Remember all the bad dreams...

donthatbeatall @ 2006-03-03T11:29:00

2006-03-03T17:31:05Z

Ohana Only. To be added, comment here.

These Things Come In Threes

2006-02-28T18:34:30Z

R.I.P. Dennis Weaver
I never saw Gunsmoke, but I wondered what happened to you on Wildfire. In only its second season, Wildfire has already lost two people in real life. Wow.

R.I.P. Don Knotts
You were my favorite Scooby Doo character.

R.I.P. Darren McGavin
While most people probably knew you as the father in A Christmas Story, I will always remember you as the original Kolchak: Night Stalker.

Is hope still there if love isn't anymore?

2006-02-27T18:38:35Z

Gina Says: "I'm going to spend most of this weekend cleaning".
Gina Means: "I'm going to spend most of this weekend on the computer".

- Saturday we only really went out to Best Buy and Target because it was raining... a lot. We bought four new CDs (new to us anyway, they've been out for a while) that I've wanted for some time:

The Pale Pacific Urgency
Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins Rabbit Fur Coat
I Am The Avalanche
Sufjan Stevens Come On Feel The Illinoise

We also watched the movie American History X Saturday which, for whatever reason, I had never seen before (nor had Gina).

That's all I remember from Saturday.

- Sunday was a different story. We went out Sunday afternoon with Gina's mom and step dad to lunch. They asked if we could go out last weekend and I said no to sort of, you know, delay the inevitable. Now, I don't want to say this and make it sound too bad because I realize there is supposed to exist this unspoken rivalry between the mother-in-law and son-in-law. That's not the case here. I like Gina's mom. And this whole idea right now gets me back to thinking about that blind love thing I told you about last week. But see, the thing with me is... I don't follow that rule. Just because you're "family"... Just because you're "blood"... That doesn't mean a thing to me. (I can count the people I really love on one hand.) And it's even worse with people who marry into my so-called family just ask my aunt that doesn't believe I exist and I only met ONCE. She annoys me. But I stray from my point, and my point is this. There are two types of people in this world. Actually, there are many types of different people in the world, but there are two different types in this situation. There are those who are more concerned with other peoples lives than their own life. Nosy isn't the right word, but it's the first one that comes to mind. Then, there are those who are more concerned with their life than other peoples stuff. Independent isn't the right word, but it's the first one that comes to mind. With these two types of people, though, come both good and bad qualities. If you only care about yourself, you can be thought of as selfish, among other things. If you care more about other people than yourself, you could be thought of as a bit of a gossip or even thought to have no real life of your own so you therefore must constantly judge and ask about other peoples lives. Then again, they both have good qualities to them as well, depending on how you look at them. For me... I see this example boiling down to one thing- one key factor- and this is what it is. The first type of people I described are the ones who will ask you stuff you don't really want to be asked. Again, for this situation the direct answer would be "Do you have a job?", where as for other examples the question could be something such as "When are you going to settle down and get married?" or "When are you going to start having children?", that sort of idea. The second type of person is the person who doesn't ask these questions of other people because they know it will do no good and, quite frankly, is none of their business. They are the people that know they can do nothing to help someone get a job. Asking about it isn't going to make them magically get one or something. Just like it won't magically make that 30-something year old single woman find the perfect man. Just like it won't magically put a child in someones womb. Etc. Etc.

In case you didn't figure it out by now, Gina's mom is a type 1 person, I am a type 2 person. If you aren't constantly being asked "When are you going to get married?" or something to that effect which you feel isn't the person askings business, then you're probably also a type 1 person.

Now, I understand there is this sort of caring... or concern... Or whatever you want to call it that can make a person ask a certain question. Point in case: Asking me whether or not I have a found a job could be a nice way of hoping I've found that happiness since I've been struggling to find one and it hasn't been easy. But, at the same time, it could be interpreted as someone like me sitting behind their plate (Did I ever mention I hate eating out as, like, a "date"? I want to poll all of my ex-girlfriends one day, or even friends, and ask them how often we went out to eat together. And more so, if we did, how often of those times did I actually eat. I think the results may surprise me. I was somewhat normal once... I think) trying to hide and not say a word so maybe they'll forget I'm there and not ask me that dreaded question. But it never fails. And Gina's mom asks me. And I feel like complete crap. I feel like this giant arrow is over me now, pointing down saying "Look at this unemployed loser". "Look at this idiot who can't take care of my daughter". And so on. And so forth.

Maybe it's not the question that's inappropriate though. Maybe it's the answer. Maybe if you're going to ask something that has an answer that could be potentially hurtful to the person you're asking, then maybe you shouldn't ask the question. I mean, would you go up to someone who just had their dad die and say, "Do you miss your daddy? Do you want a new daddy? Did you find a new daddy yet?". It's kind of inappropriate, right? So why isn't inappropriate to ask someone if they've found a job when they're kicking themself over the struggle every day? Maybe it's just that different people draw different lines. Maybe people don't think before they speak. But maybe the next time someone asks me if I have found a job yet, I'll tell them I'll find one when they're dead. Give them a shot of their own mortality, see how they like that. Because when I do find a job, if it's really that important for you to know it, you'll be the first I shoot an e-mail to. But then I digress back to my whole idea on why my life is so important to you. I mean, are you really that bored??

So after all of this nonsense, the moral of the story is simply this: Asking me if I have found a job, as Gina's mom did, doesn't really help me to get a job. It only makes me feel lousy. Or more lousy than I already feel. But, that's life and some people are always going to be a type one person, for whatever reason and to whatever extent. Funny thing is, Gina's step dad doesn't ever ask me such things. He doesn't seem as concerned. He seems more like a type two person, you know. You think maybe he'd tell her... Oh well. It doesn't really matter that much anyway.

- Sunday evening we went to Hollywood Video and rented Domino as well as Corpse Bride. We've only watched Domino so far, and it was really good. We bought five videos, as well, because they were 5 for $10 (Normally, they were $6 or so a piece) and I found three old WCW tapes from 1999 which, you know, you can't get anywhere else except maybe eBay, so I jumped at it.

- Hopefully two new theories I am working on will be written about in here this week.

- And here is (under a cut, duh) my list of movies I want to see this year which are out on DVD. These are mostly movies that were either in theaters in 2005 or came out on DVD in 2005. None of them are from theaters 2006 because that's another list entirely (A shorter one, also) I've crossed out the ones we've seen because I started this list in, like, January. And yeah, some of the movies aren't from 2005. Shaun of The Dead isn't. I think. And I know Mirror Mask came out this year and it was direct-to-DVD. Anyway.

~~The Longest Yard~~
Unleashed
The Island
~~The 40 Year-Old Virgin~~
~~Madagascar~~
The Exorcism Of Emily Rose
Doom
~~Domino~~
Saw 2
The Skeleton Key
Broken Flowers
Everything Is Illuminated
Kicking & Screaming
Bewitched
The Brothers Grimm
Land Of The Dead
Serenity
Kung Fu Hustle
Team America: World Police
The Devil's Rejects
Sideways
Kingdom Of Heaven
Hostage
Dark Water
Wedding Crashers
Just Like Heaven
Red Eye
Sky High
The Great Raid
Must Love Dogs
~~Crash~~
Fever Pitch
Valiant
Corpse Bride
Waiting...
The Fog
The Aristocrats
Shopgirl
Cinderella Man
Stealh
Elizabethtown
Wallace & Gromit: Curse Of the Were-Rabbit
Spanglish
White Noise
Jarhead
A History Of Violence
Shaun Of The Dead
War Of The Worlds
Cursed
Walk The Line
Mirror Mask
Aeon Flux

Hooray For Music!

