Song that's stuck in my head 11/07/09

Only A Northern Song by the Beatles. Yesterday morning it was The Hero from Flash Gordon by Queen.

Pumpkinhead

Yay, my very first Jack-o-lantern! I've never carved one before. I used a template for the face and I'd say it turned out pretty good. At the very least I know I can follow directions. Take that Ichabod!

New people next door

Goddamnit. Here's to hoping they are quiet (knocks on wood).

The Weddingmoon

It's funny; usually I don't update because nothing really interesting has happened. But now, so much has and I don't know where to begin. I guess I'll start at the beginning and when I get to the end, I'll stop. As you may or may not have know, my fiancee and I were recently married. We decided to shake the dust of this town from our feet and hit the open sea. We boarded a Carnival cruise ship with just our immediate family and sailed to the east Caribbean. Ahhhh.... Just what we needed. It was such a good time. And the best part was that the people we care the most for were there with us. Our first stop- Nassau. Exactly what you would expect of the Bahamas. We didn't get much time to visit so we made our way to the beach to take a quick dip in the ocean. Oh, by the way, it was hot. And at one point, when we finally reached the beach, there was a dumpster we had to walk past. And if you can imagine what hot garbage smells like wafting through the afternoon sun- Balarf! But that was only for a moment; I just remember vividly how it smelled, uhg. The beach was beautiful though. Until. Until the giant sea monster appeared and began destroying the city! I was unable to assist, as I was knocked unconscious by debris while pushing terror-paralyzed tourist out of harm's way. But Sarah knew what to do! She went straight for it, landing blow after fish-jelly jiggling blow! Finally it relented, giving everyone time to escape, but not before landing a blow of it's own across Sarah's foot.

We boarded the ship and made a hasty getaway...

Ok, maybe not so speedy. But regardless, we were safe. I can imagine the face you're making. Ok, Ok, the real story is that we were swimming and Sarah got stung by a jellyfish. There. Are you happy? Personally, I liked the other story better. We hit the ocean again for a day at sea. Side note- being from Kansas, I've never seen blue water before. The river and lakes here are brown, and even the Pacific I've seen while visiting California was green. Never any blue until now. And damn if it wasn't BLUE. No photo editing; it really was this blue.Obviously I was enamoured with the color of the water. But that wasn't all. Michael and I also spotted flying fish while sitting out on the balcony. And even Jubei, the Ninja Bear that always stows away on our trips, got into the action:

How does he always get into our suitcases? Damn ninjas...

I think he enjoyed the balcony as much as I did. After dinner and before bed, I grabbed my ipod and made my way to the balcony after it was dark. It was eerie and awesome, all at the same time. I sat outside for hours and watched the boat pass a small island and a few tankers in the dark. White seabirds were illuminated against the black sky by the lighting of out boat. It was great.

Eventually, we found our way to our destination: St Thomas. This is where Sarah and I had been planning for a year to get married. And it didn't disappoint.It was a beautiful ceremony, and we were were able to keep it light hearted, which is what we wanted. *

It was perfect.And then we came home, that's it, end of story.

Ok, that wasn't all. We also stopped in St Maarten the next day. We booked an excursion aboard a catamaran and went out into the ocean. I was aware there would be snorkeling, but not out in the ocean. OK, first off, I've only ever swam in swimming pools. Having said that, I'm also not a very strong swimmer. In fact, I wouldn't even say I can swim. But nonetheless, I decided I would try. And try I did. It was one of the most terrifying events of my life. But I did it. After that harrowing experience, we pulled anchor and cruised around the island to the French side. And yes, there were boobies. Everyone, youngsters and oldies, men and women, were checking them out. But what would you honestly expect? Clothing optional = bugging eyes and wagging tongues. Well, most of the time. I also forgot to mention that when we dropped anchor, we were still in about fifteen feet of water. Experienced swimmers may not bat an eyelash at that but keep in mind that I am not experienced and fifteen feet of water to me is an abyss. So I began my swim to shore, with only a noodle to keep me afloat. I swam, doggy-paddled and drifted for what seemed like an eternity. I began to get scared that I would never make it as waves continuously pushed me further from where I wanted to land. Every few moments as I closed on the beach, my foot would swipe the sand and I would think I was in water I could stand in. But when I would try to put my feet down, the land I was so desperately trying to cling to disappeared. But I fought on, and was rewarded with the joy of continuing to live and a view of well enhanced chesticles (I hate that word, but it sounds funny). I didn't make the swim back. I jumped in the little boat and rode back without any shame. I can flip and do handstands and generally roll and jump around but swimming is still something I'll have to work on. After that it was just a cruise back to the dock. You may be wondering about all this I, I, I and where Sarah was in all this: Out of the sun. With such porcelain skin, she can't handle the sun's abuse the way my black ass can. It got to the point that not only hers, but also everyone else's sun screen she tried to use burned her face. So while we were having a great time on the deck, trying to stand up while the boat was hitting large waves, she was down below, enjoying the nauseating roll of the ocean. She did get to swim at the beach though, at which point we pointed out the fake boobs and commented on how well they performed against gravity.

After the islands, we sailed the rest of the way home. Well not literally home. But while at sea we did get a taste of home. A good, ol' fashioned thunderstorm. And of course, as with all other situations that should require a camera, mine was safely downstairs in our room. I did manage to get a few shots after we had come out the other side.

What was so great and terrible about it was that it was right on top of us. It was like you could just reach your hand up and touch the clouds. Or get struck by lightning, whichever comes first.

This was a great experience. We got to go on a cruise with our family, see distant islands and their people, eat non-stop (and I mean non-stop. Anyone else up for another slice of pizza?) not to mention eat food like lobster, sushi, salmon and duck; Sarah also tried lamb, all in the same week, see an illusionist that Gob Bluth could have been inspired by, laugh at a couple of hilarious comedians, watch a magician, survive the wildlife and natural wonders of a foreign land, ogle boobs, watch the people above us feed the seagulls from their balcony and start a feeding frenzy (mine, mine!) and watch the sun come up over the Atlantic (or Caribbean Sea, whichever).

But best of all, this:*Then we came home and rocked the party with our reception we held this past weekend. I think we were a little disappointed with the attendance, not so much as the people that showed but with how many left after the dinner. But that's cool and not unexpected. The people that needed to stay for the dancing did, and worked it out! It was a nice little dance party, and even though nobody did the worm, there was plenty of the running man, courtesy of myself. But once again, the camera is MIA, so no pictures... again. So I'll leave you with this last one on the trip:

* Starred pictures courtesy of Weddings The Island Way

Death Of A Death Salesman

I can't believe the attention we are getting from Dr Tillers murder. But, then again, I guess I can considering he was one of a few who performed those types of abortions. Sarah was really pissed about it, but I have to admit, despite my heartfelt condolences for his family, I'm rather indifferent. I'm upset about when and where he was murdered but I'm not surprised it happened. It was bound to. With an issue like abortion, there are God fanatics that think they wield the sword of the Lord and that it is theirs to use at their discretion. I don't know if his murderer is one of these people, but there tend to be more than few in these parts. Like the dickhead so-called-reverend Phelps. Him and his whole psycho-fanatic brood are a prime example of the bible beating white supremacist sibling fucking go back to Africa nigger the Jews killed Jesus Mexicans are taking all our jobs damn Chinks can't drive for shit hicks that inhabit Kansas. And Dr Tiller should have know that practicing his profession in a place like this painted a big red target on his ass. I'm not saying it was his fault and that his murder was inevitable or justifiable. It's a shame that he could not practice without the fear of reprisal, but I'm sure he had to have known the risk. I'm just saying, you wouldn't walk through Crip territory with a red flag in your right pocket. But either way, regardless of what you believe, his sins are between him and God now. I was reading The Crow by James O'Barr the other day. And he summed up how I feel about his murder, the murders he committed and this whole abortion debate nonsense. "There is more than one way to purify the soul... There is absolution and redemption, salvation and a means to an end. And if some of these axioms are of opposing polarities there is, at least, some consolation in the fact that they have a common ground." Amen.

P.S.
I just commented on this blog I found while surfing Dr Tiller's death.

If only you knew...

How long I've been waiting for this...

Whatever Is In My Hand...

Lots of time on a Saturday spent under snow. I was supposed to work today but they sent us home early yesterday and cancelled work today. Gotta love that Kansas weather. Trees are blooming and insects are starting to pester us, but just at the end of March winter has it's revenge. One last swipe with it's dying breath. So what to do with an extra day? Play dress up and snap some photos of course!

