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[Aug. 12th, 2009|08:27 pm] |
I took the liberty of leasing a domain I've been wanting for awhile today; particularly because of this project that has been in the back of my skull for weeks. I really don't know if it will work, but I do know that it's something that I've been wanting to do. More on that when I actually have something to show.
I've been gainfully employed for about 1 month now. It's weird not working as a contractor, but in a sense I still am due to the nature of the company's business, but I actually have a desk, a name, cards, and all that stuff.
I've been looking at some of this town hall mob stuff in regards to health care. I haven't been able to take my face out of my palm yet. For now, read this. http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2009/08/07/opinion/07krugman.html?sort=editors-selection |
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| That person just like you, only they live on the other side of the planet |
[Jun. 11th, 2009|12:14 am] |
Language, much like the internet, is an ever evolving thing. Things always being added or taken away, like an indecisive sculptor. Language has always been one of those things that has always fascinated me, not so much because of one that sounds more romantic than another one, or because my favorite video game series will only release in one language, but because of the multitude of pathways taken to, achieve the same result. I've always seen the internet as one of those huge steps in bringing people together regardless of political and physical boundaries, and its damn near close to that having almost achieved total global saturation. This is a huge accomplishment, yet in terms of community, we're still somewhat relegated to communicating with someone of a similar language background. We are limited by what we can physically convey to someone. I used to think this level of communication was acceptable; in the 90s'.
I've always had that feeling that somewhere on the other side of the planet, despite their experiences, upbringing, and social norms a person goes through day for day, there was someone just like myself, my friend, my mom, day, ex-girlfriend, things of that nature. While it is unlikely that I would find them any time soon, what would be the one thing in my way that would enable me to enjoy that relationship with that person, and likewise to them as well? My physical ability to communicate with them. A potentially good thing could lead to frustration, doubt, and in some cases, fear. I don't believe we've done our best(humanity) with the tools we have at hand to remedy this issue.
I don't propose a full solution. But I think I may have an idea. |
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| Of Translators and Strippers |
[Jan. 18th, 2009|04:29 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  hung over | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Manmade Science - Connect the Motorcities[Soulphiction Mix] | ] |
Last night was just one of those nights where you're not really sure how things are gonna end. You could be schmoozing your way into a penthouse suite at the top of a high end establishment, or serving time in a drunk tank helping your buddy nurse his swollen eye. Either way, you will certainly reek of cigarettes, cheap beer, and that ever so slightly floral scent from that girl that was grinding on your for 10 minutes, which may have been the start of it all. However, I digress, as this story is by far more tame, as this tail concerns nothing more than a computer programmer, former air force personnel, and an international English teacher.
Working on some DirectX samples at Eric's house, I get a ring from my friend, the teacher, announcing that he's having a blowout to celebrate his last night in town before heading out to Slovakia for an English teaching gig, and won't be back until June or July, which isn't exactly guaranteed. I had left my car at home, so after calling a few people I was able to secure a ride back to my car, and met up with him and a group @ Cicero's. A rousing discussion is had, particularly about some remarks I made to a guy from Iceland @ MAGFest. After professing fake love to about three other women, we left for Morgan St.
Now, Morgan St. Is about as college bar as it gets. The flavor of music is this abused and stirred mash of top 40 hip hop, club anthems, and hip hop remixed country/southern rock tunes. It requires about 15 bucks in alcohol to be tolerable. The place is packed. At some point, we meet up with the Air fore guy. He's quiet, but he has this bouncer style about him. After ingesting the required minimum I join the crowd, only to have my hair pulled by an untold number of drunken chicks. WTF is up with that.
Closing time ensues, and we pull the drunken english teacher out of the bar. He falls down on the corner of 2nd and Morgan, and proceeds to roll around in the street; blocking Taxi traffic. After we pick him up, he proceeds t "hadouken" and Hurricane kick the those metal trash bins on the street. This garnered a lot of attention, particularly since he did this all the way towards the Lumiere casino. As soon as we walked into the Lobby, he fell on the floor, laughing for reasons unknown. Having seen this, the dude checking the IDs would not let us onto the gambling floor. having finally reached the car. We cross to the east side for the strip clubs.
Prior to going to the strip club, I pulled out 40 bucks to get inside, have a few drinks, and put some ones down whatever V string needed one. I must've had some luck that night, in terms of discounts or something. Upon finding out that the bar had a 50 dollar minimum, I managed to convince the bartender to let me slide(with a decent tip). Some other waitress pulls may hair as she walks by my seat. I tried getting her to pay for it, but that didn't work =/. Afterwards, I'm sitting at one of the stages. Girl comes up while making her rounds or whatever. Out of the blue she offers a 20% discount. I decline, but it was odd. Finally after his fourth lap dance, we scoop the English teacher out.