2006-02-24T18:08:58Z

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're any good -- but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your LiveJournal along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

1.) "Winter" by Bayside
2.) "Goodbye My Lover" by James Blunt
3.) "Wreck Of The Day" by Anna Nalick
4.) "For You I Will (Confidence)" by Teddy Geiger
5.) "But It's Better If You Do" by Panic! At The Disco
6.) "Less Bright Eyes, More Deicide" by A Wilhelm Scream
7.) "Sun Vs Moon" by Sage Francis

I tag: Andy, Clair, Lisa, Gina, Julia, Melissa, CM Punk (I know Punk won't do it, but geez, I only have seven friends and since Mal did this it makes me only have six really, so yeah...)

To No One, Really...

2006-02-23T17:06:57Z

I wrote this over a week ago. However, I never really got around to posting it for one reason or another. This is kind of my big standing-on-a-soap-box speech after what went down in the Chiodos community.

Enjoy... Or don't. It's your choice, really.

Before I begin this, I must clarify two things. First off, I am not what is known as a "fat" person. By traditional standards, I am considered a "skinny dude" or something to that nature. And second, I am not going to focus too much on the idea of society and being overweight and the various aspects of it because it will just take too long. The fact is, yes, the media does play too big of a role in how a person should look. Yes, this can lead to eating disorders and other things which are just horrible. But I'm not going to put that into my defense. I don't feel as if I really need to write about that right now. Not to make my point.

See, there is so much tolerance we allow in this world, and only so little intolerance. Where do we draw the line?

Recently, someone in a community I just left made a generalization about "fat" girls. I have two beliefs about these kinds of things and this is what they are: Number one- you must stand up and confront them, not just ignore them and hope they go away. Number two- you must say something about it being wrong because for you to do nothing because it doesn't effect you because maybe you're not overweight or just because it wasn't directed at you, well... That's how indifference spreads. And indifference is one of the worst problems we have as a society. People don't care about things that don't apply to them. But if more white people stood up when black people were being mistreated, the world would probably be a much better place than it is now. So, yes, I was kind of disappointed no one else in this community stood up with me. For me to hear something like the word "fat" being used in such a hateful way, well, it's as if someone used a word like "fag" or the n-word. Clearly, that wouldn't be acceptable, so why is it acceptable to say "fat"? I can't tell you why it is, but here is why I think it's not.

There are two types of overweight people in the world. There are two different types of being overweight. On one side, you have the health issues. The people who are trying to lose weight to prolong their lives. The people who get out of breath just trying to walk up a flight of stairs. The people who don't want to suffer heart failure and die at an early age. Those are the overweight people trying to lose weight because it is the right thing for them to do based on their health. And I accept that and it is fine. The other type of people try to lose weight because they want to look like skin and bones because it makes you good looking. The other type of overweight people want to lose weight because they want to be "hot". The other type of overweight people are trying to lose weight simply for their physical appearance. This will often lead to them losing too much weight, and therefore becoming less healthy. Or their methods may make them less healthy. But either way, they're doing the opposite of what the overweight people who are trying to get healthy are doing.

Bottom line: People should lose weight to be healthy, not to try to live up to some unrealistic ideal of so-called beauty. Calling someone "fat" in a negative way is not helping them as much as a doctor saying so. Someone saying "Look at that group of fat girls over there" is, to me, like someone seeing a group of homosexuals and saying "Look at those queers", and so on, because you can infer the racial stereotypes after this with words I will not say.

I posed the question where do we draw the line and the answer is that I don't know. Do we start saying that people calling people with glasses "four eyes" is a hate crime? I don't know. If you need glasses, it's kind of like a handicap, and you wouldn't call a handicapped person a "retard", would you? But then, what next? Do you make fun of people without the same hair color as you? Without the same eye color? Without the same skin color? And then, it turns into racism. Yeah, we can't draw the line at everything. (Dumb blonde jokes are a whole other idea) But it's that little seed that's planted. That little seed that says "You're fat and I'm not. I'm going to make fun of you for that". It's that little seed which grows into hate. It's that little seed which says "Blondes have more fun". It's that little seed which says people who are different deserve to be made fun of. It's that little seed which turns into much bigger hatred and ignorance. That little seed must be squashed before it blossoms. We have to rip the roots from the ground and burn them if we ever expect to beat this thing. Yeah, certain types of racism and homophobia seem like things of the past. But they're not all dead. Some are very much still alive. And if we can condone indifference and intolerance toward someone based on their physical appearance (i.e. them being overweight), then where does the line get drawn? Where does the line get drawn?

I told you when I started this that I, myself, was not considered to be overweight by conventional methods. That is true. So why take such an interest in this? Why care so much? Other than for the sake of not being indifferent, for caring, for standing up for what is right, I have my reasons and they are my own. But I'd like to leave you with this story today. It is 100% true. I'm not going to name anyone by name, however. Not just because I don't remember some of them, but because the ones I do remember I choose not to admit.

When I was in high school in my freshman and sophomore years, there was this girl who transferred recently and fell right into the crowd of popular girls. Everyone thought she was hot and, you know, she must have been because she dated all of the popular guys. Well, one day in science class our teacher was talking about our bodies for whatever reason and how our metabolism works and that sort of thing, and this girl admitted that she looked the way she did because after lunch she went in the bathroom and threw up. This was all, also, around the same time that I was learning to drive. Somehow, this girl managed to be in the same car as me. She had her lesson before me, so I ended up driving her home. The instructor guy would tell me later how much that girl really liked me, but I'd never believe him. Sure, she seemed nice and whatever, but she was popular. Popular and attractive people didn't like me in high school, but that's another story entirely. Some years later, maybe two out of high school, I'm at this diner with the psycho of the month that I'm "dating" and we see this very same girl from high school as a waitress. Of course, I don't recognize her because she's gotten a lot bigger. She recognized me though. She says hi, introduces herself and says "Remember me?", but not in the "Remember me when I was skinnier?" way, more of just the typical "Remember me because I know you've blocked 99% of your high school memories out of your mind?" way. [True story: I had some kid come up to me at two different shows once, claiming he went to high school with me and I drew a complete blank and told him so. Looking back, I realize I probably should have humored him some and at least pretended, but I guess that's just never really been my style.] I remembered her when she told me her name, and then her face kind of matched up. But she wasn't that 90 pound girl she used to be. The one that everyone found so attractive. No, she probably weighed close to 200 pounds, but I've never been good at guessing with numbers. And instead of thinking something like "This is how the popular girls end up" because I'm convinced the "star" athletes in high school end up as out of shape gym teachers, my first thought is that she must have stopped throwing up after meals. And I just couldn't help but notice how happy she looked.

Because I Know You Don't Read The Newspaper

2006-02-22T22:56:59Z

If you are not watching The Boondocks Sunday nights on Adult Swim, you should be.

This past Sunday's episode had a guy on there I would have swore was Bob Ross if homie wasn't dead.

Best line of the show:

(Huey walks downstairs to find Riley, his granddad and cops in the living room)

Huey: Are the police here for me or Riley?

Again...

If you're not watching this show...

YOU SHOULD BE.