It was more fun than I would have imagined, framing up shots and trying to think up poses that might look cool. But don't believe the hype. I'm nowhere near as cool as I hope I might appear in these pictures. But either way, like I said on my art page" Whatever is in my hand, works". I used the 2.0 megapixel camera I bought from Nate for five bucks and then did the touch-ups in Photoshop elements 2.0 (the same one that came with my computer). Weak programs and outdated equipment can't stop me when I'm on a roll.
You can view the rest of the pics here.

Fuuuuuck!!!!!!!

WHAT THE FUCK, UNIVERSE? I HAVEN'T EVEN HAD IT A YEAR!WHAT THE FUCK?WHY THIS WEEK?WHY NOW,GODDAMNIT?ARRRRRGGGGHHHH! damn it all...

Boo-urns

I thought I would celebrate Fat Tuesday with some junk food and after receiving my food in the drive-thru I tried to roll up my window. I noticed the sound of the window motor reving but for some reason it never emerged from the door. Then came the klank... At this moment my window is still down. I called a couple of auto repair shops but unforunately it was too late in the day and the earliest anyone could get to it is in the morning. Fucked.

The Golden Years

I love how scared those kids are. It's like the photographers brought the kids in and let them believe they were actually going to play the game. If you remember the sheer glee that emanated from teenage boys when combat was spelled with a "K", you'll probably get an idea of how excited they must have been. And then this happened. I can't believe this is a staged photo. I bet they really believed Raiden and Kano jumped out of that cabinet and that their days were over. Fatality! But really they just wanted to tell them that in the future, they will be so ashamed that they allowed themselves to be photographed in those shorts. Damn, talk about a blast from the past. I can't hate though...
Oh! You are so busted! Damn...

Update

She asked me who it was supposed to be... I hate art.

Six Months Till We Get Married!

Youtube Ninjas

I saw this post in my drafts and forgot I even ranted to myself about it. Here it is in all it's random, pointless glory.

I tried to post this on Youtube after watching a video by a guy dressed up as a ninja. It was more interesting though to read the comments. I love all the kids replying to this video. "You're not a ninja because I am"? Come on. Just because you played some ninja games and saw some movies, doesn't make you a ninja. Ninja were government spies and if you really were a ninja, you wouldn't tell people. Or waste your time on Youtube. It's just a dumb video with some Aussie bloke having a laugh. Laugh at it or move on. Everyone's a fucking unqualified, ignorant critic. Especially grade school kids on Youtube. Go back to singing over crappy techno songs in front of your web cam. Boo!

My Neighbors Are Assholes...

Since I've been spotty on this whole posting thing, many (hah!) that read this may not know about the noise problem Sarah and I have been having with our neighbors. We have been in this apartment since March and ever since, it has been a battle to not have to hear their music. Even at the time of writing this, All I can hear is it beating throughout every room in the apartment. I even took the laundry downstairs and in the cement room with the air conditioner running, I can hear it. I have called his number to let him know once again it's too loud and have left a message with the office, even though they won't do anything. It all came to a head about two months ago, when after much pestering of the office an eviction notice was sent. Now get this; because our neighbors thought it was unfair that they were being evicted, despite the fact that the office had sent them several notices to shut the fuck up and Sarah and I letting them know on several occasions they were disturbing us, they went and complained that it was unfair. That it was unfair? So the office manager, after having come to our apartment, hearing the noise for herself and expressing her displeasure, told them that she would speak with corporate. And what happened? They responded that as long as they were not disturbing the peace, i.e. having the police called, they could not evict them. Never mind that fact that they are disturbing our peace and quality of living. We have had to leave the house before because we could not sit in our living room and watch TV. We even tried to knock on their door to let them know and of course, no one answered. And after all that, I believe that since they know they cannot be evicted, they do not feel the need to even try and be quiet. The fucked up part in all of this is that because they have two young children and we have some sense of decency, we feel as though we need to watch our noise level because we do not want to disturb our neighbors on either side. I fail to understand that after several confrontations and even an agreement between the male individual and I, they still do not feel the need to extend to us that same courtesy. And we have till March before our lease is up. So, I'm at the point of looking at taking legal action against the apartment complex. We have a neighbor that is being disruptive and they are failing to take any action against them.

Someone! Help Me!

It's got me. I posted a very long time ago that I was playing my old Playstation games. But then it happened... Sarah bought me an Xbox 360. Now my life is being rapidly sucked away! I can't tear myself away from it. I'm rocking Gears of War on insane mode and I don't care that I get blown up every few seconds. It's just that beautiful. You know that short on Robot Chicken with the TiVo? That's what's happening to me. Love you, Xbox...

Sucka MC's

New pictures up. Check the art page. And yo teeth.

And A New Quest Begins...

I finished Thousand Arms a bit ago and now have started on Legend Of Legaia. I have a list of games on the Playstation that I'm trying to catch up on. I figured I shouldn't purchase more games until I've beat the ones collecting dust on my shelves. After those, I figured I'd go through the rest of my games and try and get as close to complete as possible. A long and fruitless road ahead. But I like games. Nuff said.

America Bleeds America Dry

Observation. The prices of everything goes up. The jobs no longer exist. The masses are no longer educated and only concern themselves with their hedonistic desires. What happens to such a culture? History tends to dictate the future, or so it seems. I, myself, drive a car that consumes premium gas, despite the fact that it rose to $3.89 today. I work for a company where 2/3 of the customer service has been outsourced. I dropped out of college but I sure am going to play Thousand Arms tonight. Man, I love that game... What's wrong with us?

Neglectful again...

I always forget to update this thing. I still don't know if anyone reads it other than Sarah. But either way, here it goes. I'm tired of doing recaps so I'm just going to try and post my day to day events on a regular basis. I called in sick yesterday to work. I took a nice long nap and eventually felt a little better. I wondered around the house most the day and eventually picked up the camera. I loved the light yesterday because of the thunderstorms passing through and managed to click off a few.

Now if only I can keep this update thing going. Maybe I'll get a chance to post more like this one:

I think it'll look cool once I clean it up.

I'd also like to give a shot out to Sarah, who is 111 days smoke free! Keep up the good work champ.

The Cat Without Chicken

We were eating some KFC and Murdock wanted some. I told her to beat it and she pouted the rest of the night. She looked so pitiful and rejected because she couldn't have any. So I laughed at her and took this picture which does not do the situation justice. Hence forth "Mud-duck" shall forever be know as

"The Cat Without Chicken"!!!

Can I get some revervb on that so it sounds really gigantic? No, we can't afford reverb? Well what kind of outfit are you running here? That's it, I can't work like this. No I don't care, you'll just have to get someone else. I'm done with the abuse and the shoddy production. (door closes)

A Smokeless Fortnight

Today marks the 14th day of Sarah being smoke-free. Everyone give her a hand. If she wanted to, she could even kick heroine, seeing as nicotine is supposedly more addictive. Lets just hope it never comes to that.

Facebook is starting to piss me off.

All the seemingly fun applications require you to add 20 friends and every little quiz that pops up lets you progress halfway through it before asking you for a bunch of personal information and an email address. I just wanted a dumb little distraction and here I am giving away my privacy so they can clog my inbox with more spam. Fucking nazis. Besides, I only have 19 friends. Douches.

While I was away

This is going to be a long one so you might want to get some snacks. Thousands of years ago, there was a boy who typed a post with crinkled hands; many were killed and there was much defecating. Okay, so I'm a little behind with my posting. I figured I'd start with our departure from our last apartment. The original game plan was for Sarah and I to find an apartment in Emporia so she could attend the Psychology master's program there. In an effort to save some cash-olla, her mother suggested we move home for the few summer months until we were prepared to move. In June, Sarah was given an opportunity to travel to Liverpool for three weeks and study. Obviously it wasn't all work as here she is with friends Elisa ad Holly aboard the Magical Mystery Tour Bus. That movie is F'ed up, by the way. While she was away I discovered a little game named Guitar Hero. And now I'm a rocker, hard core. Can you imagine me in Sarah's mother's basement with my little plastic guitar rocking out to John The Fisherman? Yeah... Pretty sad. And I don't care; that game is fun. Well, she returned and life went on as usual. I had a bit of an itch to return to school and enrolled in the carpentry program at the Wichita Area Technical College. Sarah began commuting to Emporia three times a week. Happy to be doing something with my hands, I set out to learn a trade. During this semester I learned to frame a house.
I also learned the sweet pain of hammering my fingers, working in the blistering heat and being brained by a piece of scaffolding. The hardest part though had to be the hours. Up at 6:30am and at school and work till 8:00pm five days a week with ten hour Saturdays at work for the first eight weeks. Ungodly, but I fought my way through. The suck part about it though is that I had to fight with my job in order to be able to cut my hours so drastically so I could attend the classes. But of course, the school decides to change the schedule and now I am unable to return to the program because even if my job would allow me to cut my hours even more, I would lose my benefits. And what good would it do to take a construction course without any heath insurance? Imagine if I really got hurt. So the school itself kind of screwed me out of returning. I really wanted to attend this portion because we would have been focusing on interiors and that is what I really wanted to learn. I could return in the fall maybe but we would begin on a new house and then I would just learn the same thing over. Pointless. But that was the school front for me. Sarah made hour long runs to and from Emporia to attend her classes three times a week. She also took on a temporary secretarial position with her Trio program directors. But they fired her because of her sass-back. Not really.

