Noodle to Fingertips

Problematic with no real excuse

2012-01-06T00:15:00.001-05:00

I was going to attempt the second helping of writing prompts for the new year. There arose a problem though. Apparently, Open Office doesn't want to open for me.

This time around I am not just laying my things out on the blog. I am actually attempting to compose written works with a word processing program. Get my saved files saved somewhere.

So, for now, I will post this in lieu of a real post with said prompt.

Yes, I should just write it all here, but I guess I am just swimming for excuses. Open Office isn't actually opening for me for some reason, though. Weird.

Onward to 2012

2012-01-04T01:49:00.000-05:00

So, how about another stab at thiswriting thing?

Over the holidays I was looking forsomething to do. On a near daily basis, someone asks what I have beenwriting. I usually respond with the truth and say, “Nothing atall.” To my actual surprise this upsets people. As far as I know, Idon't know anyone that I actively interact with that has actuallyread any of my creative writing. It doesn't help matters that mycreative writing ended back in college oh so many years ago.

I decided that I should change some ofthat. Around this time a couple years ago, I made a semi-New Yearresolution to write more. In fact I gave myself the task ofattempting to write 500 words a day. I did just that for a coupleweeks. Things happened and I just stopped. I want to say that I wasbusy with other stuff, but I probably wasn't. The real culprit is alack of ideas that made me want to write.

With this being a new year, I amattempting to write again. I have a couple reasons for this. One ofthem being that I can stop saying that I don't write. Granted, I maynot be stringing these letters along in a fictional sense at themoment, but at least they are being committed to a sharable medium.(That's fancy speak meaning that I am writing something, even if itjust comes across as stream of consciousness).

I found a helper this time though.Being the nerd that I am, I like going to book stores way too much.This is especially bad because I spend a fair amount of money whilethere. Sure that wouldn't be a bad thing, but when I don't read thestuff I buy, it adds up. I have piles of books scattered everywhereranging from recommendations of literature, gifts of fiction,somethings that looks cool, and resources material, like mythologybooks. I barely skimmed through some of them. One of the things Isometimes buy is Writer's Digest.

The names says it all. It is a magazineabout being a “writer”. The one I dug up is a special issue fromJune 2010 called Writing Basics. Contained within is a creativityarticle with writing prompts. 52 of them to be exact. A weekly ideato write every week. Now, since it was from June, it starts in June.This is January though, so I am going to start from January. Ofcourse, the obvious first week of January prompt is about New Yearsresolutions.

What are your New Years resolutions for2011 (we'll change that to 2012)? What specific writing goals do youhave for the upcoming year, and what do you plan to do to accomplishthem?

I think I already covered a bunch of mywriting goal in the paragraphs preceding the prompt. Still, I plan onattempting to just write more. Maybe I will have at least on actual,real short story under my belt by the end of the year. That's anattainable goal, I think. Just one story with no real set length.

My only real other resolution is that Isee my friends more. I tend to go into hermit mode and keep to myselftoo much. I stay home, isolated. I fear major travel, so I avoid itas much as possible. I don't like change, so I don't like to go tonew places. I also don't like getting lost. My car isn't the best inthe world, but it works for me, but I feel it's love for me will crapout as soon as I have to travel on a road it hasn't been before.

How I am going to accomplish thesegoals is to just overcome fears and push through. I am tired offeeling like a bad friend. The unfortunate thing of Facebook hasallowed me to keep a modest account of some friends lives, but thatdoesn't include face-time. So, I will just have to actually planthings on a real calendar and stick to them. Friends are a good thingfrom what I am told.

As for the writing stuff, I will justtry out this prompt thing. I kind of want to go through each one,one-by-one. I don't think I may necessarily do one a week though. IfI can crank out all 52 in 52 days, then I'll do it. I'm sure thatwill be a lot of words, but so be it. With the creative writing, I'llwash something through my head and see if I can make something workfrom it. Failing that, I will just take some popular genre with theyoung adults and butcher the hell out of it for easy profit.

So, there you have it. One down, abunch more to go. I will probably keep posting these on my blog justto put them somewhere to prove to readers that I do write. Maybe justto prove to myself as well. If things get too personal with theseprompts redaction may occur.

It's Halloween

2011-10-31T03:40:00.000-04:00

I have run the gamut of emotions this season. This season isn't even remotely over yet either.

My mind is in flux. I'm not quite sure what to do with it. Poking and prodding from outside sources only lead to more confusion. I was exceptionally bored tonight, which is typical for a Sunday. Unfortunately it shouldn't be typical for the night before Halloween.

Halloween is an enjoyable time of year for me. I like Fall weather, which there was some of. There was a snowfall that occurred a day ago, but that was thankfully melted by the Sunday sun. The weather is still a little cold for the usual crispness of fall, but I'll deal. When I think specifically of Halloween, I actually think of the movie Halloween and its' setting. I envision the suburban neighborhood with leaves blowing in the wind. Orange and black (go Flyers) decorations mounting every porch and windowsill. Now, I haven't watched Halloween in any of its' parts this year, but the season and AMC's plentiful commercials always remind me of it.

I think the first problem I ran into this year was the lack of costume ideas. typically, I make my costume in some way. I like to wear real clothing for when I am out. It just feels more comfortable. I am not a girl, so I doubt I could get away with strips of lingerie and call myself vixen. Many people would find it hilarious if I was to do that, but it isn't happening, at least not this year. Still, I didn't have an idea on what to really be to get my creative juices flowing.

The past few years I went all Batman villain-like and portrayed The Riddler and the Scarecrow. I gathered supplies from various sources and slapped some hot glue and sewing skills together for something that wasn't too shabby. I was attempting to be characters I have never been before. When I was a kid I had an old school handmade Batman and Robin outfit that was made by my mom. They resembled the Adam West series costumes. When the Tim Burton Batman film was big, I was the Joker. In high school, I went as a not so great version of Two-Face. My scarred, make-up filled side decided to leave my face early. This year I just didn't think of another character to portray with the limited time available.

I have dressed in store bought costumes before. I have masks galore just because I like masks. I wear glasses, so masks aren't usually the best option. I don't like to wear make-up too much because I know I will mess it up. This year I went fairly cheap and easy. I dressed as The Doctor from the current Doctor Who. I already had a sonic screwdriver that I got from work. I owned a bow-tie. I bought a tweed coat from the Goodwill store and stopped by Wal-mart for a pair of suspenders. I even picked up a Halloween cowboy hat because fake Stetsons are cool. The Doctor wore a cowboy hat for like 3 scenes in as many episodes. I wanted a fez, but couldn't find one on such short notice.

Right now, I am on a lull. I'm not feeling the greatest, or even the average-ist. I have another Halloween shindig to attend, but that's before Thanksgiving. The bar I regularly frequent is having a late Halloween party complete with prizes! I have no idea what to wear to that. I'm probably thinking Scarecrow.

Halloween 2011: The Return! MIx

2011-10-10T01:58:00.000-04:00

I have compiled another Halloween mix. It was an ordeal because it's difficult to find songs that I haven't used on previous Halloween mixes, that I made years prior. Seriously, I have done this many times before. Granted, I don't think I have quite the catalog of the NOW! That's What I Call Halloween variety, but having 6 - 7 CD's (remember those) worth of different Halloween music, should amount for something.

So, here's the listing:

Halloween 2011: The Return!

1. Satan's Ice Cream Truck - Strapping Young Lad
2. Graveyard Picnic - Voltaire
3. I Want You To - Black Light Burns
4. B-Movie Scream Queen - Murderdolls
5. Moon Over Bourbon Street - Sting
6. Eclipse - Thrice
7. Avoid The Light - Pantera
8. Her Black Wings - Danzig
9. After Dark - Tito & Tarantula
10. Spooky - Dusty Springfield
11. Peek-A-Boo - Siouxsie And the Banshees
12. Bum the Witch - Queens of the Stone Age
13. Dracula - Gorillaz
14. Black Lodge (Black Strings Mix) - Anthrax
15. Mothra - Godflesh
16. Fresh Blood - Eels
17. Long Hard Road Out of Hell - Marilyn Manson and The Sneaker Pimps
18. All Hallow's eve - Type O Negative

All total, it runs slightly under 80 minutes (or the average length of what a burnable CD will hold). I tend to use the length of a CD as my target for length. I never feel I should whittle down to something around 45 minutes or so. I like Halloween, and things that put me in that mood. I want to listen to it for as long as possible. Sure, I could just hit repeat, and I have. I just would like variety for at least a modest amount of time.

Intrude

2011-09-09T04:01:00.000-04:00

Hi, Blog.

I would say that I have been busy, and haven't been ignoring you. That's a lie though. I think about you a lot. I just don't feel the commitment. Maybe it's not that either. Maybe I just don't feel good enough for you. I will try and see you more often. I will work you into a schedule if need be. A reason to write for at least a few minutes a day or something. With every new task, the routine needs to be started. There should be ground rules. I should figure them out.

I'll see you soon.

- Blog Writer.

Thinking Pt. 2

2011-09-01T04:50:00.000-04:00

Muse.

No, not the band. I do enjoy the bands music though. Still, This writing is supposed to be on muse.

Dictionary.com definition:

verb (used without object)

to think or meditate in silence, as on some subject.

Archaic . to gaze meditatively or wonderingly.

verb (used with object)

to meditate on.

to comment thoughtfully or ruminate upon.

That's all fine and dandy. It is an acceptable definition, and one that is occasionally used. I on the other hand was referring to:

noun

Classical Mythology .

any of a number of sister goddesses, originally given asAoede (song), Melete (meditation), and Mneme(memory), but latterly and more commonly as the ninedaughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne who presided overvarious arts: Calliope (epic poetry), Clio (history), Erato(lyric poetry), Euterpe (music), Melpomene (tragedy),Polyhymnia (religious music), Terpsichore (dance),Thalia (comedy), and Urania (astronomy); identified bythe Romans with the Camenae.

any goddess presiding over a particular art.

( sometimes lowercase ) the goddess or the power regarded as inspiring a poet, artist, thinker, or the like.

( lowercase ) the genius or powers characteristic of a poet.

Specifically, I was referring to the second "noun" definition. Basically, the thing that inspires someone to fulfill their creativity.

Many a creative person gets asked the question an infinite number of times, "Where do you get your ideas from?" It's a tough thing to answer. Sometimes it just comes to you. Other times, there is a certain thing that triggers a creative response. It could be the sight of a beautiful woman, the wind blowing a plastic bag, or even car horns while waiting in traffic.

For some people, the urge to create seems innate. Things just flow from them. I lack some of this I think. I don't think I lack it completely for here I am typing on the keyboard. There are thoughts, ideas, and ruminations that I feel compelled to share with the public, should they find this. I think the thing that curtails much of my creativity, or rather stagnation in creativity, is lack of proper motivation.

A muse is motivation. Even the verb definition has a contemplative meaning. Any good art makes people think. Hell, even bad art evokes a response. Still, there was an initial factor as to why that art/creativity took place to begin with.

I think I just lack the proper motivation. When I was in school, I had to write papers on certain research topics. Later, I had Creative Writing classes that allowed me to do what I wanted in a fiction environment. The difference is that I was motivated at the time by just that, Time. There was a deadline for anything I was required to write. Very few things now-a-days require my creativity, even less so put an actual date of completion to it.

I guess the short of it is that I am lazy, and I see many things as an excuse to not do what I claim to want to do.

Next up: Peers.

Thinking Pt. 1

2011-08-31T02:53:00.002-04:00

I am trying to think of a theme for a blog. I figure with a theme, it will give direction. With direction, I will have a thing to focus on to actually write. It's almost like in school when I was assigned to write papers. I knew what it had to be on, so I wrote about a particular topic. I'm trying to figure out that topic now.

Since this here blog is a cluster-fuck of craziness and ramblings, I figure I will leave it that way. No point in trying to switch format now. For the most part I use this thing just to throw ideas on the web. Sometimes it gets read, other times I think it just wastes the infinite space of the interwebs. With a more focused approach, I think I could write more often. Random, inane bullshit would still wind up here. I need a ranty voice as well. I just want to see if I can find something I would want to write.

I have no idea what this new venture could bring. I could decide to write on things I know, but I know a lot about nothing and nothing about everything. That's not true. My general interests are mainly entertainment and why people entertain. I do like knowing why people do the things they do, but I also like the things they do.

Who knows what could come of this? Could be something, could be nothing. I guess I'll have to write and just see what life comes from it.

Next up: Muse.

Drama-splurge

2011-08-17T02:26:00.003-04:00

Drama sucks.

Now, I don't mean that in any literary sense. Plenty of good stories are drama based. I just don't like real world, unnecessary drama. I only call the a majority of drama I deal with on a regular basis unnecessary because it tends to be perpetrated by adults, often times older then my thirty-one years on this planet.

I asked someone today what the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath was. He told me that a sociopath has a limited circle that he cares about, but doesn't really care for the needs of the many. He also suggested that I may be one. I said I wasn't. Despite my anger and frustration with people in general, I like people. I think I just expect too much from them. I think people should just be better then they are. (Oh, I really don't know what the actual definitions of sociopath and psychopath are. I looked them up on an online dictionary, but they seem to be synonymous.)

I understand some drama. Trying to deal with a stressful situation. Fearing the unknown. Worry about potentially new relationships, be they romantic or business related. I just don't see the effort in prolong drama about seemingly inconsequential things.

To be less vague, a lot of this crap I am referring to is work related and who know who trolls these types of sites for ammunition against me. I have had my blog referred to at work by both my boss and a managing director of the mall I work in. Who knew my voice could be heard so far?

Most of these stupid things makes me want to pull my hair out in frustration. Too bad mother nature is taking that option away from me on her own. Stupid genetics.

More reasons why I don't write

2011-08-10T00:05:00.003-04:00

Ramble time.

I have a big problem with not writing. It's not for lack of ideas. It's how I feel about what I write.

I am of the opinion that if I write something, I would like for it to be and assume it will be read. This hinders some of my subject matter because of the subjects of the writing are typically, living breathing people that could also be reading this.

If you know me, you can sort of realized that I am more verbose on things that are aggravating and generally pissing me off. Hell, everyone likes to vent. Everyone needs to vent in fact. I actually originally started writing a blog in the efforts to vet more. I had some silly notion that if I started cataloging my complaints with the world, they would become less overbearing.

I have attempted on occasion to do the typical diary/journal just for personal things. It doesn't work for me though. Handwriting out something takes too long for how fast my mind works, and my hand-writing is progressively crappier the faster I try to write. I literally have about five or six books with varying degrees of gibberish scrawled in them about whatever nonsense I was going though at certain points in my life. I like back to school sales for the plethora of cheap notebooks and pens.

To put it simply, what I want to write is about you.

Granted, I always write about me. I am after-all the focus of my being. It's just that you tend to be the subject of whatever is going on. You influence my being. You make me feel certain ways. Ways I would like to share with the world, for both good and bad reasons. I could take what I feel and keep it to myself, but I don't think that is what writing is for in the grand scheme of things. I think writing is meant to be shared for good of ill.

It's like those sex tapes that get leaked constantly. If you didn't expect anyone to watch it, you shouldn't have done it in the first place. People constantly send dirty (scratch that) nude photos to loved ones (or lust ones) but don't expect them to be viewed by anyone else. It's not that they will be viewed by anyone else, it's that it could be. To be honest, if I had nude pictures of an attractive girl, I probably wouldn't delete them, even if I don't share them with friends.

What I am trying to say is that writing for me is like nudity. It's an exposure to who I am and the random things that come to mind. It just happens that what is on my mind is you. I don't think you would like to read about yourself, though.

So, here I am with a desire to loquaciously strip on the internet. As I am about to undo the first button, I stare nervously at the crowd. I don't think they would want to see what I am about to show. I freeze, staring at the spotlight glowing in my face.

Head Full

2011-06-25T03:12:00.003-04:00

My head is full of ideas. Sadly, none of them are of the creative type.

I just spent a good half hour or so reading pages of a tread concerning a meeting I went to on Thursday. DC Comics is doing a huge publishing initiative in September, relaunching their entire superhero line. The meeting was to answer questions and clarify some of the steps DC is taking to get the retailers involved.

The thread was started by one of the other retailers that attended and I share many of his same views and excitement. Of course, being the internet, there was much negativity as well. I'll go into that at some other point.

Oh, and I met Jim Lee. Rather, I should say, Jim Lee met me.

For other blurbs:

I read an article concerning the death of the Geek subculture. I don't agree with it, nor disagree with it for a couple reasons.
I been finding many things terrible. I think I can do a better job, but am just lazy. This mainly concerns stories, be they comic book, movie or television.
I spend a lot of time alone. It's not because I don't like you.
I realized what I wanted to be in high school.
Dinosaurs!
I could wax on and off about the current comic book movie phenomenon, but feel that's already beaten to death.
I still know a great deal about video games without really playing them, save for World of Warcraft.
Duran Duran's Rio is now stuck in my head for no good reason.
I want to do something, but am not entirely sure what.

I kind of just wanted to see what to bullet point function looks like. I am very tired and should head to sleep. I should be semi-productive tomorrow. I need an alignment for my car and a hair-cut. Probably not in that order.

Famous R.E.M. Song

2011-05-19T03:31:00.003-04:00

I'm keeping a word processing document open in case I want to write something. I guess it worked because here I am typing.

It's the end of the world. Well, at least according to some folks. People can believe anything they want about most things. In terms of faith, things get blurry and subjective. How one woman approaches how she sees the Catholic God, is different from how a Jewish man sees Yahweh. That doesn't mean both people are necessarily wrong in their aspect of faith, just that their faith is different. I'm fairly certain, most people that are full of their faith think they are good people.

Anyway, that's a crazy philosophy I may delve into at some point. My head needs to work it out more. If I go off on it now, especially in a public forum (read: blog) it could come to bite me in the ass. That may not matter though because the Rapture is occurring this Saturday. No time for repercussions.

If you have been in any major population center chances are you've seen the signs. I don't mean omens. I literally mean signs on billboards, buses, and on people's person sandwich board style. The world is ending May 21^st, 2011.

Harold Camping is a man with a message. That message is that there are signs taken from the Bible that led him to believe that the rapture will occur on Saturday. The rapture is supposedly the time when God raises those deemed worthy to his side, while the rest are left behind (yes, a pun) for the coming apocalypse. There have been plenty of Biblical experts claiming the world will end or whatever on various dates throughout time. There have been plenty of experts in various fields claiming to know when the world will end. It hasn't ended yet though.

For me, my biggest problem with Camping's message, is that it's presented a absolute truth. He doesn't make claims that this is his opinion, or what he believes, it is what it is. Maybe it's just me, but absolute truth also stated that the world was flat and that we were also on the back of a giant turtle. (I like the turtles.)

Using numerology, Camping said he extrapolated the date for the rapture from various passages in the Bible. The most focused on is the Second letter of Peter (2 Peter 3:8) “"With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day". Couple that with Genesis 7:4 "Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth" and a math problem starts to form. 1 day = 1 thousand years; 7 days = 7 thousand years

There is a lot more to it. Frankly, while I find it semi-interesting, I don't really want to learn everything about it. Here's the wikipedia link for people that took the time to attempt to explain it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_end_times_prediction.

I don't think God would have us base our faith on math puzzles. I don't care what religion you are, if your deity of choice said math can solve all... that's science. I didn't think science and faith walked hand in hand. At least it doesn't for renowned physicist, Stephen Hawking.

Sure, people like the Buddha gave his followers logic puzzles and similar brain teasers, but that was in an effort to reach enlightenment. It's to get you to think. The Christian God seemed to present in the New Testament a more direct approach, like turn the other cheek. I would like to think God would like his message clearly known. If the message is more cryptic, who is to say things haven't been altered in the the translations of the Bible in that past almost 2000 years?

In the end, will the world end on Saturday? I have no idea. It might, but I doubt it. The world could end on Friday. It could end Sunday. It could also end thousands of years from now. As much as things always seem to get predicted about the end times, we aren't going to know until it happens.

Even then, we probably won't believe it.

At work on a Thursday night

2011-04-28T20:19:00.003-04:00

One of my problems with consistently writing is timing.

When the idea first appears to when I can actually jot it down vary dramatically. Most of the time, ideas spring forth at work. This is typical. When I should be focusing on the task at hand, be it inventory, shipments, or other tasks, I seem to have part of my head gravitating towards creation.

At the moment, I am at work. Normally, I would be doing something productive for the betterment of the store. I am not doing such things because I lack my tools. See, I tend to leave Thursday nights for inventory preparation. I have binders with the titles and amounts of most of the comics that come into the store. I say most because, I don't cover everything. I probably should, but that would mean a ton more work for very little pay off on my end. Still, my binders are missing. Well, I know where they are. They just aren't where I want them.

Once a month, new orders for comics get placed with our distributor. We place the orders for comics on average two months before they are on sale. My boss takes the binders with the inventory numbers home to work on the monthly comic order. Unfortunately, they wind up staying longer then they should. It's mainly a case of importance. Since the order is done, the binders serve an importance no longer for my boss. They just get ignored. They get forgotten wherever they fell.

I hate that I have to remind my boss that I need them. He understands their importance, but usually doesn't suspect the time when they are used. Since I normally do inventory on Mondays, I will need them on Monday. Unfortunately, since he took them home last Monday, I haven't had them to do the inventory this week, let alone prepare for next week. So, I write this instead.