I wake up in a basement in Alton. There's those glow in the dark star stickers all over the basement walls and ceiling. After dragging around for about two hours we go back to some dudes house where I left my coat and car keys, then trek from Alton to the loop, and get my car back. I say my goodbyes to the English teacher, and look forward to seeing him in the summer.
Strip clubs are an odd place. I mean sure, it was about as comfortable or as expensive as any other club I had been to, but really didn't feel inclined to pay for any of the entertainment. I can appreciate the work from a professional standpoint, but personally, I couldn't find what was so entertaining about them. A lot of what I had seen there, I could see at Dante's Morgan st., or even the Oz back in the day for the price of nothing. despite what was happening, the place just seemed sterile. Planned interactions, controlled tempo, as if a totalitarian pleasure house; a black lit, boob filled purgatory. The strip club often times make me wonder about the state of people and their ability to have relationships, but that's a whole other issue.
The 360 just RROD'd. Gonna have to work a replacement into the budget now. |
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| Sarah Palin Quote Generator |
[Nov. 13th, 2008|01:07 am] |
Sample Quotes:
"The way that I have understood the world is being the beacon of light and I would hope that's the case."
"As Senator McCain is suggesting here also with his warnings at a crisis time like this."
"I see our country being able to represent those things if Americans so bless us and privlidege us for opportunity to change it."
Get your own quotes |
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| wut |
[Oct. 23rd, 2008|10:37 pm] |
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| Pure gold |
[Oct. 9th, 2008|10:22 pm] |
I don't often enjoy expressing my thoughts and ideas anywhere near as much as I enjoy hearing the thoughts of others; especially if these thoughts can be applied to how we got to where we are. I give you The Open Mind
This video is part one of a 2 part series with Donald Rumsfeld circa 1975. It's so interesting to listen to speak and his ideas. It plays a lot into how we ended up with 'The Decider'
This particular episode aired circa 1957 "The New Negro". This offers a fantastic insight into the mind of MLK and his thoughts in regards to his movement for civil rights outside of the "I Have a Dream" speech. It's great to see his fire and resolve in the battle for ending segregation, however, it does also bring in to view a sort of short-sightedness in the movement, which has brought the subtle, quiet racism that many minorities still experience today.
Additional videos are available on The Internet Archive |
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| *shudder* |
[Oct. 9th, 2008|05:55 pm] |
Now I understand why McCain/Palin supporters never seems to show up in the media
If you can vote, for the love of GOD please vote. |
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| Sometimes things never change. |
[Aug. 11th, 2008|01:32 am] |
An interesting thing happened this weekend.
I've always believed that things happen for a reason. When these things do happen, I believe it's important to find a lesson, or lessons to take away from the instance, reflect on these thoughts and use them to improve your life and those around you. This was not one of those instances; in fact, I'm not really sure what I could call it. Karma, Sad, Funny; Probably all of them to some respect, but I'll let you be the judge. This story has some history to it, so get comfortable.
Back in 2006, myself and a friend of mine picked up a nice apartment in Olivette. 2 beds, 2 baths, plenty of space. Things were going pretty well; smooth even, until she got pregnant. Her boyfriend convinced her that they needed to move in together and get buy a house, which is a good idea considering they decided to keep the child and move forward with the rearing and whatnot, however, this pretty much left me high and dry. I probably got 1.5 months worth of rent out of her after the fact, and I still had 7 months left in the lease to finish. At the time, I didn't make enough money to handle the lease on my own. I tried to afford it, but my efforts were in vain, and I was getting closer to risking eviction. My brother was too scared to move out, so Instead of being stuck with a bill that would ensured me staying at my parent's house with zero space for over a year, I decided to search for a roommate.
After asking all of my friends and family members, I resorted to Craig's List. The first two people I met were great; An educated woman with a nice career, but she didn't seem to like the idea of living with a guy, even though I said I was male in my post. The next was a gay male. He seemed like a nice guy, but he didn't like the idea of having a straight roommate. The next person was a male, middle aged man who had just recently gotten divorced, and was in the process of leaving his wife's house. He wanted a cheap place to stay for awhile so that he could get his life in 'order'. The definition of order being something I didn't ask about, which was a mistake on my part. After some haggling, we agreed on a price and he was set to move in.