There were also many huge changes, such as both my sisters moving to California and two of my friends getting married.

Kelly and Megan tied the knot and we all gasped at the idea that there was a girl that finally did not run from Kelly. She seems to understand his dumbass, which is really awesome. We wish them all the best. Except Mark, who went a little crazy from all the sugar intake at the reception. He's got the crazy eyes. Good times.

Todd got married too but under the radar. We still have yet to meet her. I also have yet to kick his ass at some Virtua Fighter too. What foo!

Christmas just kind of came and went. My mother and Christina left half way though the day to stake out some prime real estate for the the big move. I received some boss gifts and even snagged some fun pictures:

I caught this picture of Murdock in her titanic battle with a box that seem determined to devour her. Fight Murdock, Fight! To The death! To The Bloody End!

Sarah's father has an ongoing war with his daughters to see who can give the worst gift. I'm not sure but I think I may have been drafted. This picture just screams Rex-Kwon-Do.

I love the face I'm making in this picture. It's so bad. You can just see the wisdom of a man in it.

We just returned from California on Sunday. We moved Emily and Christina there this last week. Emily will work at a flagship Borders store and Christina will attend a Masters program at a college that I don't remember it's name. But it's what she's been looking forward to for some time now, and I'm glad she's pursuing it headfirst. Kinda sucks to be without both siblings though.

Just one was bad enough but now both. But I'm happy for them all the same. We drove up to Chicago to load Emily's shit up and turned around and came back the next day. Ten hour drive both ways, ugh. But I got to see Southside Chicago, which doesn't appear too often in movies and TV shows. Wow. But even still, it was pretty cool. We arrived pretty early so we finished up packing, visited Mike and Ryan and crashed for the night. I finally met her boyfriend Charles, who was pretty cool. The next morning we loaded up and moved on out.

Gross weather all the way home. Parts of Iowa had fog so thick you could barely see in front of you. It was like driving though Silent Hill, the fog was so thick. Creepy. We got home Monday night, rested and loaded Christina's stuff on Tuesday and left first thing Wednesday.

Ahh, road trips. Big, yellow moving trucks, fast food, and scary hotel rooms. Always up for a good road trip. The trip home was the best part though. We had to make three connecting flights in one day. We had to fly to Los Angeles from San Francisco first. Having only flown before 9/11 I had no idea about the security procedures. Our flight from San Francisco to LA was delayed 45 minutes. We only had an hour layover, so Sarah and I were a little concerned but stayed cool. That is until we landed at LAX. The Terminal they dropped us at was on the opposite side of where we needed to be. We wondered for a while looking for a way to get to it as precious seconds passed by. We finally asked for directions and were told we need to catch a shuttle, which we did. But once again, time was stolen as we had to pass through security a second time. We had to literally run to the gate and when we arrived and boarded, we found we were the last ones to make it. We couldn't sit together and I ended up between two "earthly" smelling men who slept the whole fight. But at least they didn't talk across me. I hate that. We landed in Phoenix on time and had plenty of time to grab a small pizza and some drinks and board our last flight to Wichita. Upon arriving though, we found out the hard way once again that nothing can ever be so simple.

We waited at the baggage claim, watching the same suitcases go around and around, without ever seeing our own. We checked with the front desk and were told they never made it from Phoenix. We had to go to Wal-Mart at 12am to get new toothbrushes and deodorant for the following work day.

And here we are now, with the biggest news. I finally did the right thing and asked Sarah to marry me. After five years. Oh, yeah, and she said yes... who wouldn't want to spend the rest of their lives with this guy...

Rock

Random post #271

When playing the first Max Payne, when you get into the elevator with the bad music, shoot the speaker. Max will thank you for it.

Tis the season, already

Is it wrong that whenever I see Christmas crap before the end of October, I feel the need to set it on fire?

It's My Cat In A Box

Not gonna get you a diamond ring; that type of gift don't mean anything. Here's a picture before we moved. I had posted a picture previously of Stinkbutt McJones sleeping in the rubble of his former box. After he had dismantled it, we found him another while buying booze at our local retailer. He liked this one even more. I only have one thing to say about sleeping in a box. "Get a job, Grouch."

There Goes The Neighborhood

Back on the scene, crispy and clean. That's from Blacksheep. The rap group. A long time ago. We have internet access again. At home, which means I won't get busted by the man again at work. Lots of crap has happened but I'm too lazy to write it now. Besides, I have to get back to the sweet embrace of the crypt; But I'll be back!

London Calling

We are about a week and a half into Sarah's trip to Liverpool. She is studying abroad and in the meantime I'm falling apart. I guess I could give a brief rundown of the events leading to Now Leaving Wichita, The Movie. We are moving to Emporia in August so Sarah can attend a Master's program. Since our lease was up in May, we have relocated to her mother's house. I kinda feel like the creepy 30 year old loser living in my mother's basement, but in my defense her mother offered and we just couldn't justify keeping our apartment for a $150 rent increase to go month by month for two months. But also in the quest to save money, we have also had to go without Internet. I'm typing this from my parents house and the dial up is a lit slower than I'm used to. So there is the reason for no updates. I'll try and keep up but it's still going to be slim pickings if you really have to know what's happening in my so called life. I've barricaded myself in our room until Sarah returns. I figure I have enough games to last me the duration. I recently beat God Of War which was awesome. It was like playing 300. The production was great. Well either way, there are still others to defeat and plenty of time to complete them until "turn that shit off!" is reintroduced. But in all fairness, I can't wait till she returns and look forward to it everyday, Yeah. (that's for you, Sarah)

Take That Dean Bitterman

So after years of exploding bra bombs and clipping the dean with her vehicle, Sarah graduated from Wichita State yesterday. It was a joyous occasion with very little streaking for a change. Now it's off to graduate school where she will ponder the greatest mysteries purposed to man. And while she does that, I will also seek higher education... At Krusty's Clown College. It's been my life long dream and I've always been a natural when it comes to pie throwing. But as stated before it was a joyous occasion and I'll have to post some pictures of it. But for now, here's a picture one of her friends took during the ceremony. Smile!

Oh, wait, that's not it. Here you go, my bad.

You're Going Up The River, Sawdust For Brains

So Paris Hilton is surprised she's going to jail. After getting stopped three times while driving on a suspended license. Three times. Let my black ass get stopped once for supposedly having a tail light out and I have to sit in my car for the better part of an hour as officers call for back up and run my license and plates. Never mind the fact that the light wasn't out. Her mom even had the nerve to complain that the system doesn't work. No shit. That's why it took three times for her to be in any real trouble. These rich assholes don't understand how many breaks they are given and still want to gripe about the lot that's cast. The bitch knew her license was suspended. She even signed a slip showing she acknowledged the suspension. But hell, what are you gonna do. Wynonna Ryder never even saw a jail cell after stealing $6,000.00 worth of merchandise. With her rich ass. Let me get caught with a candy bar I didn't pay for and I'll be sitting in a federal prison without access to a lawyer for supporting terrorism. I just better remember to plead the fif.

Update- That bitch was caught driving again, after she has already been sentenced to jail time for doing just that. I don't think the judge was off the mark when she said Paris had no regard for the law.

Every Video Game Should Have A Photo Mode

Like these pictures I took on Metal Gear Solid 2. That's my boy 'Ol Gimpy.

Tell 'em how it is Gimpy! Say it right!

I love it. I just wish every game had a mode like this. That's part of the reason I love GT4 so much. That and the... rest of game, I guess.

I'd Like To Thank My Studio Audience

I want to thank everybody who came to my B-day party. It was a lot of fun and it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Maybe that was the booze. But either way, it makes me happy to know that there are still people who can make the effort to at least pretend to like me. I'd also like to thank my friends at work who loaded me up with so much sugar I didn't sleep all weekend.

In Memory Of My Yellow Dog

I had a dream about my dog, Amei-Chan. We were playing in the front yard with my mom and everything was good. She rolled around and did that thing where she scratched her snout with her front paws. Then I remembered she was dead. I woke up after that. It made me really sad. But I was happy to have that dream about her. Almost like it was as close to her as I could get. I've never wanted to rub her stinky belly so much.

