A bit of rantiness

Awright, a few things large and small that are torquing me today.

1. Dude on the bus who rides all the way to the last stop, but stands right at the front for the whole trip. Every poor soul who wants to get on or off before the last stop has to squeeze by this guy even though there are acres of space further back where he could stand. Hey prick, think of someone besides yourself for twenty whole minutes, ok?


2. I can only read Glenn Greenwald every couple of weeks, to keep my teeth-grinding to a minimum. Bombing Iran? A politicized military? Crazy Rudy Giuliani and his defense of torture? It keeps me up at night.


3. Caitlin Flanagan. Why, why, why does the Atlantic keep printing her silliness? I cannot stand her self-centered, frail flower of womanhood crap. A blog would serve her so much better, where she could blab about herself without having to maintain the pretense that she’s writing about topics of broad relevance.


4. The phishing email I got today that included my email address, my eBay ID, and my full name. What the hell is that? Time to change a few passwords and hope for the best. And let’s see if I get any kind of response from eBay now that I’ve reported it to them.

Funniest minute of television

Ah, I never get tired of Artie. (Psst: Turn the volume down if you’re at work.)

The global village

We hung out with Sashe yesterday! Since he now lives in Malaysia, I haven’t actually laid eyes on him since 2004. It was great to catch up, especially since he might not make it to kaskasero’s wedding.

It’s interesting to think that I know people from all across the world. And some good friends I’ve never met in person, even, thanks to the wonders of the Intarwebs. Even a cranky misanthrope such as myself can benefit from human contact once in a while, hm!

No speaky da language

After studying foreign languages for more than fifteen years, I just bought plane tickets for my very first trip overseas ever. (Those two facts together demonstrate most of all, perhaps, the extent to which I’ve faked it so far in my life.) I was supposed to go to Ukraine in June, but that fell through in spectacular fashion. But this time, no screwups allowed: I gotta ticket for Manila in December and I intend to use it. Why Manila? It is a pertinent question. The simple answer is, kaskasero managed to get himself engaged to be married, and there’s no way I’d miss that wedding. Even though it means 25 hours of traveling—one way—and lord knows how many vaccinations. Oh, and I know one whole word of Tagalog: tinga, or something stuck in your teeth. At least I’m ready to eat out, right?

Ten quotes

1. (Magneto) You’re a god among insects—never let anyone tell you different.


2. (Benjamin Katz) Fire in the hole!!


3. (The Tick) Eating kittens is just plain wrong! And no one should do it, ever!


4. (Hudson) Hey, maybe you haven’t been keeping up on current events, but we just got our asses kicked, pal!


5. (Sarge) Why don’t you put that in a memo titled “Shit I already know”!


6. (Ricky Roma) What are you gonna do about it? What are you gonna do about it, asshole?


7. (Kirk) Khan, you bloodsucker!


8. (Nathan Arizona) I don’t know, they were jammies! With Yodas and shit on ’em!


9. (Meadow Soprano) Self-involved much?


10. (David St. Hubbins) There’s a fine line between clever and stupid.

Bang a gong

Whoa, it’s October. How did that happen?
I’ve been quiet, but not idle. A week ago yesterday we rode our second Hub on Wheels, and this time we made it the full 41 miles—our longest ride ever. Only one minor mishap, despite many, many unskilled cyclists out there on the road with us. It was fun, but three hours of pretty much unwavering, teeth-gritting concentration. Yes, cyclists are masochists.

I’m also happy to report that Sashe has reemerged, yay! And I finally got a book to press; the first one since I took over the manager job two freaking years ago. The next one better not take so long.

In possibly surprising news, Halo 3 came out last week and I haven’t bought a copy yet. True, we technically have an Xbox 360 since we have kaskasero’s on long-term loan, but it’s not actually hooked up yet! And yes, I confess I’m still playing the same game of Morrowind that I started in May of 2006. (!) Don’t worry, Halo 3 will get its day at some point. Of course, it’s hard to imagine anything will recapture those heady early days of Halo. Man, the first time you go through “Guilty Spark,” you wonder if your heart can take it.

The final update is that I’ve had two dreams about seeing U2 in concert in the last week. As usual, my subconscious is failing miserably to convey to me whatever incredibly important message it has to deliver. And last night, I dreamed I was trying to explain permanent hearing loss to some chick on the bus who was blasting T. Rex out of her headphones super, super loud. Can anybody explain what the heck this all means??