Back to timing. Well, I guess I filled some time. Most of my ideas come at work, but I can't remember them when I get home. Or, since I now carry a notepad with me, I usually don't feel the original inspiration to expand on an idea from work when I am home. At least I wrote something this time, right?

I don't want to know who you are.

2011-04-06T22:51:00.003-04:00

Why is it that when I finally take the initiative to write something here, all escapes me?

I guess that's just what happens. I usually want to do things precisely when I can't actually do them. It's all about timing.

I started carrying a note pad in my back pocket for when ideas strike me. For the moment, it has things I have to remember for work and a couple movies and bands I need to check out. Sure, I wrote a few ideas or quotes or something too, but the inspiration to expound on them is devoid of my presence.

One of the things in it so far, is that I hate when people have "See ID" on their credit card's signature line. It's a minor thing, but probably about 80% of the people I deal with have it. They expect me to always check IDs. Guess what? I personally don't give a shit. As long as the card works, I'm fine with it.

In actuality, the card is technically not valid if it isn't signed. I doubt most people go by the name "See ID". It would be amazing if someone just signed the receipt with See ID.

I can always tell the annoying ones. They usually have their ID almost at the ready to be checked. When I flip the card over, I am not looking for a signed line, I'm figuring out where the magnetic strip is for the machine to read it correctly.

There was one time a guy had "See ID" in his card, but he also signed it. I was fine with checking that one. Also, I'm usually fine with checking cute girl's IDs. That usually just to be creepy and to make it more creepy, to see if they're legal. For the record I have never hit on any customer. I know I'm a creepy guy in a comic book store. I don't need to reinforce more creepy stereotypes.

Anyway, if your card is actually stolen, you can report it. Most of the time, form what I've heard< the credit company can eliminate those transactions. People are just paranoid.

Also, do you really want me looking at your terrible license photo?

Writing Subject

2011-03-24T22:23:00.003-04:00

Something interesting happened today.

My co-worker is currently pursuing a masters degree in English. Most of his classes are either at night, on the weekends, or some kind of thesis thing. Occasionally, I get to work with him and talk about how annoying people are that come into the store. Sometimes discussions come in the for as to how he's a pescatarian and only eats fish meat. Apparently, it's more eco-friendly than eating real, grade-A American beef. He does miss bacon though.

Anyway, he told me today that he needed my help with something. For one of his classes, he has to write a paper on someone who is a writer. I thought it was funny. He said he didn't really know anyone who really writes. even knowing me, he still doesn't. In any case he is going to do it on me. He just has to figure out the questions or something to interview me about.

So, I guess I have to be the subject of new media journalism. That's a fancy term for people who write blogs and other internet ramblings. It's like saying "executive assistant" instead of "secretary".

There's the whole process of my writings. When I write. The space where I write. Topics. Style. Influences... what have you. Granted, I don't think I could be the subject of an accurate, 8-10 page paper. I am most assured that I can fake it.

Well, I thought it was interesting.

What have I been up to?

2011-03-22T21:07:00.005-04:00

What have I been up to lately?

Not all that much really. Or, at the very least, not all that much that I would consider interesting. Well, I don't think it would be interesting enough for people to actually care about it.

First and foremost, I play World of Warcraft. It gives me something to do. I live a boring life and many of the people I know, that are near or around my age, have families or significant others at the the very lest. I have a computer.

Also, I haven't really been drinking much for 2 reasons. Well, there are probably more than 2 reasons, but I'll stick with that for now. One reason is that I have gout. Gout can get aggravated by alcohol and yeast (read: beer). Since, I know what the pain of gout can feel like, I want to avoid feeling it if I can help it. Two is that there is a lack of reason to drink. I don't drink alone, and typically only do it socially. Since, I have lacked in the whole social thing as of late, drinking has been reduced. A positive out of the situation is less money being spent, so more potentially saved.

What dips into the wallet is car problems. Now, I love my car. It has been better to me than it really needs to. It is just lately, there have been some I say "costly" repairs. Granted, hey are not the expensive repairs some people have to deal with like transmission or something going. Thousands of dollars are not leaving my bank account for this purpose. Still, I don't make a lot of coin, so when hundreds of dollars leave at once, it gets significant.

I work a lot too. If I am not doing that, I tend to be sleeping. Next week has me pulling a few days worth of working from open till close. My boss and one of the major coworkers are heading to a convention over the weekend, so I get to fill in the time. Being in a mall, my store has no chance of closing for even a little while. I will have some back up, but they cant be there all the time either.

On the entertainment front, I am trying to watch Angel when I can. It took me forever to finish up he first season. It was just losing me. Thankfully, it picked up at he end and made me want to watch the second season. I have all of the seasons from various sales over a few years. I still should finish Buffy as well.... and the fourth season of Dexter.

I will probably go into more depth with these topics at a later time, as well as the reasons I make up as to why I don't write. Well, that's all I got for now.

Back Issues

2011-02-09T22:57:00.006-05:00

Boo. I should write more. At the moment, I am subtlety starving myself to have food as a reward for writing this. I got home from work about half an hour ago, and already mowed through some for the usual prattle of my internet reading.

I was working on back issues today. For those who don't know, back issues are old editions of comic books. Most of the ones in specialty shops have them in clear plastic bags with a white card board backing, to keep them from being bent. A lot of the times they vary in price from the original cover price to 5, 10, 100s of dollars more. The record for a single comic is somewhere around a million and a half, but that was for the first appearance of Superman.

Still, I was sorting and picking out all the extra ones we had doubles and triples, if not more, of in our current stock. I recently made a fairly through list of some of the more popular ones we were missing. That was an ordeal in and of itself.

The problem of a store's back issue bin, is organization. Granted Spider-Man should be with Spider-Man, but people turn into retards sometimes and just shove things wherever. That's a slight on retarded people. I apologize. Some of the mental deficient people that actually frequent my work are pretty good about putting things back where they belong. It's the mongoloids that can't spare two extra seconds of neuron traffic to put the comic where it's supposed to that annoy me.

Comics are typically arranged alpha/numerically. That's just a fancy way of saying alphabetically by title of the comic, and then with each title numerically by issue number. Every comic has an issue number corresponding to the sequence in which the comic was published. Just because the comic has a 63 on it, doesn't mean it was published in 1963, but rather, it is the 63rd issue of that series. There are 62 issues before it.

So, tonight consisted of reorganizing some of the different sections of the back issues. Making sure they were in the right order. Then removing some of the copies with which we had multiple. And finally, restocking the ones we were missing into the correct spots.

Handling old comics is fairly dirty. My hands felt like they were playing in mud after an hour or so. I like doing it though it makes me tired sometimes. I like looking at the old stuff. It makes me want to read some of the older storylines from my youth or earlier. It almost seems like sometimes, older comics still have a simple quality about them that just want a story. Today, a lot of the comics I see mainly focus on marketing and sales. I don't mind that a comic company wants to make money. I just want them to do it with quality stories, not gimmicks. I want to keep restocking the back issues because people are buying them because of how cool that one issue of something was, not because there are rumors that something about may be made into a movie.

And, for the record, that is not my collect at the top. I think I have more than that.

The Return... for like the umpteenth time

2011-01-04T10:17:00.003-05:00

I was thinking of getting back to writing on this thing. I woke up today and thought it would be a good idea. Of course, I wake up many mornings and think the same thing. It just actually typed on this now though.

I received a nudge from a friend to get back to this "grind". Here I am attempting to put something up. In all seriousness, I just want to see if I still have the drive to do it. Also, I am at work currently, and trying to find something to do with my time that doesn't involve actual work. Take that gainful employment!

I am mainly waiting on two phone calls. One, to go over the transfer stuff from the other store. Basically that consists of what they have extra that I need, and what I have extra that they need. I was a bit unfair this week, and made an especially long list. The second call should hopefully take place after the first, an is with my DC Comics rep. Simply put, to order the stuff I need that the other store didn't have for me. It doesn't hurt that my call with DC is fun.

On an unfortunate note, in an effort to be a good worker, I avoided stopping to Wawa in order to make to work on time. Now, I am hungry. I'm usually not that hungry in the morning.

My damn coworker just showed with Wawa and made fun of me for blog. So, I am stopping now.

Halloween Funk (Not the George Clinton kind)

2010-10-22T01:57:00.004-04:00

I should really be more depressed about this than I am. I haven't done anything on my list of things to do for October.

The costume I am wearing to my friend's party is recycled for a (number higher than 3) time. I don't know how many times I have actually worn it. I like wearing it though, and have definitely got my cost out of it. I don't want to say blatantly what it is, but if you have seen various pictures of me wearing he same thing on different Halloweens, it's that one.

I haven't even seen a hayride. I know they exist. There was a rumor, or a plan, to attend one. That sort of fell through. I'm not exactly sure how it dropped out from under me. I'm going to blame my lameness of covering for people at work as the excuse. Six day work weeks aren't fun. It kind of puts a damper on my whole desire to be festive. I did find out that one of my customers works for a near-by hayride. They actually stuck him in the corn-maze. He would fit in any attraction. He's bigger and taller than me. He pulls off the whole intimidating thing extremely well. I like to poke fun at his Scooby-Doo reading. I doubt it's for his wife.

I haven't even been remotely close to attending the PA Renn Faire. I've seen my friend, Paul, a couple times and he tells me about the shows. Once and a while, he busts out a photo of the event. I feel bad That I haven't been up there this year.

The zoo isn't even an option now. Animals are frightened of me. Maybe I'm projecting some negativity that they don't like or something. Still, no Lego exhibit and no new giraffe. No punching balloon and swaggering with peacocks. I'll have to be content to look longingly from my computer chair till next season.

I still don't even know how to get into Linvilla Orchards. No fresh pumpkins for me. I'll have to settle for buying them from a parking lot. I have made a couple out of clay for my store though. They are for a Halloween gaming event. I still have to paint a few of them.

Well, that's about it. I have a recycled costume for Saturday's party. I'm going to some shindig in Philly the following weekend. Well, at least, I am planning on going. I have no idea if I'm going to dress up for that or not.

Oh, and I didn't even make a mix for this year's Halloween. I'm am in quite the funk.

Things to do in October

2010-10-06T01:28:00.004-04:00

I am not going to do all of these things. I should, but I won't. The pessimist in me is peeking out.

1. Figure out a Halloween Costume.

This should be an easy one, but is strangely difficult for me this time. The past couple of years I had some inkling of what to do for dress-up, but this time I got nothing. I typically make my costume, or even piece together something. This is making things difficult, because time is running out. It also doesn't help matters that there is one Halloween party I'm attending at the moment, and I have plenty of back up costumes.

2. Get Thee to a Hayride

Seems almost obvious being this time of year. I don't think I went to one last year though. I guess I just can't muster the group together. Well, any group together. I know they are expensive and whatever, but I don't care. This is my: Tis the season.

3. Go to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire

There are mainly 2 reasons for this. One is that I haven't been to the faire in a while. It's usually a good day all around. Plenty of people acting in character. Me feeling awkward because I don't look the part. I don't have any medieval clothing. Looking at buxom wenches. Being able to say buxom wenches and getting the actual wenches to giggle. The funny thing is that I'm not big on the whole weaponry thing.

The second reason is that a friend of mine is actually working there this season as a jouster. I mainly want to see him do what he loves. He travels the country hitting shields with lances, and he hasn't worked the PA Faire since I have known him. It doesn't hurt matters that he said I could have a complementary ticket. Frankly, I don't need the ticket, I'd gladly pay to see a good show.

4. Go to the zoo.

I haven't been to the zoo in ages. Not only is there a new baby giraffe, but there is also a Lego exhibit of animals on display. Plenty of people have said they would like to go. The problem with this one is timing. When to go? It is apparently open 7 days a week between 9 and 5. My schedule sucks when it comes to events during the week. Weekends are usually doable, but that normally conflicts with anyone else that wants to go. Such is life.

5. Pumpkin picking

This was a suggestion from my friend, Nichole. It usually doesn't occur to me, but I live exceptionally close to Linvilla Orchards. It's fairly well known in the Philadelphia area. I just about drive past it when I go to work. I have never been there. I have had friends that have worked there, but I never even saw inside the place. Still, Nichole and her boyfriend plan to going to pick pumpkins eventually. It sounds like a good time, and I could use some pumpkins that aren't local. Seriously, I had pumpkins growing in my yard last year. The leaves on those things are huge.

6. Halloween Parties that need attending

So far, I have 1 party on my docket. It's the week before Halloween. They would have planned it for the weekend of Halloween, but bigger plans for parties involved (read: not me) are occurring. Other parties could be moot if I can't figure out a costume though.

So, there you have it. A list of things I probably won't do. Lists are nice. Now, it's back to listening to Halloween mixes I've made over the last few years to figure out which songs I can't use for a new mix.

Messages Unlimited

2010-09-08T02:51:00.002-04:00

I have a headache. I should just probably go to bed.

Well, not much has happened since I last wrote here. It has only been a day. I went and changed my phone text messaging plan. I was 94 messages over my alloted limit, which means a 10 cent payment for each. And that's only so far this month. So, I went and upped it to the unlimited one. Now, I won't feel stingy when texting people, and I can cause less guilt to people who text message me a lot.

I still don't have one functioning button on my phone. It's the "star" key, which eliminates my shifting to capital letters. It also doesn't allow me to lock my keypad. There is a reason I don't carry my phone in my jeans pocket anymore. I got tired of calling random people and sending the occasional request for overly expensive, crappy internet. Yes, despite my phone being from the bronze age, it still gets a rudimentary internet. It shows a satellite as it's image for it and everything.

Now, I just have to breakdown and figure out what new phone I should actually get. If I get one of those "smart" Phones, yet even more billing is in my future. Data plans allowing me access to the real interwebs could be too much of a distraction. We shall see.

I should sleep now. My bed is texting me.

Celebratory 150th post!!1!!

2010-09-07T01:31:00.005-04:00

Christ, I haven't written anything in a very long time. And I honestly mean that. I'm calling on you, Lord. Grant me the inspiration to try to make something that is passably readable.

My choices for this late hour were slim at best. I could continue strolling through the internet, where I would waste time looking at things I shouldn't care about. (Jesus, I don't even remember the last time I looked at porn.) I could listen to some podcast that is waiting on iTunes. Granted, most of my podcasts consist of video game crap. Seriously, I don't even play video games that much any more. It's just one of those things I just need to keep up on. I could play World of Warcraft. Yes, I play WoW. I started at the beginning of the summer at the encouragement of a friend from work. I wouldn't say that it succumb my life because: 1) It's not like I had a real life to begin with, and 2) I'm not doing right now, am I? I could have started reading a book. God knows I have a lot of them. I wouldn't even know which one to begin with. There are literary pieces, sci-fi novels, biographies (ok, wrestling biographies), countless comic books and graphic novels, and magazines (both video game ones and ones about writing... go figure).

Instead, I popped on iTunes and am listening to daft punk's Discovery. It has enough energy and mellow parts to continue shifting my perspective. Of course, what that perspective is, is entirely up for debate.

If you have ever read anything I have written, especially here, I am not entirely forthcoming with things I should be writing about. I will never be a good writer because I don't discuss or lay on the table what is actually going on with me. I know my readership isn't huge, but this is the internet. Only God knows what will be seen by the wrong (right?) person. I could sit here in a semi-uncomfortable chair, drolling about my feelings. But, I don't do that. I don't have feelings, do I?

No, I do have feelings. They sting and squeeze like a bitch, though. Now, what could these feelings be about? You have 3 guesses and the first two don't count.

Did you know this is apparently my 150th post on this blog? I was surprised too. See, that whole thing in the beginning of the year really boosted my numbers. It didn't last long though, did it? I had a shallow attempt to write 500 words a day. I should get back to it. It would just be fairly tough trying to write that much while avoiding the object of my feelings.

I'm already running stagnant. I just stared at my keyboard and clicked on iTunes 3 or 4 times without writing anything. I'm not quite sure what to continue with. I guess that should be an indicator to stop what I'm doing. If I plan on writing more, I guess I just have to ease myself back into things. No need for a novella every time out, right? I need to start putting this English degree to work (even though a degree in English has nothing to do with actual writing).

In the cool of the evening

2010-04-27T01:23:00.002-04:00

Hanker for a hunk of cheese.

I have no idea why I wrote that. It probably encompasses something Freudian. I have had an itch to write something lately. The problem usually arises as to when to write. I tend to involve myself in many other projects that take away from the whole focus on writing thing. It's probably this overload of information and activity that sparks the urge to chronicle.

At the moment, I am mainly just sifting through information. I need to settle on something to at least expand on. I little while ago a friend gave me some notes he made on a comic project. He wants to do the art, he needed someone else to write it. Granted he probably could have done it all himself, but a collaborative effort is sometime beneficial. I know there were a couple others that attempted to help, but things change. I guess it is now my turn to make heads or tales of it. Yes, I wrote that on purpose.

I went to one of those small comic conventions on Sunday. I wanted to make a day of it. It wasn't that far from my house, and I set my alarm to wake me at 10. Unfortunately, I set it to PM instead of AM. I finally awoke at 1:30, and the convention ended at 4. I made it down there close to 3, and thought I would be staying for the remainder. I didn't. I was actually home by about 4.

Still, while I was there, I talked with the one comic publish that showed his face there. Ever one else was a vendor selling their wares of beat-up comics and bootleg DVDs. I actually wound up buying about 8 books from the guy. He was from Ultimate Comics Group. Apparently, they are based in Atlantic City. The guy I talked with was, John, the COO and Editor-in-Chief. He also happened to write all the comics.

I usually like to give some credit to independent publishers. They are at least trying. So far, I have read about 4 of the comics I bought. They aren't really that good, but they aren't exactly terrible. The last independent book I read was Dinoman. It was self-published by a couple guys who thought they created the best thing on Earth. They were wrong. The premise was fine, but the execution was wrong. The art was pretty bad, something I could have done in 8th grade and the line tool in MS Paint. That could have been forgiven if the story was actually interesting. Instead it was all gay jokes that were just derogatory and didn't really seem appropriate in a book called Dinoman. Needless to say, my store didn't carry it. I even had some people read it just to show them how a comic shouldn't be.

Now the couple I read of the Ultimate Comics Group stuff could use a little work, but so can much of the professional stuff out there. It was standard superhero fare. It didn't hide what it was. Most of it was typical good guy vs. bad guy. People have super powers, some are good and others use power for their own gain. There were some glaring mistakes with the layout and structure of the comics, but nothing that couldn't really be fixed. Useless panels, poorly placed word balloons, and bad pacing were just some of the faults.

See, what I admired about the Ultimate Comics Group, is not only did they have a full color comic that was self-published, they had several. I'm talking over 20 books. They make it seem that they have been around a while, but the publishing dates on the few I have are from late 2009. It's hard enough to get one book out a month, but they want to seemingly do at least 3. They even have a distribution deal with the secondary distributor of comics in the country, Haven. John even told me why they didn't go with Diamond, the main distributor of comics (almost a monopoly). Diamond requires a minimum that's too high. Basically, you pretty much have to guarantee a certain amount in sales for it to be in their catalog. Haven is a little more forgiving. I even checked Haven's site, and the books were there to be ordered.

Now, will I order them? Probably not. I do want to keep reading them. I will try to grab the ones I missed whenever I see their booth again. The 4 that are order-able are the ones I already bought. I think I want to support them because they are trying and I feel there may be some potential there.

News bit.

2010-04-07T02:44:00.003-04:00

It's really too late for me to write anything of length. I'll just say that Easter was good an bad. Good in that it was a nice day and seeing family was good. People generally got along, and even my mother and father were in the same room for extended lengths of time. The bad news is that this comes in the wake of my Aunt Trudy succumbing to cancer at 2am on Sunday.

I will write more on this in a bit. To be honest the reality of it hasn't really hit me yet. She was only 54, and usually in good spirits. Her funeral is Friday, so I have off from work. I will write soon, I hope.

Seems like 500 Days till Summer

2010-03-31T02:20:00.004-04:00

I have a headache. It is rather annoying.

I just finished watching (500) Days of Summer. I am a huge sucker for these types of movies. It's not really a romance movie, but it's not really a comedy either. It is definitely fun, and sad, and hopeful. Zooey Deschanel plays the perfect girl next door roll. Maybe not in the movie, but I would have died trying to get her to notice me if she was next door to me growing up. Nowadays, I would probably awkwardly smile when I would see her on the street, picking up her mail. Still, even disjointed as the movie was portrayed, it told a good story without the need of an over the top cast. I liked the little sister character of the protagonist, but she filled the typical "too smart for her own age" template.

Other than Zooey Deschanel, the movie entered my radar because the director, Marc Webb, has been tagged to possibly direct the next Spider-Man movie. I needed to see something of his work if I could make an accurate judgement as to if I feel he could do it. Granted, I am not an expert in the movie field at all. My only experience were bit parts in student films and writing scripts for classes. Still, the powers that be feel they need to relaunch Spider-Man with a fresh beginning. Apparently from what I know, Sam Raimi, the director of Spider-Man 1, 2, and 3, had a conflict with the people with the money. It could have been timing, direction of story or maybe he just couldn't find the right role for Bruce Campbell. Sony, the company that can make a Spider-Man movie, feels they want to cash in on a still acknowledgeable product.