Oh well. It was a much better dream than the one I had the night before. For some reason I had to avenge my father's death by killing Boss Hogg from the Dukes Of Hazard. I couldn't get to him though. Bastard. You can run now, since I'm not asleep! And you just keep on running, you son of a bitch! I'll catch up to you some night!

Anatomy of a Hiatus

For the complete story about the kittens, go to myspace. Friends only... bitches.

Quote Of The Day

Christina: "They're playing Nigeria?"
Sarah: "That's Niagara."

On the Kansas Vs Niagara tournament game.

The suspect is hatless, repeat hatless.

We went to see Reno 911 Friday night and that shit was hilarious. Just wrong, in every way you can imagine. Everyone should see it now. I mean now. Get up, put on your shoes and git gone foo! Anyways, my parents asked me if I wanted to see 300 today but I had to decline. I would have been skinned alive for seeing two movies without Sarah. For which I must make a public apology. I never take her to the movies when she wants to go and as a result, about five of the films she wanted to see are now on DVD. My bad. But in my defense, she usually springs it on me right when i get home from work when I'm ready to crash. I'm not an entire asshole and I did take her to see Pan's Labyrinth, which was amazing but not what I was expecting at all. The preview made it look like a Jim Henson type film and while we are watching it people are getting shot left and right, buck buck. I had no idea it was a WWII era film. So in closing take yo self to Reno and Sandy and Tonya totally stood us up, booya!

Got Damn!

And I think that says it all...

The Incredible Bulk (of 2 hour long not smashing)

So i finally got around to seeing The Incredible Hulk, 3 years after it's release, and the only thing I can say is it put me to sleep. Literally. Why in all those two hours where there about 15 minutes of smashing? More proof that Hollywood doesn't know anything about the films it produces. I keep telling people they should let me make movies. My Hulk film would have been two hours of the Hulk smashing shit with about three and a half minutes of dialogue. Granted I about stood up on the couch when he was fighting the tanks, yelling "smash, smash" but as great as that short lived scene was, it wasn't enough. All we needed to see was him get pissed off and fight a legion of the Leader's robot army. Who gives a shit about his dad and his love life. More of Hollywood deciding for us what we want to see. I didn't want to see Mary Jane live at the end of Spiderman; I wanted to see Gwen Stacy die (as terrible as that sounds). I didn't want to see random made for movie characters jumping off walls and kicking zombie dogs such as in what was supposed to be Resident Evil. And I definitely did not want to see an Xmen movie with a weepy prepubescent Rouge who did not have super-strength or could fly. Who writes this shit and what grade school did they flunk out of. The Hulk, much like these and many other movies, are the train wrecks that happen when they take a fanboy driven idea and put their own little spin on it, thus completely negating what it was that made it cool in the first place.

Suck It Boston

In Ignigtnot's voice: "Your fear is warranted, for we have our Quad-laser aimed and are ready to bring destruction to all your craps...er crops."

For Tomorrow

My older sister, Emily, returned today to her home in Chicago. Since it was the first chance she has had to visit since before Christmas when she arrived she came with gifts in tow. She works in the largest Borders bookstore in the states and due to this feature, she is able to come into, if only minor, contact with celebrities who enter this store. This would be the second year I have received a comic book as a Christmas present. The special thing about these comics are that last year Jim Lee came into the store with Jeph Loeb. I have a copy of the Batman story "Hush" parts one and two, signed by Jim Lee with a doodle of Batman in one and of the Joker in the other. How awesome is that. Well, like I said, she returned this year with gifts in tow. And in this installment was a hardbound copy of "For Tomorrow" volume one signed once again by Jim Lee. Fucking sweet. He had signed these while in the store so they weren't made out to me or anything but I'm sure you'll agree that it's still fucking sweet. It also included a doodle of the Man of Steel himself. As Homer would say "Jealous? You're jealous. " Fucking sweet.

If You Don't Care If I'm Seventy And You Think I'm Sexy

As I sit at gunpoint at work (because I've threatened to run) listening to Rod Stewart, I have to ask- Can anyone think of a song he has written in the last twenty years. I swear, every song I've heard by him has been a cover. Has the man ever sung an original song in his life. Nate assures me he did when he was a member of some band. But these days? He just relies on women in their forties and fifties who remember him before he looked like a shined piece of leather and thought he was "sexy" to buy his albums. "Whoo-Hoo, he still has it!"

Celebrities Shouldn't Be Celebrites

I know I just posted about the suckness of The Simpsons, but I felt I need to at least say this: I liked the guest stars as characters, not as themselves. Except for Ron Howard, because he is always in a bathrobe. But it just seems as the seasons progressed and their popularity increased, so did more celebrities playing themselves. I already hate most of them in real life. I don't want to see them in cartoon world playing themselves. There are episodes where it works, but for the most part it just shows the egotism involved in being a "celebrity." They can't show up unless they get to play themselves. Usually when this happens, there is a crappy script written around how to get the celebrity on the show. Everyone suffers in this case.

It's A New Year, Blah, Blah Blah.

Since I completely missed posting about the changing of the guard, I figured I'd go ahead and do it now. This year threatens to be the scariest ever. I'll be twenty-nine this birthday(gasp!). Only another year before the big three-0. Also there is the possibility Sarah and I will be moving. If she gets into a grad school outside Wichita then its Now Leaving Wichita for real. I've never lived anywhere else and that makes me a little apprehensive about it. There's all the starting over bullshit we'll both have to go through. other than that, I figure '07 won't be as big a deal as '06. I have a whole list of life goals and resolutions I plan to not achieve just like last year. School is looking more and more tolerable and may even become an actual possibility. The only reason I really have for not going back is just because I don't want to. Everyday at works does something to reverse that though. Who knows? At the risk of sounding cliche; It's a new year.

'Ol Grey Mule, She Ain't What She Used to Be

Why was the Burger King commercial for the Texas Double Whopper funnier than the Simpson's episode? And the commercial wasn't really that funny. It's at the point where I like watching American Dad more than them. And that's saying a lot. Boo-urns.

Japan has never met a black person in it's life

Here are a few "black" characters that appear in video games. Note the similarities:

How come all of them have afros and shades. Except for the Japanese "Wantabe." I guess there is always the alternative: Balrog, who is obviously not another stereotype.

A black boxer...Original

The Shogun is back. Shonuff.

I've finally clawed my way out of the stacks of Mexico insurance policies my coworkers and I have been under since mid November. Of course not much has happened. I've started the heavy medication (booze) that is needed to deal with the bombardment of crap-tastic Christmas music and cheery shoppers and drivers that are typical of this season. I have to note the weather situation too. Notice that Wichita is blessedly free of any snow and ice, despite the class three killstorm surrounding us. Luckily, all it's done is rain which, as always, comes about three days after I washed my car. Ahh the joys of the season. I've got all my shopping for my immediate family except one. Can you guess which one? I've also "obtained" a copy of Ong-Bak, which is fucking badass. I do wonder though, why when a movie such as this comes out, they have to include shit like "stunts that could make Jackie Chan pale?" I mean really. Whoever wrote that shit obviously has never seen Jackie's Hong Kong flicks. Yeah, his made for the international market movies are kind of tame. But to say something like that about one of the Lucky Stars is retarded. but of course they just mean to hype up the film. I just don't know why they need to diss J-Rock. He's cold as ice.

I'm so glad we had this little chat

Communication is vital in the business world, right. Managers, supervisors, bosses should always know more than the grunts, right. Why then did our boss, the site big cheese, descend his Mount Olympus too wring our feeble little necks. I know why, the rest of the team knows why. But did he? Yesterday was a very busy day. Any clues as to why? Most businesses are closed the Friday after Thanksgiving (of course we aren't, that's the kind of business we are) which leads most customers to not call. Hence us not being busy. The Monday after though, is a different situation. But not only did we get bombed but also one of our main programs we use to process request, decided to crash. Shot all to hell. All day. Plus, in an effort to reach the coveted service level we are expected to maintain, they take several people from our team to take regular phone calls. So we have our workforce basically halved and the agents on the floor had no choice but to keep the request till today when the program is back up. I'm sure you can guess where this is going. So about five, five-thirty he decides to come down to our cubicles and ask rather loudly as to why there are over five hundred request in the system. Now remember, he is the site manager. He should have a handle on all that is happening, right? Well, he still asked? Not only that but he also took the stats that someone had just printed. I can't wait till tomorrow when he sees my name, as well as others, not on it. I have my own project to work on plus there is a whole other database he probably won't look at. I just think it's weird that instead of going to one of the Operations Managers, he come straight to us to bitch us out. But then again, I've been here too long to really be that surprised.