What's The Deal With MySpace?

2006-02-22T22:53:54Z

To All Who Have A MySpace Account:

So, seriously... What the heck?

MySpace has this little "inbox" feature, which LiveJournal doesn't have, right. My first message in it is that guy who is one of my three friends and he's like, "Welcome to MySpace... Rupert Murdoch owns you now... Blah blah blah."

And my second message is this:

Date: Feb 22, 2006 3:44 PM Flag spam/abuse. [ ? ]
Subject: hello!
Body: Hi....this is not my account, I am using a friends. I hope you will contact me directly at nightranger256@yahoo.

So, what to say....Im seeking a guy to go out with, after work, or on weekends. I can send a pic if you contact me. I dont know how to get one to you on this site.

Well, I hope to hear from you soon....

Seriously. MySpace.

WHAT THE HECK!?!?!?!?!?!!!!?????????

I- Unlike Others- Will Admit When I Am Wrong

2006-02-21T18:41:23Z

Not all that long ago, I tempted you with a theory I came up with that proved not only is there no such thing as love but that life is, more or less, meaningless and serves no particular purpose. However, after reviewing this theory and the amount of fact it held (It was scientifically proved by me) I decided not to share it with the world (or at least those who read this) because of the mass panic which would, most likely, ensue. It's not that I'd feel guilty or even that badly about being responsible for more suicides than Seattle, but the fact is simply that I do not wish to have my name associated with... that type of thing. I want to be known for something good, not something bad or both. It's like how Lou Gehrig must be somewhat known more for the disease named after him- at least to some people- than for being a baseball player.

In any case, I am always one to admit when I am wrong, and in this particular case I was wrong... sort of. See, for me to say that my theory is 100% accurate is not true. But to say that it will cause mass panic is most likely true.

There is a certain level of faith that goes into love. People sometimes say you have to have "blind faith" (I think that's a saying), but I believe in such a thing as "blind love". Think about it. You are asked to love your family. You don't know why, you just do it. You cry at their funerals. You send them cards for whatever occasion. But do you ever really know them? Do you ever really understand them? "Blind love" is loving an uncle you never met before but you have to say something like, "Well, he's family". Sometimes love isn't blind. Sometimes it's tough. Sometimes you hate people that are your family, and you'd rather not love them, yet you have to follow this rule bestowed upon you.

The reason why I bring up family and the such is simply this. If you're sitting there right now, reading this and wondering, "Why do I love [insert family member]?", then I've made you question your faith in your blind love. Now, whether or not I've done that is not the issue. I really don't care about that point and I'm not hear to change a silly, age old tradition. The fact of the matter is, though, that if I can make you question that, I can make you question love. Not the "I don't know why I love you but I do" kind of love, but the love where you can define it. The girlfriends. The boyfriends. The wives and husbands. The best friends. The ones you can write out a list for and say, "I love him because he's smart and funny and a good listener and likes rap music" and so on and so forth. I can make you question that love. Not because of the one single case, or the one single instance, but because of love- with faith- on a whole.

Now think about it. Testing "blind love" is pretty easy to do. There is no reason behind the love itself, so there isn't much of a case to back you up other than your faith. Your faith is something you can't see. It's something you can't feel. It's something you really can't describe. But when I can cut down those reasons which you can feel, which you can see, which you can describe... Well, it takes a very strong person to withstand that-- to have that much faith. Sometimes, I don't even know if I'm capable of it.

Sure, nothing matters, so what's the point? Why don't I just kill myself, if I know this information and it's so powerful? The answer is simple (sometimes) I don't kill myself because life is meaningless. While I'm along for the ride, though, I might as well enjoy myself. I mean, I'm all for "not delaying the inevitable", but at the same time, when it's time for you to die, you'll die. You don't have to kill yourself. And that I believe. So I shall continue to spread false hope. I shall continue to believe everything in life has some purpose, some meaning and that we are all better off for it. But deep down in the bottom of me, I know that is simply not true. Deep down inside of me, I believe in God. I believe in Heaven. The jury is still out on Hell. But I don't believe life is anything more than a three ring circus. My only question to you now is, are you going to be a clown or an elephant jumping through flaming hoops?

Who put this thing together? Me... That's who.

2006-02-20T23:31:09Z

So, Tiffani Thiessen (Yes, the same girl who once played Kelly on Saved By The Bell and later went on to do 90210) was on this show called Fastlane, one of my new favorite shows. In the episode called "Strap On" her character must go undercover as a lesbian and, yes, she has an on screen kiss with the one and only Jaime Pressly (Earl's ex-wife Joy on My Name Is Earl)

Why was this show canceled again? Sure, IMDb says high production costs, but really... Why??

McGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Find Me Something True That Isn't Sad

2006-02-20T18:39:57Z

Before I begin my weekend review, I'd like to say two things.

First off, it's kind of funny, but last Monday night the USA Network decided to show a dog show, so thus WWE RAW was pre-empted. RAW actually aired on Thursday night instead, and rather than watch it in "real time", Gina and I opted to watch it on Friday night before WWE Friday Night Smack Down!. So yeah, watching both of the big WWE shows on Friday night was kind of cool. And wrestling became somewhat of a theme throughout the weekend.

Second, I'd like to say that it has been cold and rainy. Not just Houston cold, but cold. Since Wednesday or Thursday of last week the temperature has been dropping. It has also been raining and dark, so it's been real bad out. Over the weekend it was around 40, though it felt like the 30's with the windchill. Now, today it is in the 50's and this week it will gradually warm back up to the 60's and then 70's, while still being dark and rainy, but wow does it suck to be cold.

Saturday we went out to Wal-Mart because I needed allergy pills. We didn't spend too much time there, but Gina cleaned out her side of the closet a little bit in the morning and decided we needed some coat hangers. When we went to Wal-Mart, we forgot the coat hangers. Oops. So, later in the afternoon we went back out to Target and got some coat hangers. We also scored the movie Hotel Rwanda on DVD for only $10. They still didn't have Grey's Anatomy Season One on DVD though.

At the night time, we watched three main things, aside from our normal television schedule (Which is being highly depleted, due to the Olympic games and other possible reasons-- Most shows don't return until March for some reason. Why they all went on hiatus, I don't know) We watched the first disc in a three disc series of XWF, which I picked up at Wal-Mart for ten bucks. It has Hulk Hogan on the cover of it, but enough names on the back to sell me. When you go from Curt Hennig to Kid Kash, you know it's something I'm going to be watching. Not too many names I didn't know either. All in all, the first episode wasn't bad at all. We also watched the movie Crash- finally- and it was quite good. I wish it didn't end the way it did, though. For some reason, I just wanted to see more. It should have continued and had some other sense of real closure. Maybe I wanted everyone to come together more (Just in a sense of meeting and interacting, not community). Maybe I just wanted everyone to realize their racism is wrong and have this happy ending where they all sing and hold hands. Maybe not. But it was kind of like how I felt after seeing Lost In Translation, only I didn't as bad after watching this one as I did after watching LiT the first time. I get the point of LiT. You want them to get together at the end, but they don't. That's just life, right. That's real, not the movies. But, Crash somehow went past me so fast. I'm going to need to watch it again to fully appreciate/understand it, I think. We finished up the night by watching some Samurai Jack. My plans for a Don Cheadle marathon (By watching Hotel Rwanda as well) were thwarted.