Relaunches are weird. For the most part, they can work with comic book adaptations. Most of the time, the comic a movie is based on has been around for at least 40 years. This is different than remakes of movies, like Hallo ween or the upcoming Nightmare on Elm Street. Too many things are being remade in my opinion. Some of them are fine (Dawn of the Dead), while others seem unnecessary (Psycho). The more annoying ones are the too soon remakes of stuff that is younger than me (I'm looking at you Karate Kid). Still, comics skirt the issue because it's just another story with those characters. There doesn't need to be a progressive story between some movies, like Hulk and Incredible Hulk. Of course, the latter was far better as a comic movie fun. It can work extremely well with a connecting story structure, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Of course with Dark Knight, I have no idea how they will top that for a sequel.

From watching (500) Days of Summer, I think Marc Webb can definitely pull of the atmosphere of Peter Parker (Spider-Man in secret identity mode). There was one sequence in Summer that I thought the main character was Peter Parker. Hell, he even looked exactly like him, sweater vest and all. My only concern is the action scenes. Doing those is a bit different than trying to make your actors come across as real people while dealing with what Love means. The depth of Spider-Man and his inner conflicts can definitely be portrayed by Webb. I just don't know if he can make the punches count.

All I know is that I will boycott a remake of Back to the Future.

With Music And Knowledge

2010-03-24T02:28:00.003-04:00

I am starting to believe that I won't do some things in my life. One of those things is actually play World of Warcraft. To the people that know what that is, they are probably breathing a sigh of relief. There is a high addiction curve to the game. It creates a new social environment that combines all the positive and negative aspects of online anonymity. Maybe there may be more negative aspects than positive. Still, I seem to be keeping the damn thing on the periphery.

The way I have been accomplishing not having my life sucked into the internet world is through exposure to other hobbies. I have been buying and downloading a lot of music both lately and in general. As with many of my entertainment purchases, I tend to get the impulse buy out of my system when I get home from the store. I still have loads of DVDs that are still shrink wrapped, usually horror movies that are accrued near Halloween. I even have seasons... seasons of shows that I still figure I will get around to watching. All of this also goes for video games and music.

In the past week, I have loaded onto my computer well over 200 songs of various artists and genres. Granted, some of this is done for work reasons. I just like listening to background scores while working. It gives me mood that sometimes music with words just can't accomplish. Also, words are sometimes inappropriate for the family store environment of work. The problem I have whenever I get into music mode is that I get horde mentality. I want as much of it as possible. I need the variety. The problem is I never really give all the new music it's fair share. So, I have spent the last two nights reading stuff on the internet while listening to new music.

It's definitely opening up some stuff to me. While watching wrestling, I realized that the WWE apparently has the rights to use the Civil Twilight catalog. At first, the radio played song, Letters From The Sky, was used for one of the video packages back in October. I rewatched it on YouTube after it was considered well done according to one of the articles I read. I took note of the band and album and proceeded to acquire it. I gave the whole thing a listen, and noticed one of the other songs was used tonight for another video package. This time Human was used to highlight the coming match between Bret Hart and Vince McMahon at Wrestlemania.

I mentioned in the last blog post, I grabbed the new Gorillaz: Plastic Beach. At the same time I also snagged Slayer: World Painted Blood. I was so tired from work, that I fell asleep listening to Slayer. It seems almost wrong. Currently playing in my car is High on Fire: Snakes for the Divine. All of this and I still have to listen to the RZA albums I downloaded, The Servant, Dan Black, and a few other things here and there that need preview before I can turn them on in the store.

So, what comes of me listening to music is that I still need something to do with my eyes. Since I am in front of the computer most of the time while listening, I tend to just surf the web. Problem is I need direction whenever I web-surf. I can't just click aimlessly. I know plenty of people that find all sorts of crap on YouTube or whatever, but I need words. Usually, I can just run through my normal sites for comics and wrestling, but lately they have been slow news days. I have needed to fill that visual void with other stimuli. Tonight, that was how to get started in World of Warcraft. I have done more reading on this topic than I probably should have. I still haven't decided to play the game or not. I have a better idea on the terminology now though.

Who knows? Maybe all this could be considered research for a story or something.

Pens aren't chewy.

2010-03-23T02:34:00.003-04:00

I am sitting in front of the computer trying to think of something to do. This is bad when it is 2:30 in the morning and I have work in less than 8 hours. This things happen though.

I have no real purpose to write right this moment. I have had no moment of clarity. I mainly think it is just to give me more awake-time before I drift off to dream world. Unfortunately, I know that will shortly become work prep.

I'm chewing on a Bic pen. It's almost like a nervous thing. Oral fixation except, I have never smoked. Well, I have never smoked with any regularity. I have had a cigarette or two in my tenure of life. That ended 10 years ago when a Newport caused me to vomit on my birthday. Menthol is not my friend.

I'm listening to the new Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach. So far, it has a 80s feel in my opinion. Most of the beats so far seem almost sampled from new-wave tracks. I am trying to dig out the cuss words. If it's a clean record, it can be played in my store without many problems. Of course, I'm not sure how well some of the clientele will take to songs with Mos Def, Snoop Dogg, and De La Soul. Part of me wants to see if I can pull out what will be the single. If there is a single at the moment, I'm not aware. I have a decent ear for music. I can usually tell what could be catchy enough to grab a hold of an audience. With this first listen, nothing is standing out yet.

I finally watched The Hurt Locker. I thought it was good. I like the actor in it... I forget his name. There are a lot of actor in Hollywood that I should know according to TMZ. I know I liked his work on the failed show, The Unusuals. The explosives that he has to deal with in the movie are ridiculous. It's completely realistic, mind you, the bombs are just complicated and enormous. My favorite line I can remember is, "There's enough bang in there to blow us all to Jesus. If I'm gonna die, I want to die comfortable."

Oh, I have even been carrying a note pad with me to seem all professional like. It's not working. I have it with me all the time, I just never take it out to write anything down. I would make a terrible secretary. I only have stuff written on two pages. It's mostly article ideas... I should just call them blog ideas. It's stuff to write about. I just haven't really gone to the well of it yet. I probably will soon.

Well, that's it for now. I will go and sleep... or attempt sleep. Hopefully this time I won't get woken up at 6AM to let my dog in. That wasn't fun this morning.

Sick - I am against it.

2010-03-16T02:35:00.003-04:00

I am not feeling well. I think it is a cold or something. I love that I get colds towards the end of winter.

It started off as a sore throat and migrated throughout my body. A Sucrets and plenty of fluids subdued the pain for a bit. A couple Tylenol helped along the way as well. Now, I am just tired, achy and not looking forward to working in the morning.

I really didn't do too much this weekend. The onset of the cold started, but I still found my way to the bar Friday night. Some fun was had, and people got plenty intoxicated. I did not and just drank my beer while talking with various people. Overall, I think everyone had a decent time.

I didn't do anything on Saturday. My sister and her family came over, so I basically stayed with them. I really wasn't feeling up to heading to the bar again. I did get a couple beers though at a St. Patty's Day function over at the school near me. It was a church fundraiser, and my mom was helping with the food preparation. It wasn't too bad. The chicken was all right, the ham was standard, I liked the cabbage though. Vinegar is my friend. Even as a kid, I would drink it sometimes, which probably isn't good. What can I say, I liked the smell when I was dying eggs at Easter. In any case, only my brother-in-law and myself went to the thing. My nephew threw a tantrum, asking why he had to go. Free food and making his grandmother happy weren't good enough, so he had his video games taken away from him.

After the family left, I stayed in the rest of the night playing video games. I usually don't play that often. So, I got some matches of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 under my belt, and realized that I am average at best. It also didn't help that I looked down and realized that it was 4:30 AM at one point. I had forgotten that tit was daylight savings. Spring forward and all.

Sunday was a rather lazy day. The productive portion had me travel to the Gamestop to pick up my nephew's birthday gifts, Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver. What sucked it that I preordered them there with the intent to get the little doodad that was supposed to come with the preorder. They only had one of the figurines. Apparently, they don't give a shit if you preorder. The employees just take the shit they want anyway. On the receipt and all there wasn't even a customer service number to call. I couldn't even find one on their website. This just teaches me that preordering anything is a futile task. People are assholes regardless. I even tried asking a friend who works at another Gamestop to find one, he tried 3 different stores and came up short. I don't understand how you can run out of something the day of release when you are supposed to have enough to cover the people that preordered it. So, don't preorder any games people. It isn't worth it.

The night consisted of Internet shenanigans and watching The Guild on the Xbox. This was followed by about 15 minutes of playing Explosion Man.

WOW: The things I think about

2010-03-12T02:14:00.004-05:00

I don't know if I have really been busy. I do stuff, sure, but I spend most of my time thinking about the stuff I should do.

I have a few friends trying to convince me to play World of Warcraft, or WOW for short. Some of my time has been spent in the pursuit of more knowledge of the game. I have had lengthy discussion with both seasoned players and novice ones alike. Thankfully, they few that are encouraging me to play tend to be of the more novice sort.

So, what is WOW? Many people know what WOW is, but there may still be some that are scratching their heads. WOW is a massive multi-player online role-playing game. or MMORPG (usually it's just MMO). What this means is that people play with and against one another over the Internet. Players assume roles of different characters with different abilities and appearances and typically work together to complete some goal. In WOW there are two warring factions fighting for control. The funny thing is that there is an over-arching story for the WOW universe, but it definitely falls behind the insensate need to have the coolest stuff.

The rumor mill behind WOW is that it was originally a product for the Games Workshop line. I sell the Games Workshop models at my store under the table top miniature games Warhammer and Warhammer 40K. WOW was originally just Warcraft, and was a real-time strategy game. Basically, with an RTS, you would build units to win a certain scenario, like the land is infested with undead, wipe them out. How it is based on the GW product is a little fuzzy, but noticeable. Warhammer has race that consist of Humans, Orcs, various types of Elves, Dwarves, and goblins. WOW has all those races as well. Overall, it doesn't really matter as a comparison. I would rather have stock on WOW than Games Workshop any way. It's more guaranteed income.

You see, there are a lot of people playing WOW. The advertisements boast over 11 million subscribers. That's over 11 million people paying WOW about $15 a month. This adds up to a whole bunch. And that's the thing. With that many people, it is generally becoming part of the norm.

I originally approached WOW in the camp of fear. Among the news reports were various cases of addiction. There are stories of people losing their jobs over wanting to play the game for longer and avoiding work. Some relationships have been destroyed by it because of addiction. On the flip side, some relationships have started as well. There are also reports of people that have met through the game that wound up marring one another in real life. A friend of mine traveled to Colorado to meet a girl and brought her back here, because they met through WOW. Granted, they aren't together anymore, but the power of WOW is crazy.

Currently, I have sitting in my email account, a trial version of the game. My friend from work sent it to me, so that if I use it it would link our accounts. Basically, it's like a mentoring program. If I am in game, and so is he, he can send his character directly to me, so we can play together. Usually, to meet up with other characters, you would have to have your character travel through the game-world over possibly hundreds of miles... walking. As an added bonus, when the linked accounts are working together, there is an extra experience boost. More experience means a quicker growth towards a better character. It also helps that if I were to stick playing the game for a couple months, my friend would some special in-game stuff. It's a referral program.

As of right now, my mind isn't fully made up. I have a few other things I want to do, and fear that I may be addicted to WOW and not accomplish them. I still have a couple games I want to play and finish, then there is the whole blogging thing I keep avoiding. There is also the ultimate dream of actually writing something creatively, like an honest to goodness story. So, for now, I will keep doing research and let my friends talk my ear off about their in-game adventuring.

Ending One Minute At A Time

2010-02-28T03:36:00.002-05:00

I feel an overwhelming urge to banter. The problem with that is that I am alone. You sort of need someone to banter with. It's the whole feed off of what someone else is saying. Sadly, there is no one to talk to at this time of morning.

I want to write. I know that is a general thing. I want to write in some capacity for a living. It would be great to get paid for inane monologue-ing.

This weekend has been weird, at best. Granted there hasn't been any sort of major drama or anything of the like to really complain about. Mainly, it was just a lazy weekend. I never did celebrate my actual birthday, and this weekend was the last chance really.

I sort of hate my birthday to a degree. It depresses me. There is always expectations with a birthday, and I never feel like I live up to them. There was one birthday when I had a party and did some ridiculous shit, but I don't remember doing half of it, so it doesn't count in my head. That birthday is also the reason I don't drink too much anymore. I had a habit of drinking vast quantities of hard liquor that have since subsided. I personally do not like blacking out. I don't care how fun I am with others while in that state. At least I am a happy drunk.

Still, I rarely make plans for my birthday. I sure as hell didn't do anything this year. I turned 30 and just left it at that. I am grateful to everyone that wished me a "Happy Birthday". I am even more thankful for those that went out of the way for cards and/or gifts. I don't really expect much. No one knows what to ever get me anyway. I usually shop for myself when it comes to fun things, like music or dvds. What I should have requested was mix cds. I did get one of those. I still have to listen to all of it. (Getting through 5 discs is tough sometimes without transferring all to my ipod.)

Friday night was rather tame. I spent the evening over a friends place watching the Olympics. We didn't do much. I didn't drink much either. A fair amount of people showed, and I left around 1:30 when everyone decided to head to bed. I just spent the rest of the night watching wrestling that I recorded earlier. Saturday was lazy as well. I woke up late and finally made it out around 7:30PM. I headed to the Gamestop to reserve a couple games for my nephew's birthday. I picked up something for myself as well, whenever I get a chance to play it. The worst part was parking, as there was no spots at the store. So, I walked for a couple hundred yards, or what felt like it anyway. After getting home, I spent the rest of my time watching episodes of The Guild on my Xbox 360. It's funny, and Flecia Day is heart-fully crush worthy. I wound up going out around 11PM.

The bar was fine tonight. There wasn't many people,b but a good time was had regardless. I spent the night talking with my friend, Joe. I also started to open my eyes to the bartender. She works there most Saturdays, but I'm not usually there then. Still, she was a cute. It didn't help matters that there really many other girls in the bar at all. That could have been a major point for my attention towards her. Still, the sole other girl at the bar bought me (and everyone else) a couple drinks, for which I am thankful.

Thank God. The hiccups went away. That part sucked. Apparently, I become the stereo-typical, cartoon version of an Irishmen while drinking. If only I had bubbles or something surrounding me, it would complete the appearance along with the hiccups and red nose.

Well, that's all I got for the moment. I guess the writing desire has passed. Maybe inspiration will hit me when I awake. I wouldn't hold my breath though.

Suck Hard (that doesn't sound right)

2010-02-24T02:46:00.003-05:00

I should be sleeping. I have to work many hours on Wednesdays. Here I am, though, toiling away at nothing.

My birthday, as a day, sucked hard. I wanted to murder many people. It was filled with every troglodyte and ridiculous person I could imagine (with a possible exception of a few named evils). I worked alone the entire day. My boss was off down in Baltimore securing mounds of product support for an upcoming project. This is something i am not looking forward to. It's the defeatist in me. I'll go more in depth at a later time.

What didn't help matters is that my normal relief couldn't show. I understand why he wasn't there though, so I don't blame him. I just account for it under my horrible luck for the day. His main job has been calling him away for overtime to get their on project done ahead of schedule. When he called me around noon, he didn't sound good. It was reinforced when he told me he was at work till 8AM.

I was hungry, tired, achy, and nearly on my last nerve. I actually called our other store just so I could have a voice to complain to that could display a modicum of sympathy... even if it was faked. My back has been hurting or a few days due to some unknown reason. I think I am sleeping wrong, or now my bed is trying to torture me. I wouldn't put it past my bed. It did come from a witch, and may be a delayed spell. I have been taking some meds to make it through the day. I just hate doing it. It also aggravates me that my butter fingers are more prominent when it pains me, physically, to pick up something I dropped.

I have a lot on my mind right now, and I am trying to sort through it all. It's one of those things where nothing is really important, except to me. If only I could split myself like Multiple Man and get some shit done. Sadly, there is only one, now 30-year-old, me.

I wound up picking up the new DC animated movie, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. It's really good, and I will go more into it later. I want to check out all the other extras with it. I would recommend it to anyone on the fence.

I just hope tomorrow is better. It is looking like a big week for new comics, which means the shit will hit the fan and I may just be aggravated in the morning as well. The boss' daughter is working with me in the evening, and she said she was going to bring cupcakes to celebrate my birthday. That's at least one positive to look forward to.

I still have no plans concerning birthday celebrations. For the most part, I just want to have fun. Snow is looking to be a hindrance. I believe I have a new fluffy, white nemesis.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2010-02-23T02:48:00.002-05:00

Today is my birthday. I am now 30.

I have no idea how to celebrate my birthday. I'm not really one for grandiose plans. Most of the time I try not to plan things because plans have a tendency to fail. So, at the moment, I have no real plan to celebrate another year of my birth.

I didn't do anything this past weekend for it. Nothing looks to be in the books for this weekend. All I know is that I will probably be working by myself all day. My boss is taking a trip to Baltimore to meet with some Games Workshop heads for lunch. Knowing my boss, it will be some long conversations. There may be a chance that I have some relief in the form of my co-worker, Gregg. I don't know if he's coming in or not. He has a real job that actually supports his family, so he may be off doing that.

So, I may be all by my lonesome. My bosses daughter trumped my own birthday with bigger news. I don't think I should go throwing it around the internets. Let's just say it's good news for her. She also told me to call her to come into work if I am, indeed, alone.

There is a lot of change lately. It seems odd. Work is going well. We seem to be doing a bit better after last week's annual sale. A guy came in asking about our store, because he was opening one across the way in the mall. It's a sports collectible store, so it would only compete with us in the bare minimum of ways. In fact, my boss will stop carrying sports cards in general, if the guy doesn't carry game cards. It's really not that big a deal for either store. Sports cards are only in our store for the kids that just want a pack of cards.

I also found out that one of my friends from EB was let go. It sucks that I won't be seeing him as frequently. I guess I will just have to try and keep up with him as he kicks my ass in Xbox.

I think more change is on the way. Things are just shifting.

I have no expectations for gifts for my birthday, just like Christmas. All I know is that I get to buy stuff for myself afterward. I am going to Suncoast to pick up some DVDs though. I get an extra discount on my birthday. A chance would have it, the new DC Animated title Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, comes out today. I love all the DC animated stuff, so I will probably buy the most expensive copy that will work on a regular DVD-player. I haven't gotten into the whole Blu-Ray thing. No High Def TV at home.

I will now throw together a mix to use a a draft. I want some new things to listen to at work.

Enjoy your Tuesday.

Challenge complete

2010-02-22T02:22:00.003-05:00

I'm still awake, and I am sort of bored. This amounts to me writing more stuff. I have to get tired somehow.

My birthday is the 23rd. For me that's two days from now, but chronologically, it would be tomorrow. I will be 30, and I have no idea what that will mean. So, in honor of me feeling old, let me go self-flagellate.

So, many people know that I was seeing someone way back in November. Her name was Alicia, and we had a few dates. It was fun. It got to be around Thanksgiving and things were quickly falling apart, apparently. This will be a abbreviated version of the whole ordeal.

We would talk nearly every day. There were times our schedules would conflict. I would tend to be leaving work when she is normally going to sleep. So, it makes sense that we would sometimes not communicate. The last time I talked to her was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. It was a brief talk. With the hectic family craziness of he holiday, we didn't talk on Thursday either. I wound up heading into downtown Philly for the big meal. My brother was getting married at a hotel, so he offered dinner. In my mom's hotel room, my call reached voice-mail. My call hit voice-mail again on Friday while I was waiting for the wedding reception.

I wound up watching my brother's place the next week while he was on his honeymoon. He lives in Havertown, which is where Alicia originally hails. She knew I would be watching my brother's place, and we were attempting to make plans to eat at a place around there that she liked. I didn't hear from her all week. The last thing I got was a text message about how she was busy and would call me the next day. She never did.

I tried one more time to call on the following Saturday, got the voice-mail, and gave up entirely.

It was annoying trying to explain the situation to people. With ,many other relationships, there tends to be a reason for them to end. I felt like I really didn't have one. So my response was constantly, "I don't know what happened." The terrible thing is that when I started seeing her, it seemed like the knowledge that I was dating someone spread like wildfire. Almost everyone I knew seemed to bring it up. Unlike that, when we weren't seeing each other anymore, no one got the message. So, I had to explain the whole situation a thousand times. It was excruciating.

So, fast-forward to January. Wounds are pretty much healed. I am just going about enjoying a typical Friday night at my usual watering-hole. Lo and behold, who walks in, but Alicia.

It was mainly just awkward. I never called her back because I felt if she wanted to deal with me, she had to make the move. I didn't hate her at all. She probably had her reasons for what she did, and I understand that. I wasn't going to go say anything to her. Instead she came over to me.

She wanted to explain herself. She gave reasons of the holidays making everything crazy, work getting busy and weekends of skiing. They all made sense. Two of my friends were present and participating in the conversation, one good and and bad. The good friend, B, was exceptionally cordial. She got Alicia a seat, so she could sit and talk. B even asked the guy next to me to move over when Alicia was forced from her previous seat by a returning patron. B was nice and friendly. The other friend, J, wasn't that nice. She would would rub my back (which just felt creepy) and whisper in my ear, "She's fucking lying, don't trust anything she says." That type of remark was just getting me pissed. I was more annoyed by my asshole friend than I was with the girl who ignored me while we were dating. J has since apologized for what she did, after getting told I was annoyed by others.