There Used To Be A Box There

When Sarah and I moved, I brought home an envelope box that our cat, Niccalo, quickly laid claim to. You know how cats are, boxes and paper bags and what not. Well, this box followed us from the month before we moved all the way to the new apartment, where it now resides. With him inside. But recently we had a cold snap, and to make sure he remained warm inside his box, Sarah placed a towel inside it. This however, placed more stress on the fragile walls of the box. I don't really need to explain what happened next, but I wil for comedic purposes. The front wall gave way first. Which was fine because he could still sit inside it with his front paws outstretched in front of him. We then moved the box away from the patio door to once again make sure he remained warm. After the move, though, the end came swiftly. Here you see him in his box before the Great Wall collapsed:

Notice how snug of a fit it is. And here he is Saturday:
See how he doesn't even try to fit into it anymore. He's just given up. That cracks me up.

Updates

I finished another picture today. It's a lot more minimalistic that I usually do, but I like it all the same. I haven't posted in a while, due mostly to the "management" at work cracking down. But I'll try to keep everything up to date but it's kind of hard once I get home. This is the last thing I'm thinking about. No wait, that would be work. Well, either way, I added the picture to Flicr and added to link here on my Myspace page. I also sent out a bulletin letting my friends know there was a new picture up. I wonder how many will actually take the time to look. I find it funny though that all the comments posted were from this computer, but not by me. But it still looks that way though, despite those posting the comments leaving their names. I just want everyone to know that it wasn't me posting them and that other people actually looked and posted about my pictures. And no, these other people do not reside in my head... In case you were wondering.

More proof of my crappy-ness

I opened a Flicr account to show off my lame-o artwork. There's a link to it on my sidebar. See it? It's right over there. No, not there damnit! Look, if you aren't even going to try. Ok... Good. Feel free to check it out and don't foget to tell me to not quit my day job. God, I hate myself sometimes. But then I use the spell checker and it tells me I misspelled "forget". See above if you missed it. Among others, it also offered a correction to "fagged". Keep in mind "forget" was not one of my options. God, I hate Blogger's spell checker even more. All the time. So I left "foget" on purpose. Because I'm a passive aggressive asshole. Bah!

It's not right

I stopped the episode of Extras I just started watching just to write this post. Stephen Merchant is so fucking tall. It's not right. It's the episode with Orlando Bloom. He walks on the the set of Andy's show and gotdamn, he is so fucking tall. So there, Nate. You can't say I'm not watching it.

Theresa left her glasses again.

They were in the couch. I found them. Not the bad way. I took an artsy-fartsy picture of them after I watched disc one of Nate's Office Season Two DVD's he let me borrow. He has my Aqua Teen Hunger Force Season Two. Now I'll probably scan some old drawings of mine. Working for the weekend, and so well spent they are.

Walker, Texas Ranger(maybe)

Ok, no shit, I just finished a request for man named "Charles Norris". Think about it. Then think about "Law and Order". In your face. Roundhouse kicks for everyone!

I'm every woman

If you have a job, assuming you do otherwise why are you on the internet, then you probably have to listen to crappy satellite music. This means the same songs over and over again. Well, after what has to be many, many consumer complaints about our hold music, the higher-ups have finally changed the channel from the late seventies, early eighties station. Since then we have heard a mix of contemporary music including a song by Whitney Huston. I then mockingly sang a few high-pitched notes from the song from The Bodyguard. This doomed me to later humiliation. Friday I was not feeling well and while away on my first break of the day I returned to this:
It's from a picture of one of my cousins and I punching each other at the same time. I have an idea who was behind this dastardly deed but I won't post names (JMO). I guess this makes up for this picture I left on Nate's desk.

I'm sick and it sucks.

My brains are draining out of my nose. This blows.

Long Hard Road

It is done. After almost a year. I'm not sure how to feel about it. The fact that it took so long or that it's finally done. Either way, here it is:
I still have this other one that I began on the fif and don't know how to finish. I haven't been this productive in a long while and it feels good.

Question

If Michael Jackson is so sensitive to the sunlight, why isn't he wearing gloves?

Another day at work

Yup... The sad thing is I have tomorrow off and this will probably be me on my couch at home.
But I do have another picture I'm almost done with. Plus this one is a days work away from being done, which is exciting and scary all at the same time.

I desperately need one of these

It's 1:30am. I should be in bed now. Actually 30 minutes ago. I spent tonight updating my Ipod instead of drawing, or even playing games. What a waste of time...
and now Blogger is being a bitch and not posting this. What a fucking waste of time... Now I get to receive a beating. Coming Sarah! (thanks a lot Apple and Blogger, now I'm gonna get punched in the face.)

She called me greenhorn, I called her Tony Randall

So I accepted the Sir Loin-alot challenge last night with a burger from Braums that was bigger than my stomach. I wasn't even half way through Roger before I started hallucinating. I remember seeing Sarah's burger and thinking it was big. Then she reached into the bag and pulled mine out. At least she was smart and ate slow and only ate half her burger which was about the size of a Whopper. But I couldn't do that. Despite eating half a lamb earlier, I decided to take her to school. Then Sarah and I watched the season premier to Grey's Anatomy, which was chock full of flashbacks and Bailey not exhibiting the same tough, Nazi-ish behavior as we have become accustomed to. Sarah's worried it will become a crap show soon. After last night's episode, though, I can't see it lasting much longer. Ideally, I would like it to end this season before they ruin it. But I guess it's never too late, or early, to ruin a show. And this could be the season it happens. Well, whatever. I have to figure out what I'm going to do tonight since Sarah is in Kansas City presenting her research project. It's about pilots who do barrel rolls and loop de loops while listening to Danger Zone and who ride motorcycles really fast. I think it's called "Pilots On Bikes and Why They Rock". It's really good. It's actually about the cognitive decline in older pilots and is very interesting. But it still fails to advise me on how to spend my loads of free time while she is gone. Playing games isn't the same without her walking into the room and saying "turn that shit off!" I guess I'll just binge on The Simpsons till she gets back on Sunday.

Duck and Cover!

We had some severe weather today, resulting in a tornado warning for our county. During the warning we were told to leave our desk and move to the hallway outside our suite to cower before natures mighty wrath. Which never came. That sounded a little disappointed. I wasn't. I was just sad that we had to return to our desk so soon. The whole ordeal only lasted about 30 minutes. But even after the ok to go back it still looks kind of ugly outside. I guess we'll be in the tornado watch until 11 tonight. Exciting, huh? Well, while in the hall I had to stand next to the smelly lady. I didn't even realize it till it was too late. Damn, that's mean. But sorry. I've had my moments, like everyone else, but you know those people that stink so bad that you smell them after they've left. That's her. I can feel myself sinking closer and closer to hell the more I write mean things about her. Every keystroke is another nail in the coffin. Well, at least she can say she has all her hair. Booya, Henry! Take that. Oh Snap! Shazam! That's in your face! Like a man with no arms, you can't hang! And so forth. Damn I am bored. I had about three lien releases open that took me an hour to do. I just kept looking at them, choking back the tears of boredom, then swearing rabidly at the dealer on the phone while I have him on mute. Nate called though and said he was coming back on Tuesday. Thank God. Now his incessant chatter will drown out "Those Two" again. That's right, that's the only reason I want you to come back! Now what? What are you gonna do? Drown me with your tears? Oh Snap! Take that Nate! Ok I need to go home.

To answer your first question; Yes, we do have pasta

Also, you will need to sign up for Myspace in order to view my pictures in all their badly scanned, low resolution glory. Then you have to send a friend request, which I must approve. The time it takes for me even to post here is exhausting, so that is going to be a hassle, both for me and anyone who might want to view my pictures. But it is the course I have chosen to take. Hopefully it will benefit me in the future. I will still post my blogging here though. As if anyone actually reads this. Or should. Now, on to the second question; What episode of the Simpson's is the title from. Don't ask Johnny "Tight Lips", though. He'll tell you to suck a lemon. As of right now, I only have a few drawings up, but I will probably try to add a few other pictures I've created, either with the computer, more drawings, photography or all the above. Sandy's already put her two cents in. In the future, I might try to make prints and advertise using Myspace as a platform. But that is still a ways off. I'll probably add a link to my page this weekend. Then I might try and finish the drawing that is the bane of my existence.

Hello... Is anyone out there?

I've just spent a few minutes checking out all the usual blogs I read almost daily and not a one has updated. And I thought I had a boring weekend. Actually it wasn't that bad. I went to Durand's, played Grand Turismo and pined for all the cars we can't have. Then I came home late and pissed Sarah off. That was fun. Then I went for a drive Sunday morning to take Sarah a "package" which will remain unspecified due to it's femininity. I played Resident Evil for a few hours and posted some drawings on Myspace. You have to be my friend to look at them though. Sandy said she liked them, which made me happy. Then I went to my parents house and ate dinner and laughed at part of Wallace and Gromit and The Curse of the Wererabbit.
Then we watched part of that 9/11 mini-series and was bored and pissed off at the same time. Then I updated my Ipod that I got for $90 bucks thanks to a deal Nate got when he bought his new computer. There, my life in 30 seconds. That's so sad that I can sum up my weekend in 30 seconds. Bah. I'm going to drink tonight.