Earlier in the week, we decided to fill this big hole we have by the t.v. in the living room with the computer. It makes sense because we used to have some shelves here which hold CDs, but CDs don't go with the t.v. very well and they're fine right now behind the dining room table, so we just had this big hole. By moving the computer out here, we now have a less cluttered bedroom. Sure, there is a hole now in there, but it will most likely be soon filled by toys.

In any case, Gina figured out we needed a splitter or whatever it's called to make two cables become one. So Sunday we went to Best Buy for it, and then Gina proceeded to move the computer from the bedroom out to the living room. It's kind of weird having it here now, but we'll get used to it. We also watched the second episode of the XWF on Sunday as well as TNA Impact!. Jay Lethal is dominating, and Austin Aries vs. Chris Daniels is never bad on the eyes.

As my final point of interest today (like you care), we have been watching a lot of Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends over the weekend. It is now my new favorite cartoon show, if only because of Eduardo. I told Gina she could make me a MySpace account if I could be Uncle Pockets. So, I now have a MySpace at www.myspace.com/unclepockets Though I haven't done much with it yet. Just who is Uncle Pockets? Well, he is the best imaginary friend ever. But his story... That will have to wait for another time, if you haven't seen that episode of Foster's.

donthatbeatall @ 2006-02-17T17:52:00

2006-02-17T23:53:30Z

So there exists this show called Fosters Home For Imaginary Friends. I've always wanted to watch it, but never got around to it, 'cause, well, you know... Too much stuff to watch, not enough hours in the day.

Anyway, there is this character named Eduardo. He's second from the left, or "the big purple thing". He has a commercial on Cartoon Network where he is jammed into a rather small car at a drive-thru only saying "Potatoes" to the lady on the other end. Pretty funny stuff.

Picture Pages, Picture Pages, Lots Of Fun With Picture Pages

2006-02-17T18:43:41Z

Click the link for weekend pictures.

The Weekend In Pictures (Or Something Like It)

Here is a Samurai Jack On Battle Horse figure. He was marked down to, like, three bucks at Toys R Us. Good deal, since his package says he has everything you need to fight off evil.

This is the first set of Wallace And Gromit figures we got from a different Toys R Us. They are done by Todd MacFarlane and the detail is just amazing.

Set 2 of W and G:

These were also at the Toys R Us which is going out of business. They aren't too big, so it's good they won't take up that much space, but they still have pretty good detail and what not. I really wish, though, that they'd make some Chronicles Of Narnia toys to scale with Lord Of The Rings so I can have a battle of Narnia vs. Middle Earth. That would so rule... Anyway...

This is actually a Chronicles Of Narnia board game we got at Wal-Mart on sale for ten bucks. If you want to see pictures of inside the game, let me know. I think it was a good deal and should provide many hours of geek-filled fun.

This is the new ECW DVD (put out by WWE though, of course) called "Bloodsport: The Most Violent Matches In ECW" or something like that. We watched some of these matches already, but none of them have surprisingly been that violent yet. And I say that after watching two legit brothers tape their hands up, dunk their hands in super glue and then dunk their hands in broken glass and proceed to punch each other with these broken-glass fists.

I don't know why, but Blade Runner was in the $5.50 bin at Wal-Mart (Which is sometimes on the stickers referred to as the "dump bin") Director's cut, no less. Go figure. But I'm not complaining.

And even though A Mighty Wind was in the $5.50 bin, it rang up at $3.88! Why can't I find Best In Show that cheap??

At Target, Crash was on sale for $10. Gina wanted to get it. We still haven't actually watched it yet though.

This is some new soda I drank called Vault. It's from Coke, but it says it's a "citrus energy drink". Gina thought it'd be like a rip off of Mountain Dew. It takes more like Surge, if anyone actually remembers that.

This is my addiction. It's what crack must be like, though never having actually done cocaine I wouldn't know.

We got some gummy sharks at H.E.B. when we went grocery shopping. Not from over the weekend, but still pretty funny.

After giving in to the mainstream media, we decided to buy the James Blunt CD. Totally worth it.

And after seeing a commercial for this being on sale at Target for $10, we picked up the Jack Johnson CD (with friends) where he does songs for the Curious George movie. The rendition of "We're Going To Be Friends" (White Stripes) is well worth it alone.

That is all. This was probably the dumbest post I ever made, but oh well. And the flash spots on some of the last pictures... Eh, you'll get over it.

I also have about twenty or so random pictures I took while Gina was driving and we were out Sunday afternoon. They're uploaded and re-sized they just need to be put somewhere. So soon, they will come either here or to my photo blog. Why this isn't in my photo blog? Well, it was acting up so I decided to let it sleep it off. Or something like that.

Get Up, Get Down With The Sickness

2006-02-14T21:31:32Z

Last Wednesday night I started feeling warm, but warm in the way that I felt physically warm but inside I felt cold. I had Gina feel my forehead and cheeks to see if I was actually warm and she said I was. She said I should take my temperature, but I declined. That's one of the biggest differences between Gina and I right there- she needs to take her temperature to prove she has a fever. If I do, I just do and whatever. I mean, what am I going to do? I don't need the validation. And as Gina said if I really did have a temperature for so long then I'd go to the doctor... Eh, doctors are so overrated. The body is its own greatest healer, and they don't want you to know that because then you wouldn't pay them handsomely for their placebos. Plus, Gina has to watch the Weather Channel to be informed of the weather outside. I just look out the window. Yes, this has lead to me leaving one or more times without a coat and either a) coming back for one or b) sticking through it, but you know, I just don't need validation in certain ways I guess. Oh, and bed rest is the greatest healer as well. Just sleep it off. When you wake up, you'll feel better. Or after you shower. That's my motto. And other than when I broke my wrist and had strep, it's worked pretty well.

In any case...

I got up Thursday morning with this absolutely pounding headache. I felt like I was going to throw up. It was one of the worst headaches I have ever had. I took some advil and struggled to get back to sleep. When I finally did wake up, it was a little after 10:30. This is how I know when I'm sick. I usually wake up by 9 if I'm "sleeping in" and 10 at the absolute latest. That's on the weekends. So I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep that long without something being wrong.

We missed the shows over the weekend, mainly because of me being sick, and even last night. I don't care though because my whole body really ached.

You know, I can deal with the cold chills (as opposed to the hot chills?). I can handle the hot flashes. I can sweat like nobody's business if I know it's doing my body good. It's like one of those "Out with the bad air, in with the good" sorts of things, only with sweat instead of air. The one thing I cannot stand, though, is when my whole body just aches. I feel like I'm going to fall down. Or pass out. Or something. And that feeling just sucks. Plus, with my whole body aching, for some reason, came my eyes just really really wanting to close. It was to the point where it was actually painful to keep them open at times. That was never fun.

But yeah, I slept most of Thursday and Friday last week. Saturday, Gina and I went out in the afternoon shopping. Toy stores are designed to make you feel better. Plus, even though I probably only felt, like, 75% better I just had to get out of the apartment.

Sunday we went to a Toys R Us that's closing and it was a mess, though we got some cool toys.

And yesterday I slept until 11 am. Whoa. How did I do that? I don't know. But I'm finally writing this now. Because as of today- Tuesday- I feel almost 100%. I'd say I'm at like, 90% to 95% better.