In any case, I talked with Alicia for the rest of the night. After telling her that I write a blog, she challenged me to write about this night. I didn't really want to do it. We talked about what's been going on. She told me about skiing and showed me pictures of snowy mountains. She said she still has the stuff I got for her for her birthday, and even my copy of True Blood season 1. She wanted to get it back to me, but I told her she should watch it before she does. It was the reason I gave it (borrow... she refused to let me buy it for her) to her in the first place.

The night ended with some goofy antics. B was posing with Alicia's fur coat. Alicia said we should get together for lunch or something, so she can get the dvd back to me.

We haven't talked since.

So, there you have it. I wrote about it. I am going to attempt to write more often. I have been greatly slacking for various reason, and really none of them good. Hopefully, inspiration will hit him in the coming days.

Filling in Sunday

2010-02-21T18:50:00.003-05:00

I am being a giant nerd right now. Granted, I can't really escape the whole nerd thing, but I am overdosing at the moment.

I am listening to a Dungeons & Dragons podcast, flipping through a rule book for Warhammer 40K, and attempting to think of what models I want to build. I spent a good portion of last night discussing these things as well. I didn't even do it at work. Most of it was talked about at the bar.

The current D&D podcasts I have been watching are a good intro for people who would like to play the game. They are video podcasts, and involve a mixed group playing. The Dungeon Master (the guy who runs the game) works for Wizards of the Coast (D&D's publisher) as a creative director. All of the players are the writers of Robot Chicken from [adult swim] on Cartoon Network. One of the writers plays the new version of D&D, and another has played earlier versions, the rest of them are experiencing D&D for the first time.

I have a weird fascination with D&D and role-playing in general. Much like many of my other interests, it is something I like to know about, but rarely experience first hand. I don't play any RPG (role-playing game) currently. I have friends tat play, so I get the stories and happenings from them. It's a good conversation if you understand the code language. I still struggle with the people that attempt to discuss computer online RPGS (affectionately called MMORPGs). Terms like DPS and aggro are still foreign to me.

One of the funny things about the Robot Chicken D&D podcasts is that they are now coming with DM commentary. Much like a director's commentary on a DVD, the DM commentary is a voice over to help explain things that are going on. It's funny re-watching the first video and finding out that the initial planned game had to be scrapped and a new adventure needed to be created in hours. It's pretty interesting because the DM gives tips on how to run a game. Rule number 1: Wing it.

The Warhammer 40K stuff comes mainly from work. I have been at my job for over 7 years now. I don't have a set army for any of the games we sell. I haven't even played a full game, with the exception of Lord of the Rings. Fun fact: LotR is the game I personally have the least amount of models for, but have played the most (at 2 games). I do have models for some of our other games. Many of the younger crowd like talking about the games, and want me to play. Friends of mine outside of the shop are even playing 40K. So, I think it's about time I actually do something about it.

So, at this moment, I am glancing at the Olympics, listening to Smodcast (Kevin Smith's audio podcast... specifically the Too Fat To Fly episode), and trying to think of what army I want to build.

More Dreams May Come

2010-02-17T02:48:00.002-05:00

I didn't want to get out of bed this morning. Of course, most people don't want to get out of bed in the morning. Very rarely is there proper motivation to start the day. Still, this morning was because of a dream.

I like dreaming. It is pure escapism. I was sort of happy in my dream last night. It dealt with normal things. I don't often dream about extreme stuff. Not many zombie apocalypse or flying dreams for me. Most of the things I deal with are situations that could be probably considering the elements involved.

I had a dream about a girl I had a crush on in grade school. I know, that was a long, long time ago. I doesn't help matters that I spent the majority of my scholastic life with her. Grade school, high school and even college were all the same places for the two of us. I wouldn't say we were really great friends, but we were definitely friendly. We never dated. Would I do something for her if she wanted? Yes, I would. Would I ask her to do anything for me? Probably not. I tend not to ask any body for anything. That's not a good thing.

Anyway, the reason she probably showed up in my dreams is that I see her occasionally. She is still in the area. I passed her at my mall when I was out of the store getting something from CVS. Still all smiles and happiness, she never fails to make my day a bit brighter.

Oh, I should mention, I dream about mundane things. This wasn't a wet dream or anything. In fact, I rarely have those. The whole point of the dream was revolving around her losing her car and her mom or some maternal figure had an option of two for her. The other was going to go to me for some strange reason. I mainly didn't want to leave because I just wanted to spend time with her.

See, the sad thing is that I believe she is married. She occasionally passes my store, like twice a year or so, waiting for her former boyfriend, now husband. He reads comics. I have no idea who he is. I just think it's funny that she wound up with a guy like that.

I don't know. Maybe it's Valentine's Day. Maybe it's the mortality thing that my 30th birthday is next week. It could be just about anything. It definitely doesn't help that I'm listening to Blues right now.

I just figured that I should write something. I don't typically like putting names to things. I highly doubt she will ever read this, but on the off chance she stumbles by, no need for her to feel... whatever. I should sleep. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow.

Maybe my dreams tonight will be pleasant.

Snowpocopylpse Part 2: Ramifications!

2010-02-15T02:48:00.002-05:00

What's this typing thing? I have no idea. OK, where was I?

Well, it's been a while since I have written anything. I am a lazy bastard. It's late at night, or early morning depending on when you keep track of time. I just watched the new Star Trek for the first time. I am finally listening to a mix I got from a regular from work. It's eclectic, and 5 discs, so I have a lot ahead of me. On to the show...

Snowpocopylpse Part 2: Ramifications!

When I last wrote here, it was a Monday night, and the previous afternoon, I left work for a few hours due to evacuation. I haven't written for a while for various reasons. Some of them for sheer procrastination on my part, and others for lack of having the computer access to do it. Despite all my attributes, I cannot type in the dark. I am a glorified hunt-and-pecker.

So, Tuesday was interesting at work. It was the only day in a span of six that the mall was open all of it's hours. Part one shows days one through three, Wednesday was closed due to snow and Thursday was a late opening. Tuesday was interesting because of the conversations created by little ol' me.

As I was handling my typical work stuff, (I can't remember exactly what it was, all I know is that I was behind the counter) my boss calls over to me. He said, "Kevin, I have to chastise you." He didn't say it with any malice that I could determine, so I was just confused. He was on the phone and talking with someone...obviously. He is usually on the phone, so it could have been any number of people on the other end.

When he got off, he walked towards me and stated, "This is me chastising you." Still puzzled I wondered what I did. He said that apparently my statements on my blog were incorrect. At first I thought, why is my boss reading my blog? Then I thought, what did I write that was incorrect? Most blogging is personal and opinion. Facts don't really come into play a lot when it comes to personal voice. My boss then told me that it wasn't him that read it, it was Aubry, the Marketing Director of the mall where I work.

It is at this point where I want to greet my new reader. Hello, Aubry. I didn't think this thing had any legs, but now it is creating stirs at work. If only I could direct this in some advertising capability I could ask your advice.

It turns out that apparently, Aubry has a program that sifts out any mention of the mall. The program is through Google, and since this blog site is run by Google, it only makes sense that it would get priority in selection. The mall took a huge hit with the press over the last week. With two evacuations in as many days, there was quite some negativity being thrown about. With today's access to the Internet, just about anyone can voice their opinion. Like me and this here blog.

It was then time to try and determine what the hell I said that was false. I couldn't think of anything off the top of my head. Most things I write tend to just end their life on the screen after I successfully purged it from my brain. My boss asked to see the blog, in an effort to find the culprit. He was.

Granite Run Mall's management is completely inept and has no real proper response to an emergency.

This is what I could come up with. Now, I fully understand that the mall has an emergency response plan. I have seen the papers handed out to the stores with the proper routs and such for an evacuation. The problem is that, the mall didn't implement any of this when the mall was evacuated.

So, I hold true that inept is a proper description for the mall management. I was evacuated when a firefighter came to my store and told me to leave. No mall representative was there to tell me anything. Even if the evacuation was called by the township and not the mall, since the mall falls within the township, the mall should have announced the evacuation.

My guess is that the mall just wants us all to die so it can loot our bodies.

Even when speaking with other managers of other mall stores, they didn't think any mall emergency plan was enacted. And if the carbon monoxide is false, that's what other news sources are stating it was. It could have been just diesel fumes, which could injure people just the same. Still, it was something that the mall knew about and took their time in letting anyone else know.

No mall representatives speaking of the incident that caused the evacuations. My boss tried to get answers, but they just clam up.

People aren't going to the already struggling mall with new like this. Hell, it really doesn't help that employees of the two video game stores in the mall were sick and couldn't open the stores. This was even Tuesday. I didn't see one of the workers there until Thursday.

Thank God, the mall is across the street from a hospital.

Snowpocolypse 2010 Pt. 1

2010-02-09T01:34:00.003-05:00

Well, work has been interesting over the last few days.

I wasn't there from Friday around 5PM till today (Monday) at noon, but interesting stuff happened between now and then. To start things off, Snowpocolypse 2010 Part 1 shut the whole mall down on Saturday. Talking with my boss, they left a message on the mall office phone line to tell everyone. Schools get broadcast over every airwave. Malls get a phoned in recording that may decide to not take your call.

This is par for the course for Granite run Mall. I know when I first started working there, there was a huge snowstorm one morning. I even was taking the bus into work. All public transit was so delayed that the bus I got on 20 minutes after I thought I missed it, was actually the one before my usual bus. I was dropped off at Springfield Mall's parking lot, to await my actual bus. It came careening towards me, fish-tailing through the snowy goodness. It was an exciting trip. It took the mall a few hours to close.

See, for Granite Run Mall to close, and probably many other malls, it takes the anchors to close. For Granite Run, there are 3 anchors, so 2 need to close. Sears is always the holdout. JC Penny or Boscov's usually break first. For Saturday there was an unprecedented prior closing before anyone was actually there.

But, that isn't where the fun stops. Not only did we lose sales for Saturday, but Sunday was hit as well.

After only being open for about an hour or so, an alert was passed through the mall for evacuation. I say passed because the mall doesn't make any announcement over a public address system or anything. Some one hands to go to each store and tell the to leave. For Sunday, there was a reported carbon monoxide leak in JC Penny. It was spreading through the mall, and apparently people were getting sick. The mall closed for the rest of the day. So, there goes the entire weekend's sales.

The mall was already open for two hours when I showed up at noon on Monday. Shortly after starting work, I received a phone call. My brother's girlfriend's father... let's just shorten that to my roommate's father works for Sears and listens to the emergency response calls in the area. He overheard something about there being another leak of carbon monoxide at the mall today. This was at noon, there wasn't an actual evacuation until 2PM.

I knew it was coming. I warned the boss. Close to 2, I could see people funnel out of the mall. No one came to say anything to us until after I noticed many other stores, including Sears, already closed. Granite Run Mall's management is completely inept and has no real proper response to an emergency. I sat in my car for a couple minutes until the initial wave of panic and anger passed through the crowd. Then, I went home. My boss stayed for a bit to try and get answers. He didn't get any, despite the futile anger towards the firefighter who was just doing his job.

I sat at home, greeting my brother as he showed up at 4PM. I didn't know if I was actually going back to work. I typically close on Mondays. After a phone call to his girlfriend's father, my brother told me that the mall opened an hour ago. So, I went back to work. I even beat my boss there, who only lives 5 minutes away. I then worked the remainder of my hours, only losing 3. I didn't walk through the mall, but people were telling me that nearly 30 stores/kiosks didn't open when the mall reopened. It also didn't help matters that the mall left it's doors open to ventilate the place. It was positively frigid in the later hours.

The store didn't do too bad for a single day, even being closed for 3 hours. It just didn't do well for 3 days including a weekend. The problem that rises is that there is another storm coming, and a repeat could be in the cards.

On comes Snowpocolypse 2010 Part 2.

If we are closed Wednesday, which is highly likely, I will lose another 13 hours in one shot. This will not be fun.

Plent Hulk DVD

2010-02-08T03:06:00.003-05:00

DVD review time.

I haven't been doing much, but I have watch something new. So, instead of ruminating on my boredom of being stuck inside all weekend, I will write about something I watched.

Marvel's last animated giving is Planet Hulk. It's feature length adaptation of a Hulk story-arc from the comics a couple years ago. In fact, it's a Hulk story I feel every one should read. It presents Hulk in a great manner and really tells a great story throughout. The movie wasn't too bad in that respect.

With the desire to change mediums, some things are lost and/or added to any given story. Something that can better help the flow. Overall the movie was good, I only had a couple problems with it.

They did a good job with the intro to the story. They summed up why Hulk had to leave Earth in the same way it is done in the comics. Even the guys that did it are all there, Iron Man, Dr. Strange and Nick Fury. Most of the important stuff is there. That Hulk can be beaten being a main factor. Hulk isn't as tough as he typically is when he shows up. Oh, and there is no Banner.

The thing that bugged me was that there wasn't a couple characters that should have been involved. Even ones that had a pretty important impact in the original comic. The Brood is nowhere to be seen. She isn't even mentioned, even though there are a few brief cameos by other cosmic characters, like Gamorra and Starlord from the Guardians of the Galaxy. I can sort of understand why she isn't there. Her main contribution was sort of taken away when they didn't follow through with Meik's entire story. Meik never matures to the Alpha native, which defeats the usage of the comic ending.

Oh, and there is no Silver Surfer. Apparently, there is some legal reason why he's not there. They instead substitute Beta Rey Bill, of Thor fame. He's not a bad addition, and they definitely make him tough enough. Bill really is a bad ass. He has the power of Thor for Christ's sake, a Norse god.

The ending was cut a bit short compared to the comic as well. I can understand why. In the comic it is definitely a sad ending, with less room for openness. With the ending they chose, the story can really go any way they want it to. The comic directly leads into World War Hulk, and I don't think that is in the cards right now for the next feature animated movie.

It is definitely something worth seeing if you like the animated comic book stuff, especially if you like the Hulk. I think it is one of the better ones Marvel has come out with, but it shies in comparison to the DC stuff. DC just has a better crew designing and developing their animated projects. The extras are pretty cool. I haven't checked out the commentary, but watched the featurettes. They have one that talks about creating the movie, which is how I found out about the Silver Surfer thing. Also, there is another that talks about the comic. They didn't do a whole Hulk review, just the stuff about Planet Hulk. There are a couple motion comics, that just seem weird to me, and a episode of Wolverine and the X-Men featuring the Hulk.

Overall, I would greatly recommend the comic. If you watch the movie first, and liked it, you will probably enjoy the comic. The same goes for the inverse. Planet Hulk is a comic I can sell to anyone looking for something good to read. It is a solid story. The movie is good, but not great.

I want to apologize for this entry. I am tired and under motivated to write right now. It's nearly 4AM and I have work at noon. Also, something is making me feel like my creativity is being sucked out of me.

Not Motivated

2010-02-06T23:08:00.002-05:00

I am very lazy this weekend. I haven't really thought of anything to write. I also missed writing for a day yesterday, not that many noticed.

The run down of Friday consists of mostly work. There was a part that involved my boss telling me I didn't have to go into work on Saturday because of the impending snow storm. Too bad I don't work Saturdays anyway. The whole day at work was reflecting people's fear of the snow. The morning was crazy with people. Many people had to get to the store, or mall, just to get their supplies for being sealed up in a house all weekend. Since we are an entertainment destination, we sold a few boardgames and plenty of comics.

This snow has ruined many things. I was supposed to head to a party on Friday night. Two of my friends share a birthday, so they were having a party at one of their places. All of that was destroyed when the snow fell. Suddenly, roads were getting slippery and unnavigable. It didn't help matters that I needed a nap.

I didn't make it out. I instead watched wrestling, Burn Notice, the end of Robin Williams stand-up on HBO, and Bio-Dome. I guess I wanted to finish up the night with some torture. Nothing really stands out as memorable. Burn Notice was good, but next weeks episode looks better. I did learn how to make a microwave into a bomb though.

I haven't even stepped foot outside today. I was supposed to clean my car off, but didn't get around to it. It just looks like a pile a of snow in a rough car-shape. I'll just have to do it on Sunday. I also keep forgetting that Sunday is the Super Bowl. I have nothing invested in the game. I don't even know where I will watch it. I'll probably just watch it at home.

Doctor, Mr. MD.

2010-02-05T02:09:00.003-05:00

OK. Time to play catch-up. I missed a day of writing and feel pretty guilty about it. My car trip home from a party can only drag out so many words. It was a solo story after all. I had no dialog. I doubt people would want to read me talking to myself... even though that is kind of what I do when I write these things. It's just not aloud.

I passed out early last night. I got home from work, and promptly passed out as I attempted to watch ECW. Turns out there won't be an ECW in about 3 weeks time. WWE is changing the show to NXT, because they ache to be hip, and fail miserably at it. Anyway, I didn't see the end of the show because I slumped in my computer chair with the blog in one tab and video game stuff in another. I awoke 2hours later, and thought it was best to get the trash out instead of trying to force myself to write some inane gibberish. So, I pushed that gibberish off till today.

I needed to wake up early today anyway, so sleep was a good thing. Typically on a Thursday, I don't usually have to be up until work, and that's not till 5PM. I usually sleep in and claim that I am trying to catch up on sleep. In reality, I just like dreaming. Still, I had a doctor's appointment at 11Am, so I needed to be up well before I normally am, but late enough for me to get some extra hours sleep.

I had to see the doctor because my mom is worried about me. She is a mom after all. I have been having some stomach problems over the last week, so she made me an appointment to see the doctor. Luckily, she works in the doctor's office, so I had an easy in.

On the way in, I decided to finally listen to a podcast that was on my iPod since early December. It was from Talkradar and was the roast of one of the hosts, Dan Amrich. Dan was also the host of another podcast I listen to called OXM. He had a good, nearly 3 hour, roast because he left his lengthy tenure at OXM for a World of Warcraft Magazine, and eventually left that when offered a job at Activision. Activision is one of the biggest video game companies in the world. Still, I enjoy the guy, and find him very funny. He even has his own parody band called Pallete-Swap Ninja. In any case, it was fun to hear accolades for someone I respect and has been in the video game writing business since 1993.

While seeing the doctor, I had to go over all the problems I could remember having. I know on Saturday I felt nauseous and feverish. After that though, I was feeling batter, and didn't want to see the doctor. The doctor still wanted to do some tests, and the final test was the most feared. The rectal exam.

Oh boy, that was unpleasent. I even knew it was going to happen. It was just wishful thinking that he would bypass it. He didn't want to do it. I didn't want it. It just had to be done. Thankfully, there was nothing negative on the test results. Turns out I am apparently on the recovery swing of whatever decided to attack me. I need to eat more fiber, to get me more regular. That's about it.

Afterward, I decided to treat myself to some shopping. I bought a couple DVDs and the Them Crooked Vultures CD. I consider it entertainment prep for the apparent Wrath of God snowstorm that will hit the area. I really don't want it to be that bad. I'm not even going to be at work for it. I just would like to go to my friends' birthday party Friday night.

Blinded by Nature

2010-02-05T01:48:00.003-05:00

I am distracting myself with just about anything I can at the moment. I should be writing though. Here is my attempt to actually get some shit done.

Well, I guess I should talk about the trip home from my friend's LOST party on Tuesday. Me being me, I was one of the last few to leave. Such is the way of Kevin. I am usually afraid to leave too early for fear of missing something important. Still, I walked out some time around 11:30 or so. I'm not exactly sure on the time, but it was late. I know I was in my car around midnight on the way home.

So, the trip goes like this. There is already a slight snowfall on the ground. It's making everything look pretty, like a movie set. Warm glow of street lights, reflecting snow, creating hazy rainbows of comfort. After a brief turnaround realizing every street I crossed was One Way in the opposite direction I needed to go, I eventually found myself on the proper roads and on my way home. I even passed a couple cop cars that had some unfortunate motorist pulled over. It was when I was almost on I-95 heading south, that I noticed something. I am behind a salt truck. I hate being behind trunks in general, like most people. In this weather, I dread it.

My car is not the best one out there. I love it though. For what I paid for it, it has lasted me, and treated me extremely well. I have no real qualms about my car. It does have it's flaws though. One such flaw is that it's windshield washer sprayer doesn't work. I don't know what the actual problem is. I don't think it's the sprayer, but rather the reservoir that holds the wash solution. I have filled it a couple times, and it is usually empty. There is probably a leak. Anyway, it doesn't seem like that should be a priority in the whole "send car to the shop" department. So, to counter cleaning my windows, I always wash my windows whenever I get gas and occasionally, when needed, I use a spray bottle with glass cleaner. I used to use glass cleaner, now I use windshield washer fluid in the bottle. It actually works better.

While on the highway, stuck behind a truck, I decided to attempt passing it while on the double-decker bridge. I did, but there was a price. The truck's back spray coated my windows. If it was just rainy, especially a hard rain, it wouldn't have been a problem. My wipers would have held their own. It was the temperature coupled with environment that blinded me. The back spray of the truck created a mist of small droplets of water that held dirt. It was when attempting to use my wipers that created a frozen dirt shield on my window. My back window was clear as crystal.

I was in the far left lane when this happened, of course. Even with so few cars on the road, I needed to navigate as quickly as possible with limited visibility over to the right side most lane for an exit. I nearly hit the side wall, and various other walls as I made my ext down one of the off ramps. Thankfully, the exit I chose was near where I grew up, so I knew the area. In fact, the last time I was there was for a car breakdown. I pulled off the road into a parking lot, and washed my windows as best I could with the spray bottle. It worked to a point.