It's soooo sloooow

How come after a long weekend, or any weekend for that matter, when you finaly drag your sorry ass back into work, the day drags on sooooo long. I mean really. As fast as this three day weekend went, today should be over. Why do the laws of time and space not apply when you are at work. I would attempt to throw myself down some stairs to pass the time, but since these laws don't apply here, I wouldn't get hurt and would have to sheepishly return to my desk to finish the day. Maybe longer to make up the time I missed laying at the bottom of the stairwell. The window would't be any good either since I'm on the first floor and would just fall on the pavement outside. And then I would have to pay for the window. That means more time at work. Oh well. It's almost time to leave. At least it was an hour ago.

I should be a weather man

Except I should just come on after the weather segments so that I can say "no it won't" to everything the meteorologist just said. But what really annoys me is not their inability to accurately forecast the weather but rather the actual weather. It never thunderstorms during the day anymore. It's always at 2am. We never have a good storm in the middle of the day. Half the time I don't even know it rained at all until I leave for work the next day and the streets are still wet. That sucks. Whatever happened to the those days. I remember my junior year in high school where it rained for a month straight, day and night and I loved it. Why won't it do that again. It needs to; I command it. Damnit.

I really just want the power to go off at work so I can leave early. There, I said it.

Dinner is served

Leon has been avenged. I beat Resident Evil 4 the other night. I have to say that it is the hardest easy game to beat. I felt challenged but most of the times where I died were due to me "trying things". You know that old joke "what are a rednecks last words? Hey y'all, watch this!" That kind of stuff. "I wonder if I can hit him there. I wonder if this grenade will make his teeth click", or trying to knife fight something that you really shouldn't get close enough to stab. But either way, it is done. But enough of the games.

I finished another picture Tuesday. It wasn't the large one that I should have finished a long time ago though. It did however take me two months to finally get it done. I'll try and finish the big one very soon. It's soooo close. I just need to buckle down and do it. Of course, once that's done I have another I've been slowly penciling so that when I am ready to work on it, it won't take nearly as long. I'll probably post the finished product later. I'm a little wary of that though since there has been talk of people taking images from other blogs and professing that they are indeed the artist. I spoke with a co-worker and he said I should set up a Myspace account to show my work. That way I could advertise it. I don't know about that but at least I could keep track of who had access to my work. I don't know, I'll figure all that out later.

GODDAMN! pt2

Revenge is a dish best served with a boomstick and a smile. As I vowed, I am currently avenging Leon on Resident Evil 4. So far I've died about twenty times doing so, but despite that high number, I've actually progressed pretty far in the game. That and many of the times have been through trial and error. Just to be safe, when you fight the two giants in the mine, make sure one has been thoroughly swallowed up by the lava before you get too close to it. Just to let you know. Ouch. That is one creepy game and I love it for that reason. Just the chill you get when you hear that chainsaw rev up. I'm still mad that my body ran a couple of steps after one of the Sisters clotheslined me with her chainsaw blade. Ouch again. But worry not Leon, I will avenge you. I will also obtain the weapon called the Chicago Typewriter. It's a Tommygun! And that has to the perfect name for it. Usually there are cool names for the weapons, like the Broken Butterfly magnum revolver or the Riot Gun shotgun. I just hope you can use it in the regular game and not just in Ada's mini-game. Either way, I'm sure I'll laugh a disturbing laugh as it tears through a crowd of Gonados. He he he, I can't wait. BOOM, HEADSHOT! BOOM, HEADSHOT!

So Close, But Still So Far

Earliest picture












Latest... As of tonight. Will the end ever come? I vow here and now to be done by the end of this month. Maybe.

Ok, listen to this bullshit. We were talking about bad movies and the Benifer movie came up. A comment was made about whether or not Jennifer Lopez has made a good movie and I mentioned The Cell. We began talking about the part with the horse which made me bring up Damien Hirst, who may or may not have been the inspiration for the scene. I began explaining to Brian about how an "artist" named Mark Bridger poured black ink into one of Damien's sculptures called "Away from the flock". This piece features a white sheep suspended in a tank of formaldehyde. He was not protesting the work and did this as an act of "conceptual art", which I would translate as vandalism. He actually thought that Damien would not be upset about his actions. A few years later Damien Hirst published an art book featuring "Away from the flock" which included a pull tab. When pulled it would fill the tank with "black ink", obscuring the animal suspended in the fluid. Here's the kicker, wait for it... After it was published, Bridger sued him for copyright infringement. Ain't that some shit? The fact that he had the balls. If I was the judge in that case I would have just thrown it out. Then ordered Mr Bridger socked in the nuts. Now that's justice!

Surly only looks out for one guy

Sometimes I hate too much. It kind of makes my stomach hurt. All the hating I do. It's like working two jobs, being angry and all. And then it pisses me off at working two jobs and not getting paid for one of them. And then I get paid and find out I'm still broke and it makes me even more angry. And then people tell me I need anger management and that makes me even more angry. So I tell them to shove it and it makes them angry, which in turn makes me angry because they can't take joke. It's a vicious cycle. Break the cycle man, break the cycle.

If you build it, they will come...Maybe

A friend was complaining that no one goes to his blog. I didn't know he even had one till last night. If you don't tell anyone, then no one will ever know. But now I know, and knowing is half the battle. I've linked to it, so now the hypothetical readers of my blog may become hypothetical readers of his too. Like one big hypothetical family. Hypothetically.

Welcome to loserville. Population, me

I failed in my attempt to prove Sarah wrong. I have not finished my picture yet. Despite working till 1am last night, it remains incomplete. I need new pens though. I could cover a lot more ground if I wasn't trying to cover large areas with a .005 pen. But it's ok. The only thing she wins are bragging rights and I'll finish it soon enough, hopefully by the weekend. I will, however, still need to mat and frame it. A feat that will be a lot more easily realized once I have a good mat cutter. The handheld cutter sucks, but it's better than nothing. I do have one picked out that I want though. The price tag of about $140 is not too bad considering some of the others go for around $400. I want it. I love framing in general. If Michael's paid the same and gave me the same number of hours I never would have left the frame shop. Oh well.

The end of days...again

For some reason, probably all the conflict happening in the world, people are beginning to wonder if these are a sign of the end of days. Really people...Things have always been this bad and people have always done the horrific things that we all read about in the papers. The only difference are the means. Nowadays terrorist use bombs, but there have been guns for hundreds of years and swords and knives since the beginning of time. People have always died on the edge of them by the thousands and still the Savior has not returned. I'm not saying He's not coming or anything but I think everyone is a lot more jumpy than they need to be. Besides, when they say it could happen in our lifetimes, based on what's in the bible, it won't be in most of our lifetimes because most of us are supposed to be killed off in all the carnage that leads up to His coming. What's the point of this post? I don't even know. It just irritates me with all the religious types pinning for the Second Coming believing that they are the chosen few who will ascend to Heaven. Most of the shit you people do outside of the church pretty much guarantees you a spot on the rollercoaster to Hell. Much deserved. But that's judging! I guess I'll see you all in Hell too. Elevator to Hell, going down!

Some call it art. Others call it fart.

Since Gran Turismo 4 came out, Durand and I have had a friendly competition with the photo sessions. Some of the picture are downright sweet ass, which I makes me wonder about the artistic quality of them. Granted they are not actual photos that were developed in a dark room, hell they aren't even of real cars. But can you really deny visual stimuli that they are? Does it depend on how it is presented? Who created it? Or is it just something that everyone can just agree on as beautiful?
Sure, given the ease at which the game makes of getting really cool action shots anyone could produce pictures like these but does it take something a little more than a copy of the game and some free time to make make something as close to what the designers had imagined? If I had taken this picture with an actual camera and an actual car and produced the exact same image, would either be more valid than the other? Well either way, I like doing it and I hope Durand has some more when I go over tomorrow. This is still my favorite one though:
Woo Hoo! Look At That Evo Fly! That's right Iceman... I am dangerous.

That's right. This is my life. A world of pictures and none of them worth a damn. But I like them. Such a life... Where everything and nothing is art. I like this one I took of Emily while in Memphis. It kind of reminds me of Edward Hopper. But that's just me.

Oh well, time to play some games. At least there's validation in beating the next level.