Now, you wanna know something funny? Well, when I was younger and I'd get sick, I'd get cold sores. And I had one this past long-weekend when I was sick. My mom told me once that you can get them when you're sick, and when you're better they go away. I don't know if that's true or a medical fact or whatever because, you know, doctors and me and all... But my cold sore is just about gone today and I feel a lot better. But when it was huge, and I was trying to eat an orange, it was not fun times at all. Not at all. Plus, I don't want to think back to count the times I accidentally bit it. Oops. Who is still reading this right now? No one? Okay. Then I shall leave you with this little nugget of wisdom.

Normally, I probably think about thirty to fifty times faster and harder than most people- or your "average" person, I guess I'd say. I have literally thousands to millions (I'm not joking) of thoughts, ideas, concerns, questions, etc. just floating through my head. If you live with it long enough, you can manage it. Having all of these thoughts isn't what makes you smart, though. Being able to not be scatter-brained and a complete mess is what makes you smart. (I guess I'm halfway there maybe? I'm not that much of a disaster, am I? Hmm...) Well, anyway, when I was sick, my brain literally slowed down with the rest of my body. So when I was in the shower, rather than dropping the soap because I was thinking about when I would get better, what to eat for lunch, what to wear, what music to listen to, what to watch on television, who to e-mail and when, what to write and where, and so on and so forth, I actually managed to have a pretty clear mind and thus I extended my arm and prevented the soap from falling. Pretty funny, huh?

I think I do think a lot clearer with a one track mind, but I wouldn't like to do it all the time. If I didn't have all of these thoughts in my mind at the same time, as odd as it sounds, I think then I would go insane.

Okay. Enough about being sick. I'm moving on and getting better.

If you can't take the kid from the fight, take the fight from the kid

2006-02-13T22:57:29Z

My Top Five Favorite TV Shows Right Now (In no particular order)

1) Love Monkey (CBS) Okay, so maybe CBS pulled this after three episodes and now it is "on hiatus/fate t.b.d.", but I'm hopeful it will come back. Let's face facts: This show follows the life of the main character who works in the record industry, specifically A&R. Who doesn't want that job? The only thing better than being a rock star, is getting paid to go out and find them! On top of that, for an hour long show, this is one of the most consistently funny shows on television. Let's just hope CBS doesn't have to jump onto my e-mail list and they bring this back sooner than later.

2) Lost (ABC) Yes, Lost. The past two episodes, at least, have been much better. Do you know why? I think I kind of have an idea of why. Granted, the whole Sawyer plot line last week totally threw me for a curve, but I think it's a new addition to the opening credits. Look for it very carefully or else you may miss it. Did you see it? There it goes. Yup. That did just say Jeph Loeb. For those of you who don't know, Jeph Loeb is undoubtedly one of the greatest comic book writers not only alive but EVER. He also has television under his belt such as Smallville, which he has written episodes for, but get this... Smallville is technically part of the DC universe, right. So I like to think of Jeph Loeb being the guy connecting the show- Smallville- to the Superman comics. He is, for all extensive purposes, keeping it real. And maybe he has nothing to do with Lost getting better since he just has some producer credit, but I can only imagine he has had something to do with it. He is, after all, one of my heroes. And for the record: Jeph Loeb probably got onto Lost by Maggie Grace (Now dead on Lost) + Tom Welling (Smallville) = remake of The Fog. Boy would I have loved to see that conversation. Tom Welling: "Ah yes, Jeph, this is Maggie. She was on a show called 'Lost'. It had a really strong first season, but not so much now." Jeph Loeb: "Reeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaallllllllllllyyyyyy".

3) Surface (NBC) Granted this show ended a few Mondays back (Before the Olympics), but you can't help but love the flooding. I heard that since a second season of this show is uncertain at this point, the first season finale was set to answer a lot of questions and tie up some loose ends. Did it? Not really. But it was still awesome. Plot A and Plot B from the entire first season FINALLY met. And when the show returns (not if) it will never be the same. I'm looking very much forward to it, and if NBC doesn't bring it back I may have to literally flood their headquarters.

4) Grey's Anatomy (ABC) Did you see that episode after the Superbowl? No? You weren't one of the 40 million watching? Come on, they play your favorite sappy emo music. Oh, and the drama. Holy suspense, Batman! A cliffhanger like no other. I have no idea how they do it, but this show does remain one of the best shows on television. Now if it could just stop helping Desperate Housewives so that ship can finally sink...

5) The Shield (FX) You know what the one difference is between this show and every other cop show on television? The violence. Yeah, I like the violence. Yeah, I like to see television cops beat the living snot out of the bad guys on the screen. So sue me. But did you see the episode last week? Vic got him good, didn't he? Oh, and how Forrest Whitaker's character flipped out. I knew it was going to end at that point, but his little freak out... Scary, scary stuff. You should be watching this.

Honorable mentions: Supernatural (I swear I thought Dean died this week), Veronica Mars, Medium and those half hour comedies.

Prison Break returns soon!!!

Now back to e-mailing Atlantic... Because in some freaky chain of events, they e-mailed me first. Weird, huh?

I Am A Bad Grandson (And I Don't Care)

2006-02-13T18:58:50Z

On Saturday, my younger sister called and talked to Gina. Apparently, the rumor going around right now is that Gina has kicked me out and I coming back to CT.

Now, this rumor has been started for various reasons, but it basically boils down to this. Supposedly, my uncle (Don't know which one) said something of this effect to my grandma, who then said it to my mom and sister. Last weekend my dad went up to my uncle's for a Superbowl party and he called me on his cell phone. I did mention to him that there is a very strong chance we will move back to CT in September when our lease is up. It's not 100%, but it is almost 100% certain right now that we will not be staying in Houston. It is 100% certain we won't be staying in these apartments at least, as the prices are rising.

So I guess someone (One of my uncles) must have overheard bits and pieces of this conversation, which somehow planted this idea in their head that Gina was kicking me out and I was coming back to CT. Again, this rumor is 100% false, much like all rumors out there.

Now, rather than try and kick my uncle's off of their high horses like they have tried to do to me, I will be the bigger man here. No, I will not point out that one of them (Who it probably was) had to get a mail-order bride (I didn't even know such a thing existed, but apparently it does) and lives in a house on land his parents handed over to him for free. Hey, maybe Gina and I would have stayed in CT from the start if my parents just gave me free land which my grandparents did for just about all of my uncles. But whatever. I'm not going to lower myself to their level. All I will say is... This is why I don't go to family events. They have nothing better to do than make up stuff about me? How sad it truly is. But it is especially sad because I don't need to make up sad things about them-- I just have to tell it like it is.

Buck-O-Nine said it best: "I can't believe it... How rumors spread"

Coming up this week:

- My Top 5 (Current) Favorite TV Shows And Why
- Being Sick
- Why Hate Is Wrong (Should I Even Have To Write This?)
- My Weekend Reviewed In Pictures

Notice

2006-02-12T17:30:57Z

I am leaving the Chiodos livejournal community.

I do not participate in anything that involves such blatant hate.

They are one step away from being a racist, sexist or otherwise discriminating faction.

Also, they have censored me by removing my comments when pointing this out.

To simply ignore the devil is not enough. We must stand up, look him in the face and tell him to go away.

I have said my piece there. I have told them how I feel. And they should all be ashamed.

More real news from me later.

Not about this stupid "holier than thou" lj crap.

No offense to the band Chiodos, but if I was in that band, I'd lay the smack down on them.

donthatbeatall @ 2006-02-08T16:37:00

2006-02-08T22:46:14Z

What am I?

