefits of working in Residential Treatment.

Seven Things I Can't Do

• Stomach even a hint of the Filipino cultural "I'll-scratch-your-back-and-you're-an-ashsole-if-you-don't-scratch-mine" mentality. This is a bad thing, really, because I know I've actively avoided relationships with some people because of it. I have to work on that.
  
• Even think of the possibility of ever moving back to Euclid, OH.
  
• Play any tune done by Dizzy Gillespie or Charlie Parker (except for "Scrapple from the Apple" and bits of "Ornithology")
  
• Own a firearm (at least if I want to stay married)
  
• Address a Catholic nun any differently than I did in grade school, even ones closer to my age
  
• Transition cleanly back and forth between "right side" hubud into the "left side."
  
• Resist chicken wings
  

Seven Things I Say Most Often

• Whaaaaaaaat?
  
• Oh, no he/she didn't!
  
• [I've got/she'll get/he knows/you deserve/I owe you/etc.] two things: jack and $hit.
  
• Gotta put the game face on, baby.
  
• [What'd I get you for your birthday/for lunch/etc.] Twice as much as I got you last time.
  
• [In response to feeling screwed with] Motherfcuker's got the wrong one, today.
  
• Told you that btich crazy.

Seven People I Would Like To Pass This On To

You know how I am about spamming people ;), so I'll just open it up to the first seven people who want to do this either as a comment or on their own blogs (and leave a comment telling us all where to find it).

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

I'm going to do something different this week. An analysis in the mental health field usually involves a needs assessment. Because after all, there's no reason to just see where a person stands if you're not going to treat them in some way, right? Not financially feasible. Greedy insurance bsatards Anyway, here is a needs assessment according to Google.

Don needs to fire his barber.

Don needs a new ski handle for his favorite toy.

Don needs underlings

Don needs *professional* advice which will surely serve him better than the amateur variety.

Don needs to play the backyard.

Don needs more help weaving all these issues together in to a comprehensive work plan, and due to personal commitments for this week, will not be able to get it done for this funding cycle, but he will try to put together something quick and dirty.

Don needs a hug! Don needs a hug!

Don needs rhythm accompaniment about as much as a doctor needs pills.

Don needs you to volunteer time on his campaign.

Don needs to identify all the women who might be candidates and take the ultimate road trip of his life.

Don needs help picking out sweaters (he has absolutely no fashion sense)

Holding this belt for over 10 years, Don needs to step up against a hard hitting top ten contender, Gabe Carmichael to keep this record intact.

Don needs to continue with the current Dokken line-up.

Don needs help understanding strange sex acts

DON needs to be considered in the overall nitrogen balance of the region.

Don needs out of Portland and quickly.

Don needs to continue to balance the needs and rights of landowners with the need to protect the environment and Stearns County's precious resources.

Don needs his blue pills, no not those, his Xanax.

Don needs to handle it and not air his laundry in public.

Don needs to be tied up and punished!!

Don needs 35 apple pies for Saturday, October 16th’s Ham & Bean Supper.

Don needs stop using psychoactive substances and deal with real world and a world of made up intelligence.

Don needs to occasionally keep his mouth shut!

I remember telling Brian, when I was trying to describe Don's needs, "We're not quite to rubber sheets yet, but we're into Depends."

Don needs to ask the Chief if we should accept the $100.00 from the L'Amour Shoppe, which is an adult bookstore shop.

Don needs to go back to being Don the Obscure.

Don needs to add a London double decker bus and a B-52 bomber to go with his fleet.

Don needs something to calm the demons.

Don needs to quit playing, and pay them damn fees.

Every don needs a pinky ring in order to start a family.

Don needs to begin his drug education!

Don needs his high walls to keep the world out and the tears in.

Don needs to cover a mile of this alien landscape in less than 8 seconds.

Don needs to slink into the murky depths of the entertainment world before Xena the Princess of Truth can catch him red-handed making a profit.

Don needs desperately needs two things in this world: Booze, and anger management.

DON NEEDS TO GET AS FAR AWAY FROM THE INCRIMINATING EVIDENCE AS HE CAN GET - IN A BIG HURRY !!!

Don needs therapy....what a delusional fool.

Don needs a tissue.

Don needs his own show, immediately!

Don needs shooting.

Don needs to get up the energy to open the barn for a sale.

Don needs to show everyone he can squeeze out some shrimp.

I forgot where I picked this meme up. Just Google the phrase "(Your Name) needs" and see what pops up.

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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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