Baddest is now a word

I beat Medal of Honor: Frontline the other night. Without using any codes. I'm the baddest person I know. I don't know anyone else who has beat it without some kind of cheat code. Which makes me the baddest person I know. Maybe even the baddest you know. Never mind the thousands of twelve year olds weaned on Halo and the like who can pass through games like this in their sleep. Either way, I'm the baddest, even though spellchecker is telling me that "baddest" isn't even a word. It is now, and I am He. Booya, Herr Nazi Stinkbutt! What's that? "Vas?" you say? Here, let me say it again. Booya! When's the last time you heard that? That's because only the baddest are allowed to say it. Booya again! IN YOUR FACE!

Another day at the office

This is my day. Maybe that's why my head hurts.

The countdown has begun

I have five days to finish one of my pictures. Sarah said I couldn't finish it before August so that's what I'm going to do. Maybe. I've been working on it since about October, so it might be a good for me to actually finish it. I'm sure there is more to it than just finishing it, though. Something psychological. Like, once I get it finished, what will I have left to work on? Nevermind the other unfinished pictures I have to work on. But this one has taken a large amount of work and effort and to finally be done with it, I don't know if I'm ready for that. Nevertheless, it will be done in five days. Maybe. Just because she said I couldn't do it. Of course it all depends on whether or not I'm feeling the juice. I tried to get a few things going Sunday and just couldn't. I ended up just playing games since I couldn't even get started. Better to not attempt than to go and screw up the whole picture. And with as long as I have been working on it, I probably would have blown my brains out. Of course it look like I did that before I started drawing:

There are actual figures in there. They are just a little hard to see since they only exist in pencil form right now.

Blogger has the worst spell checker ever. Ever

I used widescreen in my last post and while checking for errors it offered ideogram as a replacement. For widescreen. Where does that even come from? How? Why? And as I'm checking this post; the same thing. Whatever... Cuckoo.

Double fireballs are awesome

About 12 years ago in 1994, two Street Fighter II movies were unleashed upon the world. Only one mattered and it wasn't the one with Van Damme. It was Street Fighter II : The Animated Movie. Unlike the live action movie or the Alpha movie that followed, this one had real fights and a coherent storyline. That and the Chun Li and Vega fight. Now, after it was released on the Street Fighter 15th Anniversary Collection in it's edited form (though it was advertised as uncut), it has arrived, finally uncut and double-sided with the original Japanese voice actors. The only problem with the Japanese movie is that none of the music that was added in the stateside version is included. That's right, no KMFDM during the Chun Li fight. The effect is an incredibly intense fight scene with incredibly lackluster music. I was actually bored. That's right, bored. But even after seeing this movie a million times, I still find myself sucked into it. Even with the disappointment of the music in that fight scene, the rest of the movie does not fail to deliver. The point I think I love the most though, is the fact that it doesn't make Ken look like a chump or a Ryu clone. At the height of the action in the Alpha movie, why does Ken's Dragon Punch fail to KO the villain goon? We all know that Ken is as powerful as Ryu, and depending on who you talk to, he's stronger (remember Ken's ending in Alpha 2). He wouldn't make a very good sparring partner if he wasn't. But I digress. The Street fighter movie is probably the best pick as far as Street Fighter movies that do not include Sonny Chiba. I don't think I really need to mention the fully restored shower scene, which was... Um interesting before the frontal nudity was placed back in the movie. You know what part I'm talking about. Either way, when watching the part of the movie that takes place in India, keep an eye out for Gouki (Akuma), as he does make an appearance in the movie. Without the widescreen version the movie is now presented in, we never knew.

I'm Out Bitches

I've got a five day weekend! I'm going to Memphis. I'll see you on Monday... Bitches.

GODDAMN!

I want this game. I will avenge you Leon.

Everything or nothing... Usually nothing

Last night, Durand and I attempted to play through the co-op missions on 007 Everything or Nothing. There's nothing like being shot full of holes. I really enjoy this game, which I have to say is very refreshing after a bad spat of 007 games. Not naming names (cough, Agent Under Fire). This one is in third person, so you get to see Bond, or whoever you are playing as, get shot all to hell. We do pretty good up to a point, but always get cut short when we find some kind of rhythm. We will beat it though. Soon. Nevermind this game is probably a couple of years old and we have been trying for just about as long, off and on. But it will happen. Nightfire was a cool game too. It was probably the best follow up to the N64's GoldenEye. That's no easy feat either. But as far as Agent Under Fire and GoldenEye Rouge Agent are concerned; "No , Mr Bond, I expect you to die."

Don't stop thinking about tomorrow

This is the song playing now. Everytime I hear it I think of Bart Simpson driving the tank, singing this song, hopped up on "Focusin". Poor Sir WideBottom. Alive but without a purpose. Kind of like me. I recounted my college years with a co-worker during lunch I have to admit that if I had sucked it up and finished what I began, I would probably be a lot happier these days. Of course there's no guarantee of that and I' m not unhappy where I am. Quite the opposite. But still, everyone wonders about what things would be like with different decisions made. I made an observation that I might have been able to do something with the knowledge I've gained besides spot a portion of a picture in video games or movies and know the painter, title and even sometimes the year. The example I use today, one I've used too many times, is in the movie "About Schmidt", the part where Jack Nicholson's character is asleep in the bath is based on a painting by Jacques-Louis David (pronounced Da-veed). It's called "The Death Of Marat". It's a very romantic painting of an actual incident, in which Marat was murdered in the bath by his lover slash spy-er-on-him by the government (I think, it's been a while). The scene was obviously a bit more bloody than the painting but that goes into the artistic movement of the time. Why do I know this? Of what use is it? None. Bah.

I'm so bored I can't even post anything

Literally. I've written and erased so many times. I'm at work and the "Instant Replay" song is playing overhead. Wee-ooo, Wee-ooo, Wee-ooo. Yeah, that's in the song. It's also the sound you hear after I've tried to escape the song by jumping out of the window. I probably wouldn't even make it though, because in my moment (or moments?) of insanity, I would more than likely forget to take my headset off and as I ran for the window, I would get rubberbanded back into my cubicle by the cord. That would be pretty funny to see, if physics actually worked the way they do in my head, anyways. I just can't wait to get out of here and get back to my life of glorified violence and crime. I stared back up with Grand Theft Auto III after Durand brought Liberty City Stories over Thursday night. I beat it but when I loaded my game, I saw that I still had about 49% of the game left. Time to get my hands dirty again. And again.

Forget danger, you can't be safe anyways

Punching people in the face brings a smile to my face again. I received a copy of Street Fighter Alpha Anthology a few days back. And the cup of nostalgia overflowed. I'm still a little ticked that Capcom didn't include a version of Alpha with the 15th Anniversary Collection. But with this collection I can see why. I think including just one version of Alpha would have only provided a taste of what the Anthology does. Personally, Alpha 2 is the crowning achievement of the Alpha series, but that's just me. The gem of the collection though, ironically has to be the inclusion of Super Gem Fighter MiniMix. With all the hardcore Alpha Counters and Super Combos, it was great to shift gears and play something a little more light hearted. There is no way you can play this game without cracking a smile, despite spewing a raging torrent of curse words at being beaten by the computer yet again. Not that it happened to me or anything. It was all business when it came down to the serious fighters and all the little techniques I had perfected to score multiple hits on unsuspecting foes came flooding back. Warrior's Dreams is much like Street Fighter II, before they added the turbo, as far as the pacing of the fights. It's slow and deliberate. Timing and strategy is much more important than in later incarnations. Alpha 2 expands on this but adds a little speed and a couple of characters, not to mention the cool secret field stage with all the lightning. Alpha 2 Gold is to the Alpha series as Third Strike is to the Street Fighter III series. It takes everything that is good with Alpha 2 builds upon it to make it smoother and more comfortable to play with a few more characters. Alpha 3 however boast the biggest change in game play. The ability to recover mid-air after receiving a hit speeds up the action, and drastically increases the chances you will be KO'd by the computer recovering after you thinking you've pummeled him sufficiently. Yeah, that happened more than once against Adon. Bastard. The influence of the Marvel VS Capcom games can definitely be felt here. But nothing else in the game can be felt more than the computer-controlled M.Bison's Psycho Crusher. It err... crushes you. But it's pretty sweet when it happens. It's not like the one in Street Fighter II, where you can fireball or dragon punch him out of it. The only option is to block it and hope you have enough health to absorb the punishment it deals. And blocking in the air doesn't work. You'll just get splattered all over the place. Then Bison will do that goofy laugh of his while standing over your burnt out corpse. Muwahaha.

Another swing

I finished a drawing about a week ago and even though I don't feel like it's anything spectacular, I submitted it to the reader art section on Juxtapose. It's the second time I've sent something but the last time I didn't read the guidelines as far as the size of the image and just sent it. That doesn't mean that was the reason it wasn't shown; they may have just thought it was crap. Either way, I submitted the new picture "Salome", which was inspired by Aubrey Beardsley's cover. Really, the only similarities are our medium but that's immaterial. It's not really one of my best pieces, but I like it all the same. I hope someone else does too.