To keep myself away from potentially other scary moments on the highway, I instead decided to travel the back-roads home. It was a longer trip, but at least nothing bad happened, even though I did traverse through Chester.

I screwed up

2010-02-04T20:04:00.002-05:00

To make it short, I didn't write anything on here last night. I passed out shortly after coming home from work. I needed the sleep. I had to get up this morning for a doctor's appointment.

So, as a place holder, and reminder, I will try to relate two stories tonight. That is if I can stay up and Burn Notice doesn't take all my attention. Be on the look out for my death-defying drive home from a LOST party and a trip to a Doctor's office. Granted, the doctor's office one will have about one cringe moment. I'll get to that later.

LOST Party Premier

2010-02-03T01:46:00.004-05:00

My blog was brought up as a joke tonight. I thought that was actually funny that it was even used as a topic of conversation.

I am exceptionally tired right now. This rant may seem a little more incoherent than normal. I didn't get my usual nap after work on Tuesday. I came home aggravated at staying late at work. I ate some dinner that may not have been fully cooked chicken, and then I made my way into Philly to my friend's place for a LOST party.

It was good to get out tonight though. I saw some people I haven't seen in a long time, and a few I have never met before. It was a way to bring people together. My friend, Eric, threw the party. As per usual, he went a bit overboard with design. It doesn't help that he is an artist, professionally. Hell, I even looked at the book he is currently published in. It was surreal.

Tonight was the premier of the final season of LOST. This show has been a unifying point for my group of friends. Theories are typically discussed and surmised whenever any of us are together. Of course, that happened at a peak level tonight, especially during the 1 hour preview (read: catch-up) show preceding the actual premier. Smoke monsters and after the bomb segments were the highest point of discussion. What's funny is that this show doesn't really bring about arguments. It's more of an interpretive thing for whoever is watching. It is through discussion that all the ideas are thrown on the table and people start to attempt to see where the show is heading. Just about everyone is wrong in the end though.

I'm not going to talk about the actual show. Too many other bloggers do that with better detail. I'll just say that I enjoyed the show. I dislike that supposed major players are being brought in this late. I also thought the Tim Burton / Danny Elfman style beginning was much funnier than it was supposed to be. I guess the smoke monster costs a lot to make good, so the rest of the computer generated animation has to suffer.

The party had island food as well. I ate a plate of... I forget what it was called. It was rice, topped with a hamburger patty, scrambled eggs, onions, peppers, mushrooms, and other spices served with a brown gravy. It was pretty decent, but probably not something I would order in a restaurant. Some of the other guests brought food as well, there were plenty of cookies, including "fishbuscuits" (a LOST reference), sushi, ribs, pie, and appropriately labeled beverages with Dharma logos.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable night. Eric's daughter, Estella, is great. His one cat, Louise, decided to lay in my lap for almost the entire show. I had that after a movie bathroom feeling when I finally stood up. It was a pretty long drive home. Snow was starting to come down. I nearly got into a couple accidents on the way back on I-95, but I think I will save that story for tomorrow. I need some sleep.

NRA: Too Sweet

2010-02-02T02:19:00.003-05:00

I got a membership to the NRA today. I don't even own a gun.

Granted, I have nothing really against the organization. I just wouldn't think I would be on their mailing list. The envelope came with a neat little plastic card and everything. At first, I thought it was a credit card. I was just thinking minutes earlier that I need a credit card. Rather, I would like a credit card. Need is an oftentimes over used word. Still, if it was a credit card, I probably would have accepted it. It would be funny to have an NRA credit card. I have a feeling that people at stores would probably be more cautious around you when you would use it.

I got exceptionally pissed off today with a single phone call. My brother called to ask me to pick up "the gray box switch thingy from Radio Shack.: What he was referring to was the AV Switch I use to change the input of the television between the cable, DVD and Xbox 360. He thought I should just go grab another. He didn't know, that it isn't some cheap piece of equipment and actually originally cost me around $30. My brother took some initiative and switched the faulty outlet where the television is connected. While reconnecting the plugs, the picture on the TV wasn't working. He called me, but I can't do electronic repair over the phone. I just hate that I was basically asked to just throw more money at the problem and maybe it would go away. I wanted to break something after I was on the phone with him.

My coworkers were slightly worried because I kept slipping the "f-bomb" while children were around. I usually restrain myself. I tried to squeeze the store's computer's mouse to death, but it didn't work. My brother called back a little later. Turns out the problem was just a loose wire. Go figure.

For some strange reason I got really tired, really fast around 12:15 tonight. I watched most of wrestling and still needed to write this, as well as fill out a few chances for the church's drawing. I still have to do that last one actually. Still, I fell asleep at the exact moment the final segment of wrestling aired. It was like pinpoint timing. I had to read the results on the computer. Granted, I could just re-watch the program to see the end, but that would take me fast-forwarding through 2 hours of TV.

So, tomorrow is February 2nd. It is Ground Hog Day and marks the moment when some rodent out in western PA decides if we have 6 more weeks of winter. It is also, probably more important, the final season premiere of LOST.

I am heading over my friend, Eric's, place for this viewing. Eric is a little obsessed with the show. The themed party will supposedly be catered with an island theme, complete with Lost style labels on things. Our friend, Ken, is even coming from NYC and bringing ribs for the occasion. Other than seeing good friends and watching a good show, having some of Ken's ribs would be reason enough to have a party. I have had them one other time, and they are delicious. The boy has skills when it comes to a rib-rub.

Well, I need to still go write out chances. I'm going to go do that while watching a podcast. I hope everyone (all 3 of you) have a good day.

Death Race causes Marvel Delay.

2010-01-31T23:53:00.004-05:00

I got some news today that annoyed me. It was work news, so it shouldn't really worry anyone else.

The job is fine. I just found out that our shipment had some problems. My store is not alone in the problem. In fact, it is nearly all the stores that receive Marvel Comics that are the ones effected. Turns out, over the weekend, there was an accident. Thankfully, there were no injuries reported, but it seems that many comics were destroyed. This is pretty significant in that it will definitely impact sales. Many of the major Marvel titles for this week will be short in number. They have to allocate as much as possible. Of course, it's from my warehouse that has to allocate the most.

So, this coming Wednesday will be highly annoying for me. I will have to make a sign telling of the shortage. A sign no one will read. I will then have to tell everyone that walks in what the sign means, because they are morons and cannot understand English unless it is present by guys and girls in spandex. I will also need to keep track of what we actually get in, so that all of the customers that reserved certain books that are short, will still get them when we get the remainder of the reprint. Then people will complain that it is a reprint and not a first print. Fate just likes screwing with me on Wednesdays.

This Sunday was rather bland. I had wanted to head to Target for a completely different reason than for 3D glasses. Apparently, there was a 3D portion of the Grammys tonight which was a Michael Jackson tribute. I watched the Grammys, and they were all right. Still, I wanted to head to Target for simple shopping.

I haven't been shopping in a while. I need to get a couple things and occasionally like to browse. I mainly want to get some blank CDs. I am still happy over getting a functioning CD-player at work. I have a few soundtracks I need to bring into work to fill the silence of a Monday. Three of them are the Back to the Future soundtracks. Still, I didn't make it out. I had to stay home while dinner finished cooking.

We had a small Thanksgiving here. I had to wait for a turkey, stuffed with stuffing of course, to finish in the oven. It was nice. My brother, Matt, and his girlfriend's son was over. The hardest part was trying to explain how to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to the two of them. They have a Wii in their household. After dinner, I hopped on the Xbox to play a little CoD:MW2 online to show what you can do against living opponents. It was fun. I don't play as much as many others, but once and a while it's great to just shoot some people without repercussion.

So, other than that, I did watch the Grammys. That was after I watched Death Race 2000. Now, this is a movie worth seeing. It has unnecessary nudity, but it fits in the plot of the movie. It not only has David Carradine, but also Sylvester Stallone. I could have sworn, but when I was a kid, I thought I had the Hot Wheels version of Frankenstein's (Carradine) car, Monster. I just can't find any pictures of it on the interwebs, so I may now be mistaken.

Snowy Birthday Wishes.

2010-01-31T00:00:00.003-05:00

Man, I am out of it this weekend. Everything just seems to feel odd.

It probably started on Thursday when I wasn't feeling too well. I think I am sick with something. I'm not quite sure what. It's not something that really knocks me on my ass, but it sure as hell keeps me from 100%. From stomach problems and body aches, to headaches and eye strains, I feel like I have hit a lot of symptoms for something larger, without getting the whole show. Not that I am complaining, mind you.

Today, I would like to say Happy Birthday to my friend, Dawn. Her husband set up a surprise birthday party for her this fine afternoon/evening. It was planned and prepared by dawn's mom. It was a common consensus that Dawn's mom should go into business party planning. She is extremely good at it. Today's theme was casino. The tables were all draped in red and black, with different playing card suits as centerpieces. There were poker chips, dice and a deck of playing cards on each table as well. There was even a toy slot machine that eventually led to the winning of prizes.

The problems started t arise when many people started to bail on the party, almost including the guest of honor. There was a snowstorm that swept through the area that caused many to panic. Of the group of friends, I am associated with, there were only 4 of us to make it. Not a great showing for people that have know the girl since around high school. It also didn't help matters that the location of the party didn't show up on google map searches. It really wasn't that hard to find in the end though. It had a pretty visible sign right at the entrance.

Things were starting to get hectic when the party planners were worried that Dawn wasn't going to come. The apparent cover was someone else's 30th birthday party. Sadly, it was someone from dawn's youth, but not necessarily a priority friend. Dawn wasn't feeling that guilty if she didn't make it. It didn't help matters that I-95 was shut down due to an accident. Dawn was in traffic with her husband for probably around an hour. She eventually walked in and was surprised, but it was nearly the zero hour for the reveal just to get her there.

Over all, it was fun. I had a good time just talking with the other few people I knew. The food was good and there was plenty of it. The music selection was varied from a traditional party fare. There was a dance floor, which no one used. The kids there were highly entertaining with their antics to keep from being bored. It's amazing what children can do to keep themselves busy and distracted.

There was talk of heading out to Sugar Mom's in Philadelphia afterward, but that didn't happen for me. I wasn't feeling too well, and I wound up needing a nap anyway. Naps are sort of a reset button for me. Now, I just have to wait for my 30th birthday.

These ears can hear.

2010-01-29T21:34:00.002-05:00

We finally have a new CD layer at work.

Ok, so it isn't technically new, but it's new to the store. The old one broke early this week for failure to play CDs. It was selective about what it wanted to play. At first I thought it was only burned CDs it was avoiding. It turns out it was anything with a slight scratch or scuff. Only the most pristine were even considered for play, i.e. the player read them and counted the tracks. Most discs I would put in would read as not there and try to be spit back out. If it read the disc, it was a 10% chance it would play it. Even with those odds, a couple CDs were played. Granted, some of the CDs only played for a couple songs before the player gave up.

My boss likes to call me on Fridays to see when he can come in. Friday mornings used to be a day off for him. I usually had someone else to cover the time with. With our store being short staffed, my boss doesn't get much time home. The usual conversation consists of him asking how crazy it is. Most of the time it was rather quite. Once and a while, something happens when there is a ton of phone calls or just annoying customers, and it makes me extremely irritable. He doesn't want to walk into that, so he wants a buffer. Still, the only bothering me this morning was how quite it was because I couldn't listen to any music and had to rely on mall sounds.

During our conversation, his wife over heard him. She suggested he just take their CD player from home into the store since it wasn't getting any use there. It's old, and it works, so that's fine with me. It even has a 5 disc changer so I can just set up a few discs and let them play. I didn't do it today because I wound up getting the CD player at around 3PM. I settled for listening to the Dragon Age: Origins soundtrack my friend Gregg got for me.

I felt like crap a couple hours ago. Lack of food does that. Now, I have some chicken in me, but I don't think I will make it out to see the Poison cover band a friend asked me to see. I will probably gather up enough strength to just head to the bar and have a drink or two, just to get out of the house. I'm not really in the party mood, but you never know what the night may present.

On another note, I want to see The Losers when it comes out. It's based on a Vertigo comic under DC's imprint. It is about a group of black-ops characters that get betrayed by their government, and they want a little payback. It's more of a revenge kick than Burn Notice, but I think it looks good just he same. Here's a link to where I saw the trailer: VIDEO: The Losers – The Full Trailer Now Online

Damned and Lost

2010-01-29T01:44:00.004-05:00

I'm frickin' freezing, Mr. Bigglesworth!

It's cold in my house. It is apparently getting colder and colder this weekend. If I were a meteorologist, I would assume any dramatic change of weather would be the end of days. To quote my friend Paul, "Al Gore is a fraud. There is no global warming."

My body also aches all over. While, sure, some of that could be attributed to just being old, I don't think that is the full case. For starters, it just really started today. I would think it would be a gradual thing if it was normal wear and tear. I think my body is fighting something. I don't know if it is a flu or not. I am still pretty active, and not really lethargic, except for the idiocy to not sleep on a regular schedule. I'm not nauseous, much. There are occasional bouts of upset tummy, but nothing producing anything. Most of it just comes down to not focusing on it. I think it is trial of willpower.

Everyone seems to want me to play Dragon Age: Origins. Next to Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age seems to be the RPG people are talking about. My biggest problem is that I don't really dedicate time to playing many games. Dragon Age is up my alley, with the whole fantasy aspect were decisions actually have consequences. The company that made it, Bioware, has a track record for allowing choices to be made that effect the story and/or game-play of the video game. I played their original RPG, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic on the original Xbox. It is a great game, so I am not surprised that Dragon Age isn't also awesome.

I spend way too much time learning about video games than actually playing them. I am probably a scholar of it at this point. I have no practical knowledge of the product, but I know what everyone else tells me. That can probably be about many things concerning me. I typically listen to 2 podcasts a week dedicated to video games. I even read a magazine or 2 a month on the subject. That doesn't count the websites I check for news on nearly a daily basis. I probably put more work into learning about video games than I do leaning about comics.

I more than likely follow video games as a hobby instead of comics because comics are my job. Video games are escapism for me. There is only so much comic rumors I can take. Just like wrestling, I usually can tell what path the comic industry will take, but I will follow it regardless of what happens. With video games, options open up. With such a significant price tag attached, as well as time committed to playing the game, a lot gets invested by the consumer.

right now, there are about a dozen or so game I would like to be playing. right now, though, I am settling for Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes from Liberty City. It is a disc version of the downloadable content available for the original game GTA4. I am currently going through The Lost And The Damned, where I take the role of the second in command of a biker gang. I have only played for a little while, but it interesting how the gangs story happens at the same time as the original GTA4's protagonist's, Nico, does.

I never even beat the original GTA4 game. I asked for GTA4: Episodes from Liberty City for Christmas, and it was the only game I got. I am playing it before I get something else, like Dragon Age.

The Nail

2010-01-28T02:10:00.003-05:00

Wow, am I tired? I just spent the last hour or so passed out at the computer. I thin I crashed from the Red Bull I had before leaving work. These things can happen when one works for 13 hours on little sleep. It also didn't help matters that I felt sick all day. Even right now, my body's insides are giving me problems.

I found out shortly before passing out, that a friend of mine had an injury at work. He is a floor-layer and had a nail shoot into his eye. Let me repeat that: A NAIL SHOT INTO HIS EYE! It was almost nonchalant how his wife told me. Granted, it was via the instant messenger service on Facebook. Still, reading the text it was like o big deal. Still, he is okay, and can probably return to work on Friday. Needless to say, he is one of the luckiest and unluckiest people I know. Unlucky in that he had a nail in his eye, but lucky in that it was an eighth of an inch away from where he could lose his sight. He was wearing safety glasses at the time. It could be that the nail ricocheted off whatever and shot up between the glasses and face. It was a crazy, short story regardless.

In standard Wednesday fashion, I wanted to kill half the people that came into work today. Maybe not kill, but maim could be more accurate. I was being driven insane because the CD player at work refuses to function. I got to listen to two and a half songs before it crapped out on me today. The silence was so nerve racking, that I thought it had to be 5PM, but when I looked at the clock it was only 2:30PM. Even chronology was fucking with me. I wound up creating a temporary solution. I listened to my iPod in one ear as I did some work, just to have that little bit of music to break up the silence and monotony.

Now, I should get to bed. My body is turning against me. It allowed me a bit of a reprieve to type this whole thing out. It wants to keep my promises as best as possible.

Sometimes naps aren't great

2010-01-27T01:09:00.003-05:00

I am not feeling good.

I spent the whole day feeling like crap from exhaustion. I decided it was a good idea to only get around 4 hours of sleep. I justified this with the heartfelt reasoning that I would take a nap after work to recharge my batteries. It turns out that sort of happened.

The whole day at work consisted trying to keep my self busy, or I would fall victim to narcolepsy. I got plenty of work done. I just didn't do anything that I was really planning on for the day. To start, I handled my usual transfers to the other store and a DC Comics order, but then I worked on an independent comic book order.

There is one, major comic book distributor in the industry, Diamond. They have the exclusive contract to distribute the 4 major publishers: DC Comics, Marvel, Image and Dark Horse. There are also plenty of independent comic companies that just solicit through Diamond. What I went through today was our major independent, smaller press distributor, Haven.

Haven used to be called Cold Cut. When Cold Cut folded, Haven purchased the warehouse and all and incorporated a whole new inventory system. The problem with dealing with Haven is the limited number of stuff I actually want to carry from them. Most of the stuff is also carried by Diamond, but Haven tends to keep more of it on hand.

For the better part of 4 hours, I had Haven's catalog on the computer while I took quick walks around the store to see if we needed any of the items. It was a lot of walking. Figure I needed to see what Haven had in stock, then I needed to remember if we carried it. The final part was legging it to see if we needed it. There is only a few companies that really get much attention from me through Haven. The main one being Slave Labor Graphics, for the Johny The Homicidal Maniac and Squee comics. The unfortunate thing is that they didn't have the ones in stock that we needed. Also, they don't carry any of the Lenore comics. My guess is since Lenore is getting reprinted by Titan Books, they can't carry the old issues of the comic.

The main comics I think I ordered were some Simpsons and Sonic the Hedgehog ones. Yes, Sonic comics sell really well for us. You would be surprised at how many we actually go through every month. I think more kids read the comic than play the video games.

The rest of the day was talking with my co-worker about Dragon Age: Origins and unpacking some shipments. It was midway through the comic shipment that I made a comment that I knew it was a day day when I didn't want to deal with comics anymore today. I pushed through. It also doesn't help that Diamond likes to screw up shipments on a weekly basis. We were missing a handful of things ordered and was instead shipped stuff we didn't order. Granted, the stuff shipped was probably valued more than the stuff ordered, but I knew the stuff I had ordered will sell.

When I finally got home, I made myself a sandwich, and eventually took a nap. It wasn't a comfortable nap considering I kept periodically waking up shivering a bit. I slept off and on for close to 4 hours. I even skipped dinner. Probably not the best move. I woke up with a pain in my stomach and a trip to the bathroom. It wasn't pleasant to say the least.

I just hope things feel better in the morning. I have a long ass day and could really use something positive.

Jibber Jabber and Making Comics

2010-01-26T01:56:00.003-05:00

I found out today that a few of my friends have started blogs. This is interesting. I will expand on that at a later date.

I also found out today that the Champs Sports closed in my mall. Another huge corporate store has just uprooted from a already festering wound that is Granite Run Mall. My boss raided them this afternoon to get some of the their fixtures. Granted he did pay for them, he just paid $10 for the equivalent of something that should retail for hundreds of dollars. I am just glad I didn't have to move any of it. Oh, and apparently, there are some other big stores closing in my mall by the end of the month. This makes me unhappy.

The day was rather slow throughout. My mom wound up not having work because a transformer (not a Go-Bot) blew-up near her work. The area reverted to Amish country. Since she works in a doctor's office, the people that were already in needed to use their cell phones to contact the patients to not come in. The blackout also effected my coworker tonight, but not much. He's rich and has a generator, which is probably run by shoveling in the hopes and dreams of the poor.

I'm trying to think of something interesting. It's tougher then you think. I have no idea how people write works of fiction having to develop a whole world and characters to fill it. They I remember that most of the either found a formula or made a pact with some deity.

Well, I have been doing this whole blog a day thing for two weeks, so that's sort of a landmark, right? I'll take my words in any way. What sucks is that I am usually raring to write at the exact moment that I can't.

I am reading a book called Making Comics by Scott McCloud. I've read a couple of his other books, Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics. The best part is that they are presented in a comic book format.

I first read Understanding Comics years ago, when I was in high school. It is a great book to do exactly as the title suggests. It presents a whole philosophy about comics and the importance of the medium. It was later hat I discovered Reinventing Comics at my college library. I would always search for whatever comic book stuff the La Salle Library held. It turns out quite a bit considering they have one of the largest collections of Vietnam War era related material, like Punisher and The 'Nam comic books. I found the second one a pretty tough read from what I remember. It discusses bringing the the printed medium into the digital age. Personally, I have an affinity and appreciation of the the whole tangible aspect of comics. Hell, even the smell of old comics is borderline euphoric.

This third book, Making Comics, is a different undertaking. It doesn't have quite the appeal for me. Granted, I like the content and presentation, but it is not written for someone like me. It is written for the artist. The whole thing provides guidelines and help for how to structure a comic on the actual page, or screen for that matter, to get a comic to properly flow for the reader. The whole point to for the reader to convey what the artist is trying to explain or describe. Since, I have no aspirations on being a comic book artist, it's not really clicking with me.