The first two months went well. He was pretty easy going, and pretty much stayed out of my hair. He lost his job at one point, but was able to pick up a gig working at the Boathouse in forest park. It was around this point in time where things started to get odd. This job, from what he said, was a managerial position. He was ecstatic about earning 36K/yr from this position, which I found to be VERY odd, being as to how I was much younger than him and made slightly more than that. I asked him casually about his work history, and he revealed that his previous job was as a waiter at an Outback Steakhouse restaurant, which lead me to believe that he has spent quite a few years in food service; which is pretty lame for someone that isn't a teenager, college student, or possibly a pensioner looking to supplement their income. So by this point, I had picked him up from an area topless bar(yeah, there's a topless bar over in Overland, off of Page and Ashby I believe) a couple times because he was too drunk to walk home, or from work because the buses had stopped running. The mask was slipping off; this dude was a loser. A middle aged failboat, and things weren't getting any better anytime fast.
Now comes October; by this time, I had heard several stories about how he got revenge on people back in his heyday that messed with his family or did some ghetto shit, and his exploits at work where he would mess with the younger waitresses in a manner I'm sure they had trouble washing off along with the stains that come with that line of work. I'm on pins and needles with this guy. He sort of pays rent, has no respect for due dates or deadlines, and wants to get a lease for a bigger place after the lease ends at the apartment. He comes home one day. Pissed off and mad as hell, I ask him what's wrong, and he says that he was laid off from his job. To me, that's not really a surprise since the Boathouse pretty much goes dead once Fall hits. Pretty much anyone that drives by that place in the park can see the transformation from a bustling eatery in the spring and summer, to an almost empty husk of a building towards the fall and onward. So now I have a jobless, scary roommate that hasn't paid rent this month yet, and probably won't since he has no income and isn't on the lease, so it's not his problem. Come November, he says he got a job, that's great! For who doing what? As a rep for Pre-paid legal. ....
This man has to go.
By this point, the lease is nearly over. I strike a deal with the landlord to let me stay in one of the smaller units for 6 months, and wait for a day for when he leaves for one of his 'meetings' for prepaid legal. I move all of my stuff out of the apartment, and with the help of a friend, all of his stuff to a dumpster. Yes, this was in December, and it's balls cold outside. Am I cruel for this? Maybe.
I came back to the apartment the next day to find that some of his items have been moved back into the apartment, but I don't find him inside. I go back to my car, and find the tire stems cut on my tires, and a nasty note on the windshield. I move the car to another lot, and report the incident to the local police. I return to my car to see that he has come to finish the job, and that he cut the two remaining stems. I report the additional information to the police, and give them the note he left on my car. He left his initials and contact information on the note as well. I call a friend and stay at their place for a few days. All the while receiving threatening phone calls from this 'man'. The calls occur over the course of a few months, and eventually lower in frequency and drop off entirely. with the exception of a call he made immediately after the end of the super bowl in 2007.
That's the history. Now, a decent amount of time has passed since then. Life, for the most part, has improved with new work opportunities, friends, and skills learned. This weekend, we decide to go to Stir crazy with a bunch of friends to celebrate a birthday. We sit outside, and await our server, and the first thing I hear from behind me is "God must not like ugly people", in this familiar voice. Lo and behold, there he is about to wait our table at Stir Crazy. At first glance, my first thought was that I was glad that he was at least working, I greeted him warmly, but he looked at me as if I had lost my mind, and begin to, in essence, threaten me while HE was on the clock at work. This proceeded for about two or three minutes. All the while, I'm wondering as to what god allows him to carry the flags of vengeance and hate about all day, and why he's trying to threaten me at his job, more specifically, the only kind of job he is able to work. This man is truly a fool. A liability to his kind and his religion. After his tirade, I calmly asked if he was going to serve my friends and me, as that was his purpose, more specifically, it seemed to be the ONLY thing he could do and not fuck up. Obviously he refused, and we were served by someone else, who reaped the rewards of serving a group of seven. My friends asked If I wanted to eat at another restaurant, but I refused; believing that we shouldn't be bullied out of having a good time because of some 'guy'. It wasn't bad, however, I don't think I'd recommend any of their tofu dishes to anyone.
While sitting back in the evening over a can of 'Drank', I found myself thinking about the whole thing. How after all the time that had passed since our parting, nothing had changed with him, yet so many things had changed on my end. I had often heard people say how re-assuring it was knowing that some things never change; I, however, feel the opposite. It was really sad, to see this older man, still boiling over with this hatred. I mean, I didn't hate him for the money he didn't and won't ever pay me back, or my old roommate for leaving me with the apartment bill and the responsibility of protecting both of our credit histories from having a mark for an eviction on it. Things happen, and people change, hopefully for the better. This just wasn't one of those situations. It leads me to wonder about the impact on his life I may have had over the course of time. has this added to an ever growing list of problems that previously existed? has this anger actually given him motivation to do better so that he can have his 'justice' later? Or has nothing changed at all... Well, at least he wasn't an ex girlfriend or something. Try explaining that level of crazy to your lady over dinner. Especially if you slept with it. |
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stryder619さんの日記を閲覧中です