Cheeseburger in Paradise

Now Returning to Wichita:A short story by Sarah.
I've found my new calling; i'm gonna work and live at SeaWorld. Me and Shamu, we were meant to be together. This is me in five years, guys. Jumping in the air with Shamu (insert face). I fed a dolphin and a stingray, and I swam in the ocean for the first time and got salt water up my nose. I bonded with my dad who is an avid Jimmy Buffet fan(we drank too many margaritas). I met Captain Hook!

Albert Attacks, Sarah stays cool

Before she left for her week long family vacation in FLorida, Sarah knew that there was a tropical depression headed that way. Little did she know Albert would arrive. In my concern, I texted her to make sure everything was ok. True story: She replies with "No, the girls have taken all the beds and are trying to make me sleep on the couch." Well if they have time to worry about the sleeping arrangments then I guess I don't need to worry too much.

That's what happens when you leave a man alone

The actual event isn't as entertaining as the way Sarah explained it to her dad but that's OK. For comedic purposes I will use her story. Which begins with her coming home from work and finding me in the living room in front of the TV. I have a couple of knives and am bleeding from my right hand. There is a steady torrent of swear words leaving my mouth and I look like a mad man cursing at the television which is in the off setting. All her dad had to say is "That's what happens when you leave a man alone." The only thing that could have made the story any funnier (or scarier) is if I were only wearing a pair of tighty-whities. Fortunately that wasn't the case.

Now for the back story as to why I was assaulting the TV. First off, it's a TV-VCR combo. Bad news. I had inserted a tape to queue it up for when Sarah got home. As I was doing this it began to make a strange noise and finally after a moment it just shut off. Concerned, I tried to turn the TV back on, which it did, but for some reason the tape appeared to be stuck. After trying to eject the tape the TV once again shut off. It continued to do this after several tries. So I get the bright idea that I can just pry it out. I reach my hands inside and try to pull it out but something inside is holding it tight. In my now understood to be vain struggle to pull it out my hands rubbed against the top of the opening, slicing my skin open. Hence the bleeding. I didn't even feel it until my hand got sticky from the blood. So at this point I'm livid and decide to get a knife to jimmy it free. But this was also in vain as the tape still resides inside the VCR. Fortunately I was able to move it around to where the TV won't switch off but I won't be watching any tapes in it for a while, if ever. It is old though, round abouts of six to seven years and I would like to get a new one. The TV part still works fine though so I can't justify throwing it out just yet. But for the record, there were no tighty-whities involved.

Boom Town

GTA Liberty City Stories comes out tomorrow. You know what that means. Plenty of driving on the sidewalk backwards firing a machine gun and yelling fuck the police. Or maybe that's just the way I play. What's in your wallet?

By the way, X-Men blew. Short of Beast trouncing everyone, despite his permed and pressed hair, it was a disappointment. I don't want to spoil anything but I have to wonder why no one asked where Scott was after what seemed like several days. At least Juggernaught said his now- almost-as-famous-as-"I'm-Rick-James-Bitch"-catchphrase. If you don't know what I'm talking about then you need to go to youtube and look under "Juggernaught bitch". It is now part of pop culture, just like Chappelle's Rick James skit.

Can't wait to see how this train wreck ends

I mean, the story is already so screwed up. I like them and all, but really. Why couldn't they just start at the beginning and when they got to the end, stop. Why all the mixing and matching of characters. Why isn't Mystic and Rouge hot? Why is Magneto a frail and useless old man? Why is Wolverine so tall and without any intensity? The only good casting job they did was with Patrick Steward. He was the obvious choice. I did also think Alan Cummins was good as the Elf (Nightcrawler). Tonight, though, I will finally see the much awaited ending of these average series of movies of a better than average gang of mutants. At least Juggernaught says "I'm the Juggernaught!" Too bad he probably won't yell it every time he enters the room.

Moving day is coming up

Fuck this apartment complex. I can't wait to move this weekend. Of course it will suck because I'm sure all my so-called friends will suddenly evaporate when it's time. Nevermind I've helped just about all of them move at some point. Some more than once. But I'm done with that shit. I'm just happy to be moving. Even if I have to move everything by myself. Even the heavy shit:
Nobody gets my sense of humor. Such a lonely place this world is, tisk.

Saddam's sweet-ass ride

I just read that a US reservist has had the vehicle he purchased in Iraq taken from him by ICE. I guess they were treating the vehicle as a war trophy due to the rumors it possibly belong to Saddam. All I have to say about it is I can't blame him, or Saddam for that matter. It's a white Mercedes that is armor plated, bulletproof, has hidden microphones and a loudspeaker. But that isn't what makes it so cool. Get this, it also has several pipes along the side that shoot flames. Flames! That is awesome. Kind of like Spy Hunter or something. All it needs are oil slicks. I don't know or want to know in which situation he felt like he might need to use them but hey, either way that is cool. Or hot... Which ever.

Dan's Saikyo Dojo

Kore ga saikyo ryu. I received a weird email yesterday and I'm not sure what to make of it. It was from a member of M80 and was in regards to the release of the Street Fighter Alpha Anthology. Honestly, I have been behind in my gaming and I didn't even know they were making an anthology. I'm still kind of mad that they didn't include a version of alpha in the 15th Anniversary Collection. That and the "uncut" movie was actually the cut version but that is a different story. But the sender of the email was wondering if I would be interested in posting a press release or a review since I would be a "reputable influencer". Maybe if Capcom can come up with a reason why Ryu still doesn't have his red headband. But the problem with me being a good source would mean that people would actually have to read my blog, which I know for a fact that people don't. I could probably count the comments since I started this thing on one hand. Either way, I guess I'll get in touch with the sender and see what they had in mind. Yoga...

All ways are the Queens ways

So I went to play Halo with my cousins Friday and when I arrived, Alex was playing Kingdom Hearts II. Visually the game is pretty awesome even though the fights seem very long. The final boss has about five life bars. But it was cool to see the rose thorn effects floating in the air as he darted around, Dragonball Z- like. After seeing the ending I had to start again on the first installment. I really want to know how it goes from the Keyblade choosing Sora to the ending in II and the preview of III. Games are like books to me and when I start one, even if it's not that great, I still want to know how it ends.

It's coming along...Slowly

Way back, I said I would post some in-progress pictures of my current project. Well here is the initial sketch and a few pics that show the progression up to now.

And,

which leads to what it looks like today, where I am currently.

I'm never going to finish at this rate. I've been working, half-assed I must admit, since about October on this. Good googley moogley.

TGIF

I just finished looking through Sedgwick Co's most wanted and thankfully I didn't see anyone I knew. I was thinking maybe I would at least see one person, but no. No one I know as of now. There are some interesting people on there. I'm just that bored. The workday that will never end...

Stupider like a fox

Well he's done it again. Remember when he said he wouldn't release the original versions of the Star Wars Trilogy? Well he's going to. And he knows we will buy it. Even if we already broke down and bought the "special edition" release. He knows us better than we do. That sneaky son of a bitch. I'm more angry because I have no choice but to buy the originals, which will include the "special editions" that nobody wanted. He's got us coming and going. Sometimes it sucks being a fan.

Apparently memories can be deadly

I'm finally writing about Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and let me just say Sephiroth is scary. I remember people who didn't particularly care for him saying things like " Why does everyone like him, all he really did was walk through some fire and hide in the crater for most of the game." He was also rather easy to beat at the end of the game if you knew how to fight him. But with all the criticism, the creators responded with his cameo in the battle arena in Kingdom Hearts, to which most people have verified that he is damn-near unbeatable. I can't say for myself since I haven't played too much of it and I know people who have beaten him, but either way, regardless of what people think, in the Final Fantasy world Sephiroth is bad news. And in the movie he proves it. I was a little put off by how hard it is to follow some of the action but after seeing it the second time it was a bit easier. The tag team on Bahamut is one of the best and it gives you an idea how tight the whole crew is, sealing in concrete for me that they are my favorite Final Fantasy cast. And undeniably this was a real Final Fantasy, instead of the CGI science-fiction movie they tried to pass off as one a few years back(The Spirits Within). I don't really understand why it didn't have a theatrical release like the other flop, since people who played the game can relate to the characters because it was a sequel to the Playstation game that really brought Final Fantasy into the mainstream. Most people these days ,especially those with gaming consoles in their homes will have some knowledge of the series, even if they never play one of the games. But maybe it didn't have enough financial muscle behind it, or if it did open in theaters in Japan, maybe it didn't do so hot. Whatever the reason, it's still pretty sweet.