I started to read it because: 1) I already owned it, and 2) I am supposed to write a comic for a friend of mine. Okay, I am supposed to write a bunch of things for various people, but have been willfully neglecting them.

I'll go into that crap later. I should head to bed and crash from the caffeine rush.

P.S.: I think I own all The 'Nam comics. I just haven't read any of them yet.

Hero's Journey

2010-01-24T22:10:00.004-05:00

It's tough to come up with an idea when you don't really do anything.

I took a trip to the book store yesterday after the last post. I haven't been there in a while, and I just like book stores. I even used to work in one. Now, I mean I worked in an actual book store that sold James Patterson and Harry Potter books. I currently work in a comic book store that sells comic books of Batman, Spider-Man and various other characters. The book store I used to work in was a Waldenbooks, which was the mall equivalent of a Borders (Waldenbooks eventually switched its' name to Borders Express). It was in the mall I work in now, and for a time I worked at both Waldenbooks and the comic book store. There is no book store in the mall now, which is annoying when people ask me where it is since it hasn't been there since last spring.

Still, the book store I went to is a Barnes & Noble. I only went with the intention of using up a $25 gift card I found in my bedroom. I have all sorts of crazy shit in my bedroom (and not even that kind of stuff you sick person). Still, my only actual pre-thought purchase was a video game magazine. That would only be $10, so I needed to find something that was at least $15. I have a nagging urge to use a gift card in one fell swoop, so that I don't have to worry about it again. A gift card with change left over on it is ridiculous.

My friend was recently in a mural arts book, so I went looking for that. With my mind being a sieve for that sort of information, I forgot the actual title. Chances are the chain book stores wouldn't carry something like that without a special order for it. The search got me to look in the arts section. Nothing really stood out for me, even in the how to draw section. It was then a trip to Science Fiction/Fantasy.

Looking in the SciFi/Fantasy section is a bit odd for me. Yes, I will go there every time I am in a book store. I may even buy something on occasion. I just don't remember the last time I actually read a book I bought from there. I have made attempts, mind you. I just don't really read them that often. I buy things with the full intentions of reading them, I just can't focus on actually completing it. The last 2 books I bought from that section were anthologies of critically acclaimed writers, Robert E. Howard and Michael Moorcock. Howard created Conan the Barbarian and Moorcock created Elric of Melniboné. They both created many other characters, but they are probably their most famous ones. Still, I haven't even finished the first store in the Howard anthology.

Perusing the new release section,. I noticed a WildCards novel. This is a series I would love to read, only it isn't in print. With a line of books about 14 titles long, you would thing they would keep the original selection of books in print, but nope. Someone hates that I want to actually read something. I didn't buy the new ones because I couldn't find any other WildCards books expect for the new one.

Other than the bargain section, the only other section I always check out is Mythology. Set right above poetry, it is only 2 shelves big. I always look there because I really want a Norse mythology book, but all that is ever there is Greek/Roman mythology books. There is the occasional Japanese or Celtic myths as well, but never any strictly Norse. Instead what I found there was Joseph Campbell's The Hero's Journey.

I haven't started reading it yet, but it is a series of conversations Campbell had with many different people throughout his career. Campbell is considered one of the premier experts on Mythology. I even found his book Hero with a Thousand Faces on my friends bookshelf later that night, which seemed like a sign. A simplified version of Campbell's theory is that there is one main pattern that surrounds the hero myth throughout every culture. He just seems like a guy I should be reading.

It's was a $30 book, and it looks like a textbook for school. I think it will be worth it though.

Afternoon wake-up

2010-01-23T16:34:00.004-05:00

It's a pretty boring Saturday, so far. Granted, most Saturday's I don't see the light of day until dusk.

At the moment, I am listening to Respawn Radio. It is a video game podcast brought about by Achievement Hunter.com, which is a subdivision of Red Vs. Blue. That's a lot of information that most people just don't care about. I like it though. Like most podcasts out there, it has that underground feel. It's brought to you by guys that actually play these games they are talking about. They don't really hold back if something is terrible.

I was meaning to write some more last night after I came in from the bar. The problem arose when my computer was in the middle of installing updates. Instead, I watched the DVR. Before I left to go out, I recorded the last episode of Conan O'Brien hosting the Tonight Show. It was a great final episode. If you can, go find it and watch it on Hulu or something. Conan's farewell speech was well done and wholly emotional. I was glad to hear that he is getting of severance of 33 million and his crew is getting 12 million. I was worried about the people who worked for him. But, from the type of person he seems to be, I am sure that he would do whatever he could to help his people out. They will all be back in September somewhere. He is too good a commodity of pass up.

Well, the bar last night was definitely one of the more boring nights. I was even going to load the jukebox up wit crap I wanted to hear, but people beat me to it. The while the bar was fairly crowded,it wasn't the standard regulars. Apparently, one of the former regulars from when the bar had a previous name, had died. This was sort of a makeshift wake. Conversations were overheard consisting of what a good life the guy had. I didn't want to pry. It wasn't my place. Still, I made do trying to have a good time in a bad situation. It's at these points where I can be an asshole at the sake of amusement.

I didn't go overboard, and most of what I said was in jest. Still, I wanted to have a good time with the limited resources available. At one point, to lighten the boring mood, the bartender wanted to make myself and 2 friends a shot. The catch was that we each had to pick a liquor to mix. After a trip to the toilet, I walked into picking one. First thing that came to mind was amaretto. Little did I know that someone already pick Jeagermeister. Who the hell would pick Jeager as a mix in anything? The third selected a bubble-gum vodka. It was all mixed and cut with a cranberry juice. It actually wasn't too bad.

The one regret of the night was that there was no real eye-candy. I know. I am shallow. Still, I still like to see pretty things. The median age for the night was about 40 or so. Granted, I didn't feel old, but it sure as hell would have been better if some youth was involved.

Well, tonight I think I am going over a friend's place. Some sort of celebration about some birthday. I may take a trip to the book store first just to pretend that I can read. All I am really going to buy is a magazine.

Who do that Voodoo you do so well?

2010-01-22T20:29:00.004-05:00

The telethon to help Haiti is on television right now. I am unsure how I feel about the whole thing. Granted, I don't like that thousands of people died or that so much damage was done, but this outpouring of support seems like an excuse for something.

I think Haiti's number 1 export is voodoo. We are all in a loa trance or something right now. When this is all over Baron Samedi will raise a zombie army, and then the apocalypse begins.

I wish something interesting happened at work, but nothing did. All I day today was unpack shipments tat came in. Granted, I spent about 5 hours doing that. It was about 7 orders worth of stuff. Various sized orders from 4 different companies. It was just me and my pricing gun.

I am probably going to head out in a little while. I will of course head to the bar. I have little other direction than that. Is it wrong to look forward to just sitting in a bar and drinking? I have been wanting to do it since about Wednesday.

There's a certain unpredictably to heading to my local watering hole. For starters, it's not local at all. I have to drive a few miles to get there. I go because it seems that's where many of the people from my old neighborhood, who I can tolerate, wound up congealing. There have been Friday's when absolutely no one shows up and it is just arduos to get to close. I stick around till then because what else is there to do when I have no other set up plans. On the contrary, it could be like last week and turn out to be a good time with lots of people. It's always hit or miss. Some nights are just off, others are on.

It's a short one for now. I may be writing later whenever I get home. I think with many of the previous posts, I can allow myself a short one here and there. Christ, I think 2 posts ago I hit over 800 words. I can be a chatterbox when I'm not directly talking to someone.

THAC0

2010-01-22T02:32:00.003-05:00

I have no idea what I am going to write about... Which is how all of these should, will, or do start.

Work was rather unproductive, so it's not the best thing to write about. All that really happened was the the Dungeons and Dragons group that plays at the store on Thursdays, played Munchkin instead. The whole group couldn't make it, but they still wanted to get together. Since most of the party in the D&D campaign needed to deal with one of the other characters that wasn't there tonight, it was time for other games instead.

I like the store's D&D group. They have been playing at my store for over a year. In fact, for their anniversary, they brought in cupcakes and treats for everyone. That includes me and Josh, who only works Thursdays. What's interesting about the group is their age. When they first started, I wouldn't think one of them was under the age of 35. Now, the girl (woman) in the group might have a problem with that. Oh, they even have a female playing in the group. Over the course of the year, they wound up adding another player who is probably in his late 20s or so. Still, I like that they have fun with imagination.

I haven't played D&D or any role-playing game (RPG) in a very long time. I think the last time I did, I was in high school. That's a typical response. I know people that still play, and have been invited to play on a couple occasions. I just haven't put forth the effort in playing.

Some friends of mine get together almost every week playing something. At the moment, it's a D&D campaign in 3.5 edition or Pathfinder. To clarify, they update the rules for RPGs quite often to spurn sales. With the invention of D&D 4 Edition, it segregated some of the audience. So, some of the people that still want to play, just use the old rules of D&D 3.5 Edition. There is a company Paizo that was publishing the monthly magazines for the D&D culture named, oddly enough, Dungeon (for the Dungeon Masters ((the storyteller of the game))) and Dragon ( that was geared more for the player). For a while I used to collect Dragon because I liked the concept of playing a game.

When Paizo was told that D&D was going to do the magazines in house, it caused a slight rift. In retaliation, Paizo latched onto the 3.5 edition rules of D&D because they knew there was still a market for it. Paizo already launched a fantasy setting called Pathfinder, but with a new rule set based on D&D 3.5, they had a game on their own. From what I was told, the Pathfinder system takes the core D&D rules and pulls out all the junk. Gone are the things that no one ever used, like redundant feats. (A feat is a special action or quality your character has while in the game.)

There are a couple other games friends of mine play, but I'll talk about them some other time. I reached my enforced limit of words needed. I'm treating this post like a high school paper: bare minimum.

Since tomorrow is Friday, I may have to do something exciting at work in order to get something written between when I get home and when I leave for the bar to engage in social awkwardness. We shall see what happens.

Abnormal and Cranky

2010-01-21T03:06:00.003-05:00

Goddammit. It's 3Am, and I still have to write. I have to keep this think up if I want to take it seriously. The good thing is that there is no set structure, so I can go on whatever tangent I want. This helps when you just need to throw words at the screen and just have them stick. they really don't need to be in particular order any.

Today, was the long day at work. So long, in fact, that I was there an extra half hour cleaning up after working for 13 hours on my feet. The whole day just felt odd. It started out as a typical Wednesday, with me frustrated at anything that took me away from dealing with comic books. The ride in was smooth, the I overheard the traffic report the one road I take to work had a downed tree. Not want to experience the possibility of succumbing to back roads with no names, I made a detour of my own on a known road. I had sudden detours because they tend to put my non-Magellan ass places I have never been. Then the panic sets in. I avoided that though.

I was greeted to bags of trash as I opened the gate. Apparently, bringing the trash to the dumpster was too much an effort for the previous nights crew. That crew being named my boss. He explained when he came in that he was there till midnight and it just slipped his mind to take it out. He saw it when he closed the gate, but it was at the point where since it's already closed, he had escaped and didn't need to return. God knows I have had that feeling before.

There was the typical stuff. I wasn't finished pulling all the books for our subscribers by the time we opened. There was one guy, who wasn't a regular, that needed to come in and buy his three books that weren't ready yet. This is annoyance 1. He then proceeded to try and buy these three comics with a hundred dollar bill... as the first sale of the day. Annoyance number 2. I hate the practice of using large bills for small purchases on an exponential level. It almost erupts in violence how much hate I have for the practice, especially in the early morning.

The rest of the day was rather quiet. We didn't get any shipments. I got my normal stuff done early or on time. It was probably that I wasn't distracted by everyone on the earth that I could get my "numbers" done withe the other store. Basically, "numbers" is the term I use when we can make adjustments to books we have already ordered. So, today, me and the manager from our other store went over our orders for some books that come out, supposedly, in three weeks. We can increase or decrease as we see fit judging by prior sales of previous issues. We used to only be able to do it with Marvel and DC, but now we can also adjust Image and Dark Horse. These are the 4 biggest comic companies.

The rest of the day, I just found stuff to do. I did some inventory, talked with customers, and even looked up some game news. I wound up sending my coworker at night home early because it seemed rather slow. The only people in were some people just grabbing some comics and the group of guys playing miniature games in the back. What sucked, is that the gamers don't like to keep track of time. So, at 9:30, when we officially close, I asked them to pack it up, nicely. It was when they still weren't out 15 minutes later, that I got pissed. So, I started the nights paper work when I would normally be finishing up, and I still needed to get vacuuming done.

Granted, I probably didn't need to vacuum, since I was the only one closing. The store looked bad though, and despite my personal living conditions, I get freaked out if my workplace is cluttered and dirty. I feel to need to impress people with presentation. I did the same thing in college with my dorm room, not that it did me any good. So, I was at work an extra half hour just straightening and cleaning.

On the way home, I should have listened to some karaoke stuff with the window down. That would at least kept me semi-alert. Thank God no one was really on the road at that time. I thought I was hallucinating at one point. It was so bad, and I was so cranky by the time I got home, I snapped at just about anything. It nearly erupted in violence. I wanted to break something, anything. Thankfully, I didn't and opted to just take a nap in front of my computer, or my secondary bed. I felt better after that. It also the reason this is going up late. Good thing I don't have work till 5PM tomorrow.

Perchance to Dream

2010-01-20T02:04:00.003-05:00

Crap. It's already after 2AM and I haven't gotten any writing in yet. Well, here it goes.

Today was a rather boring day in the life of me. I slept terrible through the night. I tossed and turned and dreamed. During one such dream, I was fighting with someone over something, I can't remember. What I can still remember, is waking from it to another dream.

I awoke on my couch in the house I grew up in at the time. Everything was dark. I hadn't realized it was still a dream yet. I tried to turn on the lamp next to my, but it wasn't working. I made my way from the couch and headed toward the door. For some reason, I didn't pay much mind that the door was open. It was even dark outside, an eerie gloom. I flicked the switches that normally light up the living room, and nothing. I tried the other switch for the upstairs hallway, and that didn't work either. I then thought that I may not be in here alone since the door was open. It was at that point that I stared into the blackness of the stars that led to my bedroom, and realized that this was going to turn into a nightmare.

I promptly woke myself up. I tried heading back to sleep, but my heart wasn't having it. It's racing and pounding kept my adrenaline pumping.

Work was fine today. No real complaints. I handled my responsibilities that usually happen on a Tuesday, like dealing with DC Comics and transfers to the other store. I spent most of the day with my co-worker, Greg. He told me that I need to see Hurt Locker. Also, I should see Taking Chance.

Apparently, Taking Chance is about a Marine that he knew when he was in Iraq. The story revolves around a Colonel in the Marines hearing about the death and actions that led to the death of the Marine, Chance. The Colonel personally transports the body to Chance's home. There is a ritual in the Corps that a Marine always brings a Marine home. The Colonel wrote a memoir about his experience with taking Chance and the response and support he received from the many people he came across. Basically, it was a tale that shows that the people here support the troops, even when the troops have no idea how they actually feel about them.

Oh, and Chance was apparently in Greg's battalion. Greg was ordered to remove about 5 guys form his platoon and put them in another. Chance was one that was moved. While the firefight waged that killed Chance in the South, Greg was a bit North in a firefight of his own.

I think it's crazy that I know a guy that was actually over there. I'm sure I probably know a few, but these types of things are strange to discuss. Whenever something military comes up, I usually run it by Greg first.

Other than that, I was going to go to a open mic night to see a coupe friend's perform. I was side-tracked over my friend's place, because I had to drop off a model for him. I wound up just staying there because people were driving like assholes on I-95, and I didn't want to search for parking downtown.

I wound up watching the end of Commando, Predator and a NWA Clash of the Champions from 1988 or something. There was some good discussions on various guy things, like making fun of people who weren't around to defend themselves. I even got into the NWA event. The main event had Ric Flair vs. Sting go to a No Contest after a 45 minute epic. The original Eddie Haskell, a Playmate and the older brother from the Wonder Years were in attendance for it. Still, it was a good wrestling match that definitely reminded me why I like wrestling.

Oh, and the open mic wound up getting canceled anyway.

Ok, I'm going to sleep now. I have work at 9AM till 10 PM. Fun time ahead.

Twas Monday

2010-01-19T02:05:00.005-05:00

It's now after 2AM, and I have yet to write anything for the day. This isn't good considering that it has been about a week since I decided to commence this undertaking.

I'm just sitting here listening to Nine Inch Nails. To be specific, it's Right Where It Belongs off of With Teeth. See all that extra crap just eliminated a few words from my projected 500. Of course, I'm not really having that big a problem reaching that goal. The last post I made consisted of over 700 words. I guess I can be a bit verbose with my prattling.

So, where to begin today? I guess I can talk about work. Seeing as that is where a majority of my day was spent, it is deemed the most likely candidate. Monday is typically a busy day for me, and in some retail in general. That's the day many orders are placed for both new product and replacement product. It's is typically Monday so that the distributors can get the stuff out to the stores by Friday, i.e. the weekend. This Monday was a bit odd in that it was also Martin Luther King Day.

Being MLK Day, many a school and business was closed, being in a mall, it means we were more crowded than usual. Sometimes it's not so bad because some of the regulars sometimes visit and hang around. Basically, it gives me an excuse to kill time while avoiding my actual real work, inventory. There were a few in today playing some of the miniature games. It's frightening how much of this stuff I have absorbed over the years because I can rattle off rules, never having played the game once. There also a bit of "gamer drama" over the past weekend's big tournament. To sum it up, the one regular got screwed out of the #1 position because of a weak painting score. (When you play in miniature tournaments, not only is your playing skill judged, but so is how your army looks and how the army is composed.) Our regular decimated all of his opponents and still only wound up in 3rd. I felt for the guy, but this types of things are one of the reasons I don't get too involved with the competitive aspect of the hobby.

Other than that, I wound up getting my typical inventory done for the DC Comics stuff. I get them out of the way as quickly as possible because my Sales Rep for DC usually calls me in the morning. I need to get the order in before 1PM. It was a short list since the past 2 weeks of orders are still in transit, which were sizable.

For the remainder of the night, I made scenery for our gaming tables. Whenever we are working on making scenery at the store, it draws the attention of people who have no idea what we are doing. Most of our stuff, like hills, buildings and rock formations, are made out of a "pink foam". Basically "pink foam" is insulation foam you can get at Home Depot and the like in 8 feet by 4 feet sheets. We carve the stuff down with knives and other tools, glue stuff together, give it texture and paint it. It's really not as hard as it seems, but I guess I could just be used to it. For the most part, all it requires is time and patience. The picture for this article is similar to what I was doing tonight.

Well, I think that should be enough. I also just remembered that I have laundry in the dryer that needs to be folded. I gotta have them clean drawers.

Instead of video games, try partying

2010-01-17T22:23:00.004-05:00

I have been in front of my computer for almost the entire day. I just haven't been doing anything useful with it.

I guess I will go over what I did the night before, but as for today, nothing even remotely close to productive. My oldest brother, Ted, brought over a couple old video game systems: a Nintendo 64 and Nintendo Gamecube. I already had an N64, but the Gamecube is a welcome addition. With this acquiring, also came a few games. The funny thing is that apparently my brother got the systems from a bar he goes to occasionally. The patrons were apparently taken to play them every so often. What I think is hysterical is that the N64 includes two Pokemon games. On a non-hysterical front, I already own one of the Pokemon games.

Well, last night, I decided to get some writing in before I moved on to other ventures. I thought those ventures were going to consist of finally playing my Xbox after over two weeks of negligence. Turns out that around two minutes after hitting the "post" option, I received a phone call by my friend, James. A party was being held, and he requested my presence.

Let it be said that the announcement of free booze is always a good thing. The party was in Media, PA. Now, if you have never been to Media, it consists of about two main streets of action and excitement surrounded by hills that can make alpine climbers nervous. Of course, it was on these hills where the party lied. The good thing is that getting there was sort of easy. Organized like a grid pattern, my only problem arose in not knowing which street were one way until I already passed them, or missed them all together. Eventually, I found suitable parking, and followed James' instructions of just listening for the noise. He was right in that an outside deck couple probably be heard for blocks.

People were surprised that I had shown. The host, Matt, had no idea how to contact me. It was only later that I even found out that James wasn't even initially invited for the same reasons. I guess I am a tertiary invite. Ah well, I was welcome to be there anyway.

Getting there at about midnight made me stand out. I was definitely the most sober, with possibly the most drunk being a guy, Pete, who was almost making problems for himself. Now, I really don't have any problems with Pete. I just don't really know him. Other people may have voiced a negative opinion, and in my interests to accelerate humor, I lashed out with some bashing of my own. With Pete slurring that there were bucket fulls of people he didn't think were his type, I responded with "They're called women." As far as I know, he isn't gay, but he can seem that way at times. Still, he took it as a sad drunk and just agreed. I actually felt bad at the point and just backed off.

There was an actual gay man at the party, Derek. He is actual a pretty cool guy. He's one of those gay people that doesn't hide what they are, but being gay doesn't define who he is in life. It also helped that he was wearing a comic book t-shirt.

The party was evaporating since before I showed up. There was good beer to be had in some dark ale on tap, which I no forget the name of. It had a chocolate taste, and seemed expensive to have a quarter keg of it. It was tasty though. Soon after 2 AM, things were definitely on a down swing. I wound up taking a couple friends home.