More importantly, what is this?

Together We Will Float Like Angels

2006-02-06T18:20:54Z

- Before I begin the somewhat typical weekend review, I just want to say this about Thursday night. On Thursday, I watched the movie Point Break, which I've seen too many times to count, and I kind of realized maybe that's where I got my surfing obsession from. But, honestly... Keanu... Swayze... Surfers robbing banks in masks of ex-Presidents... What's not to love?

- On Saturday afternoon, we were heading up to Humble to Half-Price Books so Gina could look at kids books for her work. Well, we needed some video tapes, so we needed Target because last time we bought videos from Wal-Mart the VCR ate them. We found this Target up near Humble- near Half-Price Books- and as we headed there, we saw not only a Toys 'R Us, but an Old Navy. We went to both, and Gina picked up some clothes at Old Navy but I found nothing at either. At Target, however, we did pick up the Anna Nalick CD "Wreck Of The Day", which I listened to a bit on Sunday and is rather good. At Half-Price Books I found a pretty decent copy of A Month Of Sundays by John Updike, which is good because I was looking for this book for such a long time. And it was only a dollar. Can't beat that. Back on the way home, we found MNM (wrestling figures) at the green Wal-Mart, which was an added bonus. We also got this Narnia poster for the bedroom and three DVDs from the $5.50 bin: The Toy (shouldn't have been there, but really was 5.50... What are you thinking Wal-Mart?), Can't Hardly Wait (One of my favorite movies, Gina has never seen it) and Johnny Mnemonic (Oh Keanu). We watched the two other than The Toy on Saturday night. That was kind of our day. I think.

- Sunday we cleaned a bit, trying to take down all of our Christmas decorations finally. We got 'em all down too, I think. My Dad called though- which was odd because he usually doesn't call this much (He called me on Monday and Tuesday last week)- and I talked to my older sister who is getting married in April. So, even if we don't move back to CT by then, we'll most likely be in CT during April of 2007 for my sister's wedding. Take it for what it's worth.

- The more I listen to Waking Ashland and actually read their lyrics, the more I think it's about God versus... Well, whatever I wasn't thinking about before. Take this from "Rumors" for example:

I walked away, but you were always on my mind
I was afraid that you would never come alive
There for me when I was scared of you
You were there for me when I wasn't there for you

And then from "I Am For You":

Come and take my face or forever I
Will walk alone
And all the same mistakes
Cause I know you, I deny you
Days go by and choices still remain forever
Right and wrong is black and white
The illusions of this world
And there is hope again

It's strange. Is he singing about a girl... Or Jesus? You decide.

- Last thing, since I thought there was one more but forgot about it just now. I've been watching the A-Team a lot lately for some reason, and wow do I wish there was a show like this on now. Mr. T is just crazy because he's this big, tough, take no guff type of guy, on top of which he's actually kind of funny in the straight forward things he says. In an episode the other day, he was expressing his fear of flying and it was just so funny for all of the wrong reasons. But then, the show also has some sort of mystery, or some sort of element of the little guy fighting the big guy (Not in a literal sense, but more in the peasant sense, I guess), as well as much gun-play including huge explosions. What on television currently offers such things? Nothing. Why not? Where is my modern A-Team? Oh, TV, thou art lonely.

We Are All Broken Pieces... We're Never Satisfied

2006-02-03T18:10:23Z

Here is something funny that you probably did not know.

When we first moved to Houston, we used Relient Energy. It was the first one we really ever heard of, so we just kind of took it. Our bills averaged $35 to $50 per month. It wasn't bad at all, until the end when our old apartments cut down a huge tree- and a huge source of shade for us- and our bill tripled.

Upon moving to our new apartments, we have Green Mountain Energy- hereby out known as "The Man" to make it shorter- which is more environmentally friendly, but on average a little bit more money. It's wind energy, you know, like windmills and stuff. Anyway, our bills with The Man have been about $45 to $60. A little bit more than Relient, but nonetheless, it's for a good cause or whatever.

Last night our bill comes and The Man says we owe $364 or so. They say we used ten times the amount of energy in the last month (January) than the month before (December). Gina calls and after much holding we reach some sort of conclusion, though I ended up talking to them myself.

Basically, when we were billed for the first four or five months since we switched/moved in, the bills we were issued were for "estimates". And since they under-estimated, we are now being billed the amount we owe over the past four or five months, which is some $270. Understand though, it's not like we didn't pay our bill. They never asked us for this money until now. So I wonder, how is this possible?

Apparently, it is legal. I don't know if it's just for Texas, or if it works in the whole country, but this is on the level. To me, though, it seems very stupid. So after talking to one lady, I spoke with her supervisor and these were the key points which came up that I'd like to share with you.

- I told her it was unfair for us to be charged for this now when we paid our bill on time. I tried to use an example of eating at a restaurant for four or five months, and then one day you go in there and they tack all this extra money on your bill because they say they haven't been charging you for your drinks for the last few months. I explain to her that this would not be the fault of the customer, but rather the restaurant owner, the server, the busboy, etc. -- whoever is in charge of that kind of crap and wants to take blame. She tells me the legal mumbo jumbo again.

- I told her it's not our fault and it has nothing to do with us. Whoever has been "estimating" is the one who should have to pay for this. She asks if we live in a gated community or have a dog or something which may prevent the meter reader from coming in. I say we have a huge sign out front that says "Center Point Go Away", knowing full well from the first lady that Center Point reads our meters. She said that would probably do it, but I have to reassure her that I am joking. I go on to tell her that everyone from Papa John's, DHL, UPS and Fed-Ex to Homeless Jimmy (No joke, I actually said "Homeless Jimmy") could get into the apartments if they wanted to, so perhaps this guy just isn't trying hard enough. I ask what happens if he decides to skip us one day to go to lunch at Taco Bell early and just guesses how much energy we used. I asked how that is our fault. She, again, tells me that I have to take it up with Center Point, though I keep insisting that it is between Center Point and her not Center Point and me.

- She actually asked me why I didn't wonder why our bills were so low. She said August is the hottest month and September was hot too. We should have asked why we had estimates and asked for actual readings before now. I explain to her we used to have Relient, and they were actually cheaper than The Man. I tell her that's why I didn't question the bills. I tell her no one is really going to say, "I think I'm paying too little, have some more money" to anyone.

- After she tells me about how it's my fault for never questioning it, I say something to the effect of, "You know, you're the only company that can legally get away with something like this", to which she goes back into her legal speech. It's true though. The water company can't say "You used more water than we thought, so we're charging you more now"... Or can they?

- For the ending, I asked her, off the record, if anyone had ever moved or fled the country and they had "estimates" and were thus owed back payments. She says yes it does happen. People try to buy a home or something and have bad credit and wonder why, then they end up paying. I ask if they have anyone like a bounty hunter who goes after such felons to Mexico, kicks down the door and says, "All right, give me the fifty bucks you owe for energy you used ten months ago!" She actually laughs, but says there is no such person. Damn. There goes my dream job.

So the moral of the story is... The Man is constantly trying to screw you, and it seems like he's finding more ways to do it every day. I may look into this further- whether or not it's legal everywhere or just here in Texas, and more so, how to stop it. I mean, yes, we used the energy, so we are responsible, but the method of billing for it is just... horrible and unfair. It's how you can go from $60 or less a month to $360 all of a sudden. Personally, I blame Center Point Energy for not doing the freaking job they get paid to do. Does the left hand even know what the right hand is doing? Obviously not. Maybe if they told Center Point they'd be taking the $290 or so out of their pockets, their employees would give more accurate readings and try harder to get them. Maybe that should be the new law.