After dropping one off only a few blocks away, I had to head through curvy roadways to get to the other's house. On the way, a deer was nice enough to stand in the road before me. I didn't even hesitate and just went around it. This prompted hysterical laughter from my drunk friend. I only found out later that that probably wasn't the best course of action and things could have been much worse under different circumstances. Sill, it was memorable for the time.

So, there you have it. I wound up doing something aside from just playing video games for an evening. I think I need to get away from the computer now.

B-Game

2010-01-16T22:50:00.003-05:00

Wow. I have almost no energy today. It's like someone stuck a straw in me and sucked out all the fun. I did have family over, so that could be it.

Well, I had a pretty good time at the bar last night. It started off rather boring with no one I usually talk to there, so instead I talked with a girl I have a passing acquaintance with. i know who she is and all, it's just that we never really talk. I apparently switched to my B-game for the night and was just having a good time while not being as overboard as I can be.

Since I didn't go to the boxing match, it seemed like everyone else did. Hence why no one I knew was actually at the bar. It took till around 11Pm for everyone to role in from the festivities. Shockingly enough, Joe, who I was going to see fight, actually won the title in a decision What I didn't know was that the whole fight was around 3 minutes long. 3 one minute rounds to be exact. Hardly seemed worth it for a championship match. Joe didn't get to keep the belt, but he did get to pose with it for a while. Apparently, they had to use the same belt for the other boxers who were champions.

An old friend of mine, Bill, attended the match and showed up at the bar later. I haven't seen or talked with him in a while, so it was good to catch up. I wound up say goodbye to him twice that night, since he was stopped and talked with some of the lovely ladies that were there. Hell, even I talked with some random strangers. I was in a good enough mood, I just really had no rhythm. I mean that literally. I couldn't follow the beat of the music at all. It's like I suddenly realized I was white.

Usually, I can get into the groove of whatever is playing. Last night, I was a skipping record. As hard as I tried, I couldn't feel the beat. I may just blame the lack of hip-hop that was missing for the night. Something circa 1992 would have sufficed to kick-start my hip gyrating.

At one point I wound up talking with one girl a the jukebox as she attempted to fill it with dollars. They weren't working. I helped and we laughed at some ridiculous stuff that was already on there without even using the fancy, Internet-age Super Search. You know the expensive thing that lets you play the songs you actual want to hear for an inflated price. As the night progressed, my friend, Joe (not a boxer) egged me on to close the deal. I didn't because... I 'm a coward. Still, I was having a good time regardless. The girl was friendly and talked with many other guys, most of which attempted further acknowledgment and failed. It was only at nearly close that Joe (not a boxer) swooped in to play cleanup. He wound up with the number, despite the heckling of the bartender. Apparently, the bartender thought Joe (not a boxer) stole the girl out from under me. That didn't happen, I just sort of gave up interest.

Joe (not a boxer) called me tonight to explain himself. I told him I was probably the only person that didn't care that he did that, which is the truth. He's my friend. He looked out for me, thought I wasn't interested and pursued his own interests. I can't blame him for that.

I didn't do anything tonight. So, no fancy story about a rip-roaring Saturday night. I woke up late after getting in at 5:30 AM. I wound up hitting up a diner after the bar fiasco. Then family came over, and that was fine. We headed to my store to grab a couple things. I then proceeded to get tired in front of the computer for lack of an proper stimulus. Now, here I am writing this.

I'm going to go play video games.

Game Learnin'

2010-01-15T20:43:00.003-05:00

If I plan on writing today, I should probably do it now. Chances are, whenever I get home from the bar, I will be too tired or something to do anything constructive, aside from make a hot pocket.

I was going to go to an amateur boxing match tonight. A flip of the coin, literally, made me choose not to attend. Sometimes, yes, I do rely on an actual coin flip to make my decisions, much like Mr. Harvey Dent. Unfortunately, my coin isn't a double heads one with one side scarred.

The boxing match that was on the bill involves the owner of a bar I go to called Marty McGee's. Joe McGee is going to attempt to win some championship from the nephew of Sylvester Stallone. I wish I was making that up. Part of the reason I didn't go is that I wasn't really going to know anyone there. Another part was that I want a drink and doubt they would have good beer there at reasonable prices. I'll just save my $30 and put it toward more beer at Joe's bar instead.

Work was all right for the most part. It being Friday, I had most of my normal stuff for the week already finished. There was only some minor things I needed to take care of. The unfortunate thing was that we didn't receive one of the shipments we were supposed to get today. Games Workshop holds the largest line of models we sell in the store. Their game of Warhammer 40,000 just released a new rule book for one of their armies, along with some new models. New army stuff generally means greater sales. The rule of thumb is that the new army is usually the best one at the time. The good thing is that we sold out of nearly most of the stuff we received on Wednesday. The bad thing is that our reorder that was supposed to come today was delayed somewhere along the line, so we may not have some of the popular stuff for the weekend.

Instead, I occupied my time with other orders. A game shipment with almost two dozen card packs for "Living Card Games". Basically a Living Card Game consists of something that used to be a standard collectible card game (CCG). The most popular collectible card game is Magic:The Gathering. What happened is that these older CCGs went away due to poor sales and the like. The company that holds the license thinks they can still make some coin off it, so they republish it somehow. They box up sets of the card to make a playable card game that removes the deck building excitement of getting random cards. They make a boxed base set, they produce "chapter packs" that add on to the base set for extended play. Now there is no randomness to the cards, like 15 card booster packs. Instead yo get 40 card chapter pack that hold a certain theme. I believe we carry 3 different Living Card Games: Game of Thrones, Call of Cthuhlu, and Warhammer: Invasion.

Other than that, it was some new miniature model company called Red Box Games that I had to scrounge the Internet for prices.

Ok, that should be a good amount for the moment. I am off to go get my drink on. Have a good night fair people that are bored enough on a Friday night to read this drivel. Even if I don't entertain, maybe you can learn something.

Over the course of a couple hours.

2010-01-14T23:21:00.004-05:00

You know, it's depressing when after making a sandwich, you look and realize the bread is moldy.

That's what I get for making my food with turning on the light. I was relying on ambient lighting. Everything seemed fine as I was prepping everything and slathering on the condiments. Now, I really want a sandwich.

I didn't get much done today. Well, at work I got some stuff done, but other than that, not much. I woke up much later than I expected. I guess I needed the rest. I don't really regret staying in bed for that long. Come to think of it, I probably would not have accomplished much before work anyway. It's hard to get properly motivated when I know that I will have to stop whatever it is I am doing and head into work.

One of the things that does suck, is that my windshield wiper fluid sprayer doesn't work. This probably wouldn't be such a big deal, if there wasn't frost on my car every single time I need to get in it. It's exceptionally bad considering that my car seems to attract dirt and grim easier than a drunk girl near last call.

During the morning drive, it's bearable. No glaring lights diffuse in my vision, so I can navigate quite well. Sadly, since this is still winter, the daylight fades early, and I am forced to deal with other's headlights. Oncoming headlights are one of my least favorite things about driving. It seems that most cars are just high enough, or angle well enough, to shoot right into my rods and cones. With the widow a little blurry, it increases the radius of the lights projected at me. This leads to much more reliance on the whole automatic driver thing, while I pray someone isn't on the road in front of me.

Since it is so cold, as I attempt to clean my windows with a solution of glass cleaner and rubbing alcohol, frost still occurs. Apparently, the whole alcohol thing was supposed to prevent that, but it doesn't really. I clean the things, and then they just frost over a bit again, just a little. It is only after a trip to the gas station where I can actually clean my windows. Apparently, using a squeegee is the only form of window cleaning my car will allow.

I'm also starting to get into the habit of just listening to iTunes whenever I am in front of the computer. I used to leave the television on as background noise, but that usually makes me try and find something decent on. Nothing ever good is really on at midnight, and [adult swim] isn't nearly as well done as it was years ago. Sometimes I just slap on Good Eats and wind up sitting down to actually watch it. If only I actually took the initiative to actually cook.

Over the last few months, I have added a ton of music onto my computer. The past week or so saw the addition of about 10 or so CDs worth of music. I have decided to not really put them in specific playlists. I used to have my whole computer listen by album, but that was a long list to scroll through every time. Now, I just get surprised whenever I hit random.

Cold, Tired, Rambling... What else is new.

2010-01-14T02:41:00.003-05:00

It is incredibly cold in my house. I worked a long time. 13 hours at the job with almost all of it on my feet moving around. Thank Christ I remembered to wear my sneakers today. I even had that discussion with myself in the morning. I sat at the edge of my bed and contemplated what I should wear. I then remembered that since it's new book day, that I would probably be standing a while filling subs and walking to the counter. Turns out I was right. Go me.

It is actually a little painful to type. After such a long day, became extremely tired. With the pre-work routine, I stopped at Wawa. I grabbed some standard breakfast stuff, but also opted for an energy drink that I swore I was going to need. I didn't even really eat anything throughout the day. I had my Wawa Sizzli thing about an hour after I should, but a quick reheat in the microwave made it palatable. I sloshed the remaining hours sipping from a half gallon of iced tea. It was easier to get one of those then attempt to procure varied drinks, especially considering the cost. The only other nourishment was around 3 or so with a package of Nutter Butters. Then I didn't have anything. Pure will power got me through the day. I should be a damn Green Lantern.

Needless to say, I passed out shortly after I got home. Manwich was on the menu and I needed anything. It's surprising how great things taste when you haven't eaten anything in a while. I even had my energy drink from before. I knew I wanted to be semi-conscious to attempt this whole writing ordeal, but my body didn't agree. Even after drinking some of the magical wake-me potion, I proceeded to pass out at the computer... again. It's like this chair is my second bed. Thankfully, I am gifted with being able to sleep anywhere. I even used to fall asleep on my Big Wheel when I was a kid. Eventually, after sleeping through the local news and Letterman, I woke to Craig Ferguson's voice going over emails. At least I was awake, now, after the power nap and swigging the remainder of the energy drink.

The only problem I ran into was a topic to write about. I haven't had a solid topic for the 3 days I have done this. Granted, I guess you could say that the first post consisted of a topic, i.e. the premise of trying to write consistently. Throughout the day, I come across various things, but I tend to ignore them about 10 minutes after the moment passes.

I did read an article today that intrigued me. I picked up a copy of The Writer magazine in the vain hope that I might get bitten by a muse if I learn some techniques. Nothing has clicked yet, but the one article was about the key to good writing. In it the author, Randall Silvis, states that connecting to the reader is the most important job. I agree with this. for me the whole purpose of writing, especially fiction writing, is to have the reader enjoy what they are doing. Granted with technical writing there is a discourse for information, so I guess there are exceptions. Still, I liked the idea that stories are generally intended to be felt and not necessarily contemplated. Well, the main purpose is to be felt at least. I know that when I am reading something, I tend to stay more engrossed with it if it tugs at emotion rather than overly complicated cleverness.

I feel the same thing with music. If something I listen to just seems too processed or that the musician or writer/artist is trying to hard to convey their message, they probably aren't doing her job properly. Allegories exist because they entertain. Yes, they are created to show a current problem or to help people understand something, but at it's core things are better understood if the story is clear to the heart.

Almost Unwritten

2010-01-13T00:56:00.003-05:00

I've been sitting with a tab for this blog open for a couple hours now. It doesn't help that about 3 of those hours consisted of me passing out at the computer. I should really get a proper sleeping schedule. I just like the night too much to really give it up.

Anyway, I guess you can say I was tired. I don't really sleep that well to start. It doesn't help matters that I only feel compelled to do things at the wee hours of the morning. Still, I actually need to get up for work early tomorrow. It's Wednesday, so that means new comics will be out. I have to get in early to prep them and pull all the books our subscribers request. See, at my store, and most stores, there is a service where the store will hold comics that a customer will buy on a regular basis. I call these customers "Subs".

For the most part the whole thing is mainly just time consuming. I am thankfully gifted with a pretty good memory, so it doesn't require me to scan every book every time I look at a subs file. You have to understand that it's not like only 20 or so books come out in a week. On average, my store gets around 70 to 80 different titles. That's just for one week. That's not counting the number of titles people get every month.

For our service, we require a minimum of 5 books for the subscription service. It pretty much has to be worth our while to spend time making sure the customer gets their stuff. Plenty of people want stuff held till they show, but most times it's only a book or two. Having a ton of bags with names behind the counter with only a book or two each can get quite cumbersome.

The only good thing about tomorrow is that it isn't that big of a week, so it should go pretty quick. For starters, I usually pull my personal books first. Hell, I work there, so I call dibs. I also get a fairly large quantity of titles thanks to a generous discount. Looking over all the titles for the first time, with a fresh set of eyes, allows me to kick-start short term memory. If I get the book, I have a better retention of that knowledge.

Looking at the list I made for tomorrow, I think I am only looking forward to one book: Unwritten #9. The premise of the book is to basically take Harry Potter, stick him as a person in the real world that just happens to share the characters name, and toss in a ton of literary references. It's very well done, and the first collection should be available. Sadly, we don't have it at the store at the moment because our distributor was kind enough to short (read as didn't send) all of our copies of it. Go them.

Of course, there will be plenty of things that I will read through the week. It's just that I am extremely far behind on a lot of books I collect. Hell, I have been getting Hellblazer since before issue 100 (it's now past 260) and I don't think I have read that book in about 5 or 6 years. It is the longest book I have consistently picked up though.

Filler: Now with more kittens!

2010-01-12T02:19:00.003-05:00

Turns out that I didn't write 500 words with the last post or with current ramblings through social networking sites.

Right now, this is even more difficult because I have a kitten constantly jumping onto my lap as I am typing. It is quite annoying. If he isn't jumping in my lap, he likes to just sit in front of the screen, waiting for the mouse pointer to move.

Cinder, the new kitten, has been in my home for a little over a month I think. It could be longer. I have no real concept of time when it comes to these things. Hell, I see movies on cable and think I just watched them in the theater when it was really 5 years ago they were released. Thankfully, Cinder has been declawed in the front. He used to tear my back up. He has a tendency to jump on the back of the computer chair, then slide down between my back and the back of the chair. When he wanted to move, he would take it upon himself to use my back a a step ladder to my shoulder. This was all just a set-up to sit in front of the computer screen to bat at the arrow whisking its' way across the flat surface.

I don't have a camera in front of me, so there is no picture at the time of writing. If it's not Cinder getting up in my business, it's the oldest, Stripe. She constantly wants to sit in people's laps now. There is no way to deter her. She thinks she moves slow enough so that she isn't noticed. Well, she actually does move slow enough so that the bell around her neck rarely makes any noise. For a solid 2 hours, I had to keep trying to get Stripe to stay off of me. Nothing working, including a water spray bottle. The only thing to keep her from doing it, is to just move and do something else.

Ok, I think I have enough of a start. I'm going to go get some sleep now.

Plan for 2010

2010-01-11T23:00:00.003-05:00

OK, here is what I am going to try and do. Now, I am not really one to make New Year's resolutions. I have a nasty habit of never really following them. I don't even work toward the pursuit of a positive resolution. Still, this is something that I probably should do regardless of resolutions.

I want to write. To get me to try and do that, I am going to attempt to write about 500 words a day. Now, that isn't much, but it adds up over time. Now, I am not relegating all words to one specific thing. Everything will not be placed on this or any other blog as some sort of track record. All I want to do is just write stuff.

I am including blog entries (like this one), forum posts (were ever it is that I venture), and even tweets/status updates. I am only including such minuscule things to give me sort of a buffer for the word counts for the one person that will be an asshole about this whole ordeal. Granted, I don't think many people will even bother reading half the shit I post, so I doubt many people will try and count the words. I have no idea if I am going to decide to back track an make up for the days since the New Year, but I'm just taking this one step at a time.

The idea just sprang on me today, limited word requirement and all. I have told all of one person in the flesh. Of course, it was some one who keeps wanting me to write. The irony is that he has never read anything I have written.m Part of the concept is derived from my friend's attempt to fill a sketchbook by the end of the year. What started as a sketch a day, quickly became 4 sketches a week, with the excuse that the book only had 220 pages (110 sheets) in it. Whatever. I just want hm to work. His talent needs to be encouraged, and the only way he'll do anything with it is if he has a purpose.

So, that's the plan. With any luck things will come from this. I need to get warmed up to write some creative stuff soon.

Update Dec 27, 2009

2009-12-27T23:26:00.002-05:00

I've been ignoring this blog a lot recently. I have no real excuse. Lack of inspiration at the time of writing is the problem. I'll be at work and a cool idea will pop into my head, but leaves shortly when there is no way to write it down.

For an update, at the moment, I am attempting another new mix. No set theme at the moment. It might just be stuff I started to listen to this year. Last year, I made a New Year mix, and even burn a bunch of copies for people, but never gave them out to anyone. This year, i will with hold the burning in favor of just enjoying a mix for me. Personal things and all.

It may even be a double CD mix, but I will probably tri it down to just one whenever I settle on a theme. So far, there is stuff all over the place with many song being things that I like from the radio.

I am also supposedly writing a script for a friend of mine. He's looking for portfolio pieces in comci sequential art. It's only to be about 6 pages, so I am trying to wrap my head around an idea that condense. You have to figure it's a standard 6 panel grid, so it's 36 panels to work with, but that doesn't include expansive panel layouts and cheesecake shots. I'll think of something. I just need an idea with minimal characters and simple story taht could be told with little or no dialog.

Christmas was fine. Had most of my family over for dinner and such. Nowhere to hide. I got some gift cards, a video game, lots of clothes and a GPS unit.

New Years Eve should be interesting to say the least. I have a love hate relationship with the end of the year. I look forward to new prospects, but hate the hype of the end of the year party. Too many expectations.

Sound of Silence

2009-12-07T02:55:00.005-05:00

See, the weird thing is that I had plenty of time and topics to write abut over the last week. I just didn't have a functioning computer with internet access to actually compose my thoughts. It's kind of sad that I resort my self to technology as a crutch to write.

In any case, I guess it's time for an update.

It is solidly in the Christmas season at work. Hours officially changed with Black Friday, but now are staring to effect me. See, for the first few weeks, only weekends were really effected, with opening early and staying open late. Now, this week, the whole week has early openings and late closings. My Wednesday is going to suck, since it is then that I both open and close. In fact I have to go in before open to get work done then. I'm going to need some Red Bulls or something.

My Thanksgiving was all right. It was vastly different than past years. Instead of my home playing host to my immediate family, I joined my mom in center city Philadelphia for an extended family Thanksgiving. My brother was married on the next day, so with his wife's family in from another state, they had Thanksgiving dinner at the hotel were the wedding was to be held. It's strange having such a classic meal with menu options. Don't worry, I had the turkey choice. It was good, but nothing like a home cooked meal. I am also surprised how many people actually go out to eat for Thanksgiving. There was over 100 reservations for the hotel restaurant. Granted our party was most of it, but it still seems like a lot.

My brother, Chris, was married on Black Friday. This was significant because it gave me the greatest excuse (aside from a death) to not have to be at work. An added bonus was the extended days off, my first 4 day weekend/vacation since I was sick in January 2008. It was a good ceremony. It seemed non-denominational. They aren't actively practicing anything that I know of. Still, it was good to see all of my family. It is an extremely rare occasion when even my immediate family is all in one place. I talked with cousins, and generally had a good time. I drank and danced and tried my best to ignore my coming sickness. It never fails that I get sick to some degree whenever I am away from work for extended time.

Saturday started day one of house sitting. Since my brother was recently married and heading to a honeymoon in Belize, I was drafted to house sit and watch his cat, Blue. To describe it in a word, I would use "lonely". I didn't have a computer to connect with he outside world, so I settled for ondemand television and seasons of old TV on DVD. I finished up Generation Kill, Fear Itself and The Adventures of Brisco County Junior. I also brought my Xbox 360 to hook up to the HD television... Well, I hoped to at least.

The cords I had were for standard definition. I thought they may work in some capacity anyway. even if I didn't have the ful HD experience, I could at least connect it to the the internet and play some Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 online. Hell, with the new Xbox updates, I could even check my twitter and Facebook accounts. I held out for a day and headed to Gamestop the following afternoon. There I broke down and bought the HDMI cables needed for full High def experience. That was a good $50 right there. Then I headed to RadioShack and grabbed a 3ft ethernet cord for $10. I was in a good mood. I was going to waste away the rest of my solitude filled nights with mass killing of virtual people. I opend the packaging for the HDMI cable and set to connect it to the TV. Were the cable now connected to the TV, it didn't connect to the Xbox. Apparently, I have an early model that didn't support HDMI. Well, there's wasted money. Instead of getting too annoyed, I opted to attach the Xbox to the TV that was in the bedroom I was staying in. It didn' have internet access, but at least I could get some use out of it. I resorted to played a couple nights of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2.

Now, if you read this blog with any frequency, you may have perused the one written about the date I had. It was fun. We went out a couple times over the next few weeks. We talked nearly everyday. Then Thanksgiving came, and there was silence. With attempted phone calls and text messages left unanswered, I am just assuming the worst. I just have no idea what the hell happened. I'm not going to try calling again until I hear something back. There are other things I should be focusing on, like Christmas.

Project: Mix CD

2009-11-15T22:54:00.004-05:00

I spent the last couple hours doing something I should have done a long time ago. For the past few years (read this as about 8 or so) I have been making mix CDs. Before that, it was the mix tape because I didn't have a computer capable of burning CDs . Since I have purchused a new computer, I have yet to re-synch my iPod with it. See, my iPod still has the track listings of most of the mixes that were on my original computer before it broke on me. Now, I am going through those playlists and making a hard list of the songs in case I ever need to make them again.