Insert Your Clever Title Here

2006-02-01T18:30:02Z

- Friday night, Gina and I went grocery shopping. Friday is going to be our new grocery shopping night. Monday or Tuesday don't work as well. Friday is better because if we have plans we can just go on Thursday instead. Plus, stuff is usually better stocked before the weekend, as opposed to after it.

- Saturday the weathermen said it would rain a lot. We went out and got gas. Then, as we were headed to Target, it began to downpour like crazy, so we just came back to the apartment. It rained most of Saturday, which was nice because we were inside and out driving in the flooding.

- Saturday night we watched two movies I had never seen before: Enemy At The Gates and Rocky. Enemy At The Gates stars Jude Law as a sharpshooter/sniper for Russia during their little war with nazi Germany. Any time you get to see Jude Law shoot nazis, I suppose, is a good time. It was a good movie, overall. Though for an action/war-type movie, I could have done without seeing the chick from Constantine's butt. And surprisingly, though I have seen parts of other Rocky movies before, would you believe I have not only never seen any of them in the entirety, but I haven't seen Rocky before Saturday night? All I remember is seeing parts where Rocky fights someone in a street fight and then parts of the one where he has a kid, which may very well be the same movie. But I watched those parts when it was on TBS or something years and years ago. So, here is to renting Rockys 2 through 5 and watching them before 6 comes out!

- Sunday Gina was sick, so we just kind of hung out. She slept for most of the day, though she was awake some of the time. I watched the movie Assassins with Antonio Banderas and Sly Stallone. It was my second Sly movie that weekend only by coincidence. I didn't actually plan it that way. But, for what it was, the movie was pretty decent. It didn't have too much dialog, but then again, I find the less Sylvester Stallone talks in movies the better they seem to be. I also watched the WWE Royal Rumble Sunday night, which was exciting up until the Rumble match itself ended. I mean, c'mon, it's the name of the pay-per-view... Clearly it should be the main event. Not some guy who didn't even win the Olympics.

- If you want a good idea of what marriage is like... It's like this: Pretend your wife is sick. She's sick, so she doesn't feel like eating. No problem. You make yourself some dinner. You spend maybe a good fifteen to twenty minutes preparing your meal. Then, when you sit down to eat the yum-yums you just created you can't help but hear the same wife throwing up in the bathroom. Yup. Marriage is just a crapshoot designed to puke all over the meal you just prepared. Or something like that.

- Monday not so much happened. Gina went to the walk-in clinic so they could say that she has strep. We went to CVS and got medicine. I watched some stuff on television I suppose, but I really don't remember what, to be honest.

- Tuesday was my 26th birthday. For some reason, I got it stuck in my mind I was going to be 27 this year, but don't ask me why. For the day itself, not too much exciting happened. With Gina recovering from being sick, we didn't have a cake. She actually woke me up in the morning to drive her to work. When I wouldn't do it, she drove herself only to pretty much turn around and come right back. Trust me: If I had actually gotten up and drove her on my birthday, I would not have gone back for her. Then, later on in the night, I got to hear about how checks Gina wrote tried to clear and couldn't, so we were being billed for that and it was going to come out to a lot of money... blah blah blah... blah blah blah... blah blah blah... I stopped listening. Tonight I'm spent When it's the same tune every day, just a different song, you tend to tune it out after a while. Pretend this razor is your lips Then Gina went on this soapbox about how "I know how you don't want to hear this because it's your birthday, but I didn't even ask for anything for my birthday because we didn't have money to afford it!" You're finding ways to kiss me Oh, and she's so modest about it. I doubt Joan of Arc ever shouted from the rooftops, "I'm a martyr, dammit!!" Deeply on the wrist It was not really the best way to spend my birthday. It was actually more like just another Tuesday. But nothing will ever top my sixteenth birthday, in terms of memories. So I'll probably just forget about this as time passes. Or maybe not. That's the funniest part about life: You never know what crap is going to stick with you, and how it's going to effect you. That's probably also the worst part about being a parent. But that's another story entirely. Oh, and for the record, on my sixteenth birthday, I was deathly sick. And that's a fact, Jack. But now I have to finish this up faster because I know Gina is reading it instead of watching television with me. Why she has to waste time reading this crap instead of talking to me is beyond me. But oh well. I guess livejournal is cooler than Mr. T. (Haha, get the blatant sarcasm there?)

- My birthday presents sort of came in waves. Two weeks or so before my birthday, a present from my younger sister came from The Disney Store: A rather expensive looking Stitch lamp. The week of my birthday a present from my older sister came via Amazon: Arrested Development Season 2 on DVD. And then Friday presents from my parents came. On Saturday, I actually opened one of them from my Mom because I had a good idea of what it was... And I was right: WWE Smack Down! vs. Raw 2006. I spent some of the day Saturday playing that game. It will be my new addiction.

- As I opened them on my birthday, my Dad got me the Ultimate Spider-Man video game (Which now marks 4 Marvel video games I own but have yet to play), as well as Rear Window on DVD and a gift card to Target. I've always wanted Rear Window on DVD... Just never got around to buying it. It is simply one of the best movies ever if only because it keeps you guessing as to whether or not the James Stewart character is correct in his accusation, and then when you find out that he is, what does he get for his trouble? Two broken legs. And after coming off one broken leg healing, none the less! That's life for you.

- If you didn't wish me a happy birthday, it's okay... I don't know when your birthday is either.

- Right now, the plan is (most likely) to head to Tennessee in May some time to join most of my family in seeing lots of different things about Elvis, and then later on in the summer (probably around July) we're going to do the opposite of going south for the winter and most likely visit CT. With the "winter" here being in the 70s and 80s (As well as, people say, "unseasonably warm"), I hate to see how hot the summer will be. Weather in the 90s and 100s with humidity making it even worse is one thing, but imagine 110 degree weather with humidity making it 130 or something? Yeah, if that happens here, I won't go outside for ANYTHING. Could you just imagine me calling out of work? "Yeah, I'm not coming in... It's too hot". Ha ha.

donthatbeatall @ 2006-01-27T15:17:00

2006-01-27T21:22:41Z

While driving home, I heard this song on the radio and just kept listening to it. Of course, the radio guy doesn't tell me who it is (because whenever you wanna know a song, they don't tell), so I had to come home and try to find it based on lyrics alone.

Now I'm going to be poppy/trendy for liking music by some chick I never heard of before. My biggest fear was that it was going to be something like Faith Hill (Which came up in the search results), but luckily it was a name I never heard before, so I can't be that embarassed by liking it.

The lines in the lyrics that made me know this was the song I heard on the radio were these:

2 am and I'm still awake writing this song
If I get it all down on paper it's no lonmger inside of me threaten' the life it belongs to.
And I feel like I'm naked in front of the crowd
Cause these words are my diary screamin' out aloud
And I know that you'll use them however you want to.

Now to find this CD!

(Oh, and it's called "2 Am" from the album 'Wreck Of The Day' by Anna Nalick. Came out on Sony in April 2005, so it shouldn't be that hard to find.)

donthatbeatall @ 2006-01-27T11:37:00

2006-01-27T17:39:42Z

Wednesday night, Bob Saget was on with Conan. They did one of my favorite Conan segments, "In The Year 2000", together. The actor formerly known as Danny Tanner, amongst many other hilarious things, had this to say during "In The Year 2000". I'm going to try and get this as close to word for word as I can. Enjoy.

"The cast of Full House will reunite to play poker against Elton John, Clay Aiken and Richard Simmons just so we can say 'Full House beats three queens'".

Married... Buried... Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah

2006-01-26T18:22:43Z

(Please Note: Yes, this is the third entry I intended to make yesterday. I finally have the time to do it now.)

The biggest myth in society* is that marriage comes with a blueprint. This is not accurate. No one hands you a book after you're married and says, "Here you go, you might want to read this along the way". Sure, there are guides to marriage (and parenting as well), but can anyone really tell anyone else how to make their marriage work, or are marriage counselors just self-assuring pieces of crap?

If science has taught us nothing else (And no matter what you believe in, you must believe in science), it has taught us that no two people are exactly the same. Not even identical twins are identical. Sure, certain traits may resemble other traits the way all snowflakes are white or can have a round or square shape to them, but at the end of the day my brown hair is still different from your brown hair and not just because of how I cut/style it, wash it, maintain it, etc., but because it is what makes me who I am and yours is what makes you who you are. And aside from physical characteristics, let us not forget what is inside, because that's what really counts, right?

So let me try a little scientific experiment with you, just on paper not in real life. Take two people. Any two people- I don't care what two, that doesn't matter. Let's call them Subject A and Subject B. Are Subject A and Subject B the same? No. Will they ever be the same? No. Now, let's look at it in terms of marriage. In marriage, you add in two more variables. Let's call them Subjects C and D, just for purposes of this. Say A & B are married and C & D are married. Can you really compare C & D to A & B and expect to get accurate results? You cannot compare A to C, nor A to D, and so on. Nor can you even compare C to D, but that's another story.

The basic point (because I feel as if I may have lost you there) is this. No two people are exactly the same. Trying to compare two people is hard enough. When you try to compare marriages, you just add in more variables. More variables equals more possible combinations, which just means, as any scientist/mathematician will confirm, you just have more chances to be wrong. Whether you've been married for 60 years, 60 days, divorced four times-- whatever your situation is, it doesn't matter. No one truthfully has the ability to say "I'm married, and I've been married for X amount of time, thus I would know this and you wouldn't". In fact, it's that kind of generalization we try to avoid in society, isn't it? Sure, when it comes to matter of race, sexuality, religion or what not, it's not allowed. But this is somehow all right? I don't get it. Go to your local bookstore and burn all the books in the section offering marriage help, or just relationship help in general. Protest their ideas of false hope and robbing you of your hard earned money. Be angry and stand up for something for once in your life, because you deserve it this time.

The best way maybe even to prove all of this is with song lyrics. I'm not kidding- song lyrics. My Chemical Romance wrote a song with a tag line of "If you marry me, will you bury me". Several years earlier, Kurt Cobain under the guise of Nirvana wrote similar sentiments in a song called "All Apologies". Are they exactly the same? No. They're slightly different. The main point is there. They both rhyme "marry" with "bury". Is MCR ripping off the late, great KDC? Probably. But you can't prove it. And it's just coincidence. Because like marriage, though they seem strikingly familiar and the same, they are in fact two completely different things entirely.

Now. I went through all of that for this reason. (Here's the payoff. Maybe.) I've been married for a little over a year now. Almost a year and a half maybe even. For the first year or so- basically, up until this year (2006)- I didn't really write at all about my marriage in livejournal. Did you notice that? Why was that? Well, as the past has taught me, writing about anything that isn't either a) In past tense, and definitely over and done with (As in how you may have spent your weekend) or b) Outright complaining, but never in too serious of a sense - simply doesn't belong here. Why? It's not just marriage. It's not just relationships and dating. It's life in general, man. You say you're mad at someone for not calling you like they said they would or something, and all of a sudden, someone's butt-hurt and this little internet fight starts and it's just... pointless. So, yeah, I didn't see much of a point to be like, "Oh, this really pisses me off", just to then have it turn into Gina lashing back in her journal, and then so on and so forth, until it just becomes what the kids like to colorfully refer to as a "pissing contest". That was how I looked at it before, and luckily none of that ever happened. Now I look at it like this...

When I'm not constantly completely gushing/complaining about television or whatever other complete nonsense I post in here-- every once in a while, some sort of wisdom comes out somewhere I think. Maybe. Sometimes. I don't know. But if I can write things people can relate to- married or not- then I shall. And, I have written in time as the voice of many different people. Now, I will just begin writing some things as the voice of a married guy. Should be interesting, right?

Securing Your Place In Hell

2006-01-25T18:31:29Z

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn't exist

Recently, Parade magazine (Which isn't really a magazine because it comes inside the newspaper) ran an article about the world's worst leaders. Of all of the countries in this, one was mysteriously left off of the list. Us. The U-S-of-A. Why?

For the same reasons why the U.S. condemns Saddam, George W. Bush is guilty. George W. Bush has killed perhaps more of his own countrymen than anyone else in history.

But then I start thinking about history.

Throughout history, there haven't been any U.S. Presidents known as horrible leaders. With names like Hitler, Stalin, etc., don't go names like Ronald Regan, Nixon and George W. Bush.

Why?

Is it because we're writing the books?

I'm seriously considering growing a mustache and moving to Canada.

Update 1 Of 3 For Today AKA Chapter 27

2006-01-25T18:06:49Z

There is a movie slated to come out some time next year called Chapter 27. From now until the time it comes out, I will be boycotting this movie.
The movie, if you didn't know (as Time informed me), stars Jared Leto with Lyndsey Lohen. Leto plays the man who shot John Lennon. Yoko Ono took exception to this being filmed outside her house and tried to stop it from happening, but that didn't work.
Now, I can't- and I'm pretty sure a lot of people can't either- even begin to fathom what it must be like to have someone you love so much, and someone also who is just such a huge pop icon, be gunned down. I can't even begin to grasp the psychological effects that must have on someone. On top of that, to have it re-enacted... It's just... tasteless.
But the real issue here is something a spokesman for Yoko Ono had to say. And I quote Time magazine on this:

"She thinks the whole concept is terrible and offensive. The filmmakers are fulfilling an assassin's dream."

When I was younger, maybe thirteen or fourteen years old, I read this book called "Overkill" about serial killers and the media. The point of the book is that by killing numerous people, someone could leave more of an impact on society than working a regular 9 to 5 job or even possibly becoming President. I mean, how many kids can really name all of the Presidents Of The USA? Now, how many of those same kids can name which serial killer ate his victims? How many can name which one wore their skin? How many can name which ones are related to which band member of Marilyn Manson by name?

The moral of my story is this... For once, I must agree with Yoko Ono. Putting this movie out sends the wrong message. In a time post 9/11 and with terror in the air so much... Times being what they are... Everything... Just everything... Sending the wrong message is exactly what we don't want to do. Will people go see the movie Hostel and try to imitate that? Probably not. Will they go see Chapter 27 and think, "Wow, if I kill Britney Spears, I'll get a movie one day"? It's possible. And that is not the message that anyone should be sending right now.

I am completely serious when I say that if this movie makes it to theaters, I will be outside theaters protesting it. I just hope I am not alone.