One of the unfortuneate things is that all of the mixes I have mde aren't represented digitally on my iPod. For that I need to rediscover the actual burned discs I created oh so many years ago.

For the past few years, a group of friends, collectively known as The Schmibb, have been making mix CDs and sharing them with each other. I have done this with them as well. They have produced a grand variety of mixes that I still listen to this day. It's nice that there can be some purpose behind the whole mix CD thing. My only problem with it is that my direction toward these shared mix parties usually makes me think of something either obscure or something to fill their tastes. I personally think some of my favorite mixes I have made tend to be personal, even to the point of just being songs I like at the time.

For example, here is the track listing for one I did probably about 5 years ago. It was around the time the Sin City movie had it's trailer being shown by my seeking out and using the song from the commercial as the opening track.

Kevin 3

The Servent – Cells
Phantom Planet – Big Brat
Sparta – Breaking The Broken
The Killers – Mr. Brightside
Sunny Day Real Estate – Seven
Hum – Stars
Keane – Somewhere Only We Know
Muse – Hysteria
Foo Fighters – The One
Dashboard Confessional – Vindicated
Queens Of The Stone Age – Little Sister
The Mars Volta – The Widow
Interpol – Evil
My Chemical Romance – I'm Not Okay
Beck – Epro
Pavement – Stereo
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Soul to Squeeze
Harvey Danger – Flagpole Sitta
Living Colour – Cult of Personality
Nine Inch Nails – The Line Begins to Blur

I know. It's such a snazzy title for a mix CD, right? It's Kevin 3 because I made 2 before that. The problem is they were never on my old computer and from my iMAC days. God, I haven't used that thing in forever. It's 9GB hard drive shies in comparison to today's 1TB semi-standard. Still, I have the CDs for them. I have to reliste and transcribe the songs. I'm going to have trouble with the second one. It has a few sound clips from various shows throughout. I think I still have all of them somewhere.

Eventually, I will have them all transcribed. I may even be brazen enough to dig through my mix tapes and attempt a similar thing. That's really going to show some age.

In which our hero reveals stuff.

2009-11-06T00:20:00.004-05:00

I haven't written anything in nearly a month. See, I had this neat idea where since it's my 101st post here, I would treat it like a syllabus or things about me section. That's probably not going to happen though. I'm not quite sure how to start something that off. Instead, you get me just banging on keys.

I wouldn't say my distraction away from the whole blog thing was because of more interesting matters. For the most part, I just attribute it to laziness. I never said I was the most proactive when it came to the extra curriculars. Hell, I was really in any clubs in high school or college. I should have been, but shied away for probably stupid reasons.

This weekend is shaping up to be pretty good. After a full and interesting Halloween weekend, the follow up constitutes extensions from the Halloween bash as well as precursors to others. To start I have a date on Friday. Sadly, this didn't spring from some smooth note I dropped on a filly, but rather sheer chance and being myself.

Mischief Night was interesting. My plans consisted of heading to my normal watering hole because they were hosting their Halloween party. I dressed in a great stand-by costume I have worn years ago, Run DMC. Track suit, chain, fake Adidas sneakers, and an actual Kangol hat received great response. The night brought many people dancing and such. I sat around the bar and mainly talked with friends. As the evening drove on, things became more relaxed as people overcame inhibition and succumbed to fun. I talked to the current DJ at the time, Kevin, and he told me that if he played Run DMC's "Tricky", I would have to go dance. I told him I would. He put it on right away. No one was on the dance floor, but I was just looking for fun and went to dance anyway. chance happened that a girl dressed as Goldilocks started dancing with me. We talked, moved off the dance floor after I was finished lookin'-a-fool. Numbers were eventually exchanged and diner food was to be had.

That's all you're getting for now.

Saturday is a full event. My brother, Chris, is getting hitched on Black Friday. So, his best man, my brother Matt, is throwing the bachelor party. For a nominal fee, I get to head into Philly with a gaggle of guys to apparently learn some stuff through a historic tour. Now, knowing Matt, historical could mean Philadelphia landmarks, like the Liberty Bell and such, or could easily transpire as the oldest bars in the area. The evening will consist of apparently standard bachelor fare, with a trip of debauchery where you can't touch the goods, but they can touch you. Fortunately, I am staying in the city for the night for safety reasons. I have no excuse not to get crazy, right?

Currently, as I type, Fiona Apple is playing in the background. I'm trying to envision where I should take my date (no you aren't even getting a name). We have discussed a couple things, but I believe dinner will be first. Some establishment in Media, will more than likely be the venue. After the meal, we will play it by ear, or as long as my wallet holds out. Depending on how she drinks could be a long night, or a very short one. I know I don't need much in the way of alcohol for a good time. Hell, I think my intoxication will come solely from just being out on the town with someone wanting to have a good time with me.

Do Something

2009-10-06T23:49:00.003-04:00

This is my 100th post on this blog since I created it.

This is the first blog I have written since I bought my new computer, which is already giving me problems. This is even typed on a fresh keyboard less then a week old.

I felt the need that I should write something. I haven't written anything in a while, but that is typical for me. If you were to actually go through all the blogs I have actually posted, either here or on Myspace, you will see a trend of prattle about how I don't know what to write. This is entirely accurate because I seeming lack direction. I don't know where I am going or what I am going to do. The funny thing is that I am not rout with depression. Typically that hits people with writers block. I am starting to think that I don't have writer's block, but rather lack of focus.

The past couple weeks, friends of mine have started to post again on their respective blogs. This was sort of a wake-up call. If they felt they could return to the land of cyber-journalism, why the hell couldn't I?

The summer saw an internet drought. People just stopped communicating for a while. Maybe everyone discovered the wonders of Facebook, I know I did. I started a page and nearly became obsessed with it on a daily basis. It was almost to the point where I needed to read the status updates of people. Hell, for the longest time I had a tab on my browser open to Facebook in case there was a status update or god-willing a personal notification. I closed it for this writing because I knew it was going to be a distraction.

Then a week or so ago, I opened my RSS feeder, and there were updates from people. Granted the standard, "celebrity" blogs still showed, but the personal blogs of people I have actually visited the homes of were there as well. It was like they didn't even skip a beat from where they left off many months ago. From stories of work hardships and the wonderments of trying not to date, to the expiditions of a mother and excitement for a new book, the screen glowed. With both feet they jumped in. Why shouldn't I attempt the same?

There in lies the problem, though. I don't feel I am particularly interesting. I even asked a friend of mine a couple weekends ago why they even bother with me, I don't do anything. I don't live an exciting life. I don't do interesting things. He just told me that I don't give myself enough credit. This is probably true. He also said that I can at least hold a conversation, and sometimes that's all one needs.

Now, I still don't think I have any real structure to this whole blog thing. I'm not going to write about the club scene or how to make a brownie pudding cake. I'm not even going to focus on comic books, wresting and/or video games, things I know something about. I feel there are better, well more informed sites for that. So, for now, I will stick with simple entertainment. I am going to write about whatever I want to. Whether it's the day I had at work or a drunken night at the bar, and the mistakes I made, I will just write. I will attempt though to keep a steady voice and shovel in my attempts at humor. While I may fall flat on my face, I will still try and Do Something.

To Whom It May Discern

2009-09-24T01:57:00.004-04:00

Hey, I haven't written anything in a while. Well, actually, I did write something a couple weeks ago, but I never posted it. I was drinking, which isn't surprising on a weekend. I rambled, which is par for the course. It was probably about loneliness or something similar. It's sort of a reoccurring theme. I like themes.

In any case, I need a new computer. I am borrowing my mom's laptop whenever I can. There is a current desktop... working (if you want to call it that). It does function but has the memory of a can of tuna. Bad analogy. Fish is supposed good for the mind. Still, it can store many gigs of stuff, but can't run two programs at once, like Firefox and Word. Even iTunes is a problem, considering the sound doesn't even work on the thing. Headphones don't even produce. It's like my computer is channeling Marley Madlin.

It exceptionally warm at the moment. Like summer is still grasping at my sweat glands. I remember a few days ago it was almost chilly. I like wearing my sweat-jacket. It has extra pockets.

I have no idea what the hell is planned for my life this weekend. Next weekend, different story. My coworker, Tim, is getting married. As such, I have to work. Granted, I was theoretically invited to attend, but I sacrificed for work. See, Tim is the renter of his place from my boss, i.e. he lives on the same property. That sort of trumps the guy (me) he sees every week. Boss man gets to enjoy the festivities of drunken revelry. This will probably amount to boss drinking a girly drink or two and then flexing his gamer muscles. I am glad I will not witness it. I wish Time the best though. In all likelihood, he is probably trying to say those nuptials soon, so that he can begin prepping his haunted house.

What sucks is that I could have gone paint-balling with my brother, Matt, that Saturday. Also, I will have my place to myself. Mom's in NY for my soon-to-be sister-in-law's one bridal shower. The brother an his girlfriend are heading on a cruse. I get to stay in and probably play Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 if I haven't finished it by then.

Now, I just watch Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog twice. Once was normal, then with the musical commentary, which is just great and has nearly nothing to do with the actual movie. Go watch it.

Weekend Round-Up 8/17/2009

2009-08-17T00:15:00.003-04:00

I haven't written anything in forever, which is how most of these things start.

Things to note this past weekend:

Friday: It was a decent day at work. I didn't get some of the stuff done that I wanted to, but it's all right. I can just deal with it tomorrow. Some of the kids showed up and proceeded to kill some of my work boredom with various ridiculousness. I call them kids, but they are going to be freshmen at Temple in a week or two. One of them proceeded to tell me of a Mastodon/Dethklok concert in November. I should actually go to that. It falls on a Sunday at the Electric Factory. I wonder if anyone else is thinking of going.

That night, I attended the Olde City Sideshow at National Mechanics in Philly. I didn't know anyone there aside from the members of the sideshow. The performance was good, though. It was the first time I witnessed the show with a break in the middle, and also the first slip-up. I won't give details, but suggest you see the live performance because you never know what will happen. I hung around late and helped with what little carrying my frame can handle. The city is a bit eerie around 3AM when the streets are populated with the remnants of straggling drunkards.

Saturday: My goal was to just hang out at home and play video games or watch a movie. That didn't happen. I wound up sweating in the heat, mowing my lawn and attempting to do some trimming as well. Almost like clockwork, when I finished, my phone rang. A few friends were heading into Media, PA for a bar trip. I didn't find out till I got over my friend's house that said trip was for some girl's birthday. It wasn't a bad time. Many people showed up, unfortunately none of the friends the birthday girl asked to come, though. I barely knew her, but it being a birthday, bought her first drink. I hate how expensive some bars are that really shouldn't be. A Yuengling Lager should never cost more than $3, especially when there isn't a topless girl in front of me. Still conversations were had. Talks of me possibly trying to cook. The desire to buy a wok. Now, I want Chinese food. The night ended with Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie and late-night McDonalds.

Sunday: I actually had a plan for Sunday. I went to the movies with a friend from work to see District 9. It was a 1PM showing, and I am not used to leaving a movie theater with the sun still out. The movie was good. We talked for a while afterward about comics and such. The shade was nice in the hot weather. The three minutes near our cars felt like I was going to ignite. It was like someone had a voodoo doll of me they were burning in effigy. A trip to Target was in order for cat litter purposes. Unfortunately, no toys were bought. I did pick up a Mastodon CD because I didn't have any, and felt deprived.

When I got home, I was hungry, and asked my mom what she wanted to do for dinner. My brother went with his girlfriend to her parents, so My mom suggested Applebees. I don't think I was ever at Applebees before. We enjoyed the 2 for 20 deal, and it is well worth it. It seemed like half the staff were pretty blondes. It was almost surreal, like carbon copies. The mail-man must have had a good time about 20 years ago.

Sunday night consisted of HBO programming. True Blood was good. Hung was excellent. Entourage was good if only for the Johnny Drama portions. To follow that, it's DVR wrestling... while writing this.

So, there you have it. Words from me to my audience, whomever you are. I'm not making promises of writing more. They always fall through. I will tough promise to attempt more creativity.

Lack of updates

2009-07-26T17:34:00.003-04:00

I think I'm depressed.

Now, I don't think I'm cliniclly depressed or anything. I certainly have some of the same drive I typically have. Also, Sunday tends to be a rather restful day without much excitement. I just think things are kind of low for me.

Sure I just attended a friend's wedding. This could attribute to some feeling of lonliness. I don't believe it's the only factor though. The could make me sluggish. Spending an entire week alone could also do it. I have been watching my brother's place for a week so far, and have yet to have anyone over. I just don't know what kind of fun I could have here as a host for people.

As I was writing this, I distracted myself woth Facebook to scour for ideas. None happened. Instead I succombed to the heat and napped in a chair listening to a videogame podcast. Such is my life.

In any case, I feel like I just exist. You can tell from how boring this blog is as to how boring I feel. Lack of updates just means I feel I haven't done anything interesting.

Distractions

2009-07-14T02:26:00.003-04:00

I had a tab open to this window all night with the chance that I may actually write something. I kept getting distracted by other things.

The final distraction was actual work I typically need for my job. Ok, I don't really need it, but it is useful to me. I make a list of everything I think we are getting in to the store comic-wise, along with the appropriate code. I do it to have some resource where I know I can reorder something if I have to. It is partially archaic, but it's all I have. At the moment, there is no universal database for comic reordering. I also don't have direct access to the main distributors excell sheet. I hand write every order on paper and fax it it. Yes, I know how to use a fax machine. My rep on the other end then has to type every code into the appropriate box followed by the right quantity. It is a long process.

I find that I have a tendency to meet people and not get their names. It happened again today. Sadly, it wasn't a woman. It was a guy who works in a similar position to me at a store in DC. He was happy just to gripe to someone who understands.

I am tired and need sleep. My brain isn't functioning properly. It is still clouded by sick fogginess. It is clearing but rest is usually need for regeneration.

M.I.A.

2009-07-07T02:14:00.002-04:00

I have been neglecting my blog.

I have my reasons.

They may not be good reasons, but, damnit, I have them.

Facebook: The beginning

2009-06-26T00:31:00.006-04:00

I joined Facebook.

I have no idea what to do with it. It is still new to me. Many people have been on the thing for years, and I feel like I was just birthed. I can't even open my eyes to it.

It feels strange. I don't even know what it is capable of. I just don't want to use it as clutter. I want to see how it can be a tool. It is a social network. Increasing the web higher than just two other people is the start.

Joker Sketchbook: 1 Year Later

2009-06-18T01:17:00.004-04:00

OK. It's almost time for Wizard World Philly. That means a visit to the Joker Sketchbook.

I originally started the Joker Sketchbook last year. I grabbed it at Hot Topic in the mall where I work. This was about the time right before The Dark Knight was hitting the theaters. Staring at it along with all the other movie merchandise, I came up with an idea. Many people start character sketchbooks. They go to conventions and wherever to meet with established comic artists and ask them to contribute to the book. The end result is to be a great tribute to a certain character. Granted, choosing The Joker is not the most original concept, but my desired contributors are a different choice.

I actually brought it to Wizard World Philly last year. I had only two pieces done in it at the time. I was going to attempt to grab some professional talent while at the convention. I didn't for two reasons: 1) I am cheap, and 2) I am a coward and can't ask a professional artist to draw me something. So, instead of the likely suspects, I chose to focus on artist that I knew personally.

My friend James Colon was actually working at Hot Topic at the time, and sold me the sketchbook. I thought it was only fair to allow him to christen it.

The second was by far the quickest sketch yet, clocking in at only a minute or two. John Baxter was a regular in the store. From talking to him a few times, I knew he liked to draw. I even checked his Myspace for some of his renditions of Daredevil and Superman. He was more than happy to do it, and I was more than happy to let him.

Next up chronologically, was my good friend Ken Miller. I've known Ken for years. We grew up together. He went to art school, and all, so I figured he was an easy fit.

My friend Donald Downie opened up 2009 with his contribution. Another regular at the store, Don is an artist, but mainly works with making jewelery. He asked to contribute, and I happily handed him the book. Don is also a huge Green Lantern fan, and you can see it in his art. Joker is presented with a certain gift that would be very bad were he ever to actually have. Don also gets style points for using a purple glitter pen.

Last, but not least, so far, Greg Taylor claims this isn't finished, but I'm putting it up anyway. Greg is a former Marine and regular at the store. He has aspirations to start his own comic at some point.

So, there you have it. That's all I have in about a year. I haven't decided if I should attempt anything in it. My style isn't very good. It would help if I actually practiced with any regularity. Still, the whole project is just something fun. I wouldn't mind anyone really contributing to the sketchbook as long as they treat it seriously. I don't want stick figures unless that's all you can draw. I hope the work done so far gives people an idea of what I am looking for, which is almost anything.

(I even told Greg he could have done Harley Quinn if he wanted.)

Vampire games

2009-06-06T20:34:00.003-04:00

I hate my brother. He got me addicted to some Myspace game called, Vampires. I typically don't like game applications via social networking sites. A lot of them just seem to eat up time and space needlessly.

I find myself with a purpose when logging onto Myspace now. I finally have a reason to return aside from praying desperately for messages from friends (who are all on Facebook now). This Vampires' thing is basically designed to be a time waster, but it has the added incentive to suck cash from those weak willed. Instead of waiting for timers to countdown and refill, you can simply ask the "The Elders" to increase you stats and the like. It would only cost you a certain amount of "Favor Points", which you can spend real hard-earned money for more points. I refuse to do things like that. I have Green Latern willpower. Call me Hal Jordon.

My brother asked me to join because he needs more people in his "Clan". Apparently, you can only accomplish certain missions with a certain amount of backup. You get more clan memebers from getting your friends from Myspace to join. Somehow, my brotehr only had 3 clan member, but when I rolled on, I somehow wound up with over 20. Suddenly, I had a crew.

Now, I just have to bide my time to build up the energy and whatever to allow me to do more missions.

One of the benefits is that it's getting me interested in Vampires again. Things like Twilight killed the concept of vampires for me recently. The whole quiz you have to take to determine the style of vampire you are thankfully included a more freal, almost 30 Days of Night option in its' multiple choice answers. The others tended to be the Twilight and Anne Rice versions of beauty and grace, along with nobility. I find the not so pretty, vicious a little more scary.

I think I may need to dig out my Vampire role-playing game books. I never really read them, but I probably should.

Who wants to live forever?

2009-05-20T01:17:00.004-04:00

My dog, Duncan, a Shetland sheep dog, just died today. I wasn't home for it. He was about 13.

The photo was actually taken Sunday. I did it on a whim. He was very sick lately.

Of Dogs and Men

2009-05-17T19:57:00.000-04:00

No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversations as a dog does.
- Christopher Morley (1890 - 1957)

Well, the vet thinks my dog has cancer.

Duncan is a Shetland Sheepdog. I'm not sure as to what his exact age is. (Apparently, it's 12.) He has been a part of my family for a long time. He's never been the most active of the animals at my house, but he became increasingly lethargic in recent days. It was almost overnight, when he started showing signs of sickness. I thought it would have just been a stomach thing. He would want to go out late at night and just lay in the grass, eating it occasionally. Apparently, eating grass isn't bad for a dog. Still, normally, he would bark at the slightest thing while outside, which isn't a great thing when it's 2AM.

In any case, he was taken to the vet this morning, for a $400 visit. X-rays were taken, as was blood and stomach fluid samples. Duncan is at least moving around a bit more. We have some prescriptions for him. One of which is a higher dose steroid than what I am actually on for my gout. With any luck, it's nothing too terrible, and he would eventually get over it.

Signs aren't looking good though. I am not the best when it comes to financial resources. Also, Duncan is already an old dog. (I hate to sound that morbid.) I just don't want him to suffer, and I definitely don't want to put him down prematurely. I watched my cat get put to sleep when I was a lot younger, and I am never seeing that again. I refuse to let my pet die without the dignity of me actually being there.

Well, now I just have to wait for more test results and pray the medication works.

Minas Tirith Done... For Now

2009-05-12T01:48:00.005-04:00

Once again, I am very tired.

I am trying to write something because I should. This is one of those times where the desire to write is greater than the ability to write. I can't use lack of topics as an excuse either. I have actually been doing semi-interesting stuff lately. I was building a castle at work.

Here's a slideshow of some of the pics.: Minas Tirith Slideshow

Probably because my constant frustration while working on it, I am actually receiving verbal credit for my efforts. Some of the time, I think I didn't put forth much effort. I didn't create the structure. The I rememebr I did nearly everything else. Most of the detail was me. I carved all the pointy crenelations on the tops of the walls. Ok, I didn't do all of them, maybe 90%. All the good ones are me though. Granted, I used a hotwire and a stencil, but each one is only about 8 inches in length. I lost count on my actual number. I even put most of them on. If there is a lot of repetitive, annoying work, I did it.

I only painted a handful of models at the start of the project. At the time, we weren't sure what we were undertaking. My coworker, Tim, took my finished models and finished them better, so that they actually looked good. He is the store's main painter, so it makes sense.

We initally built the thing for Games Workshop's Games Day Baltimore. It was a big hit apparently. I don't know first hand since I was pulling a double covering for my boss, who was down there. The store wound up snagging two awards: Best Lord of the Rings Club Table; and Best Overall Club Table. The LotR one was almost a gimmie in that there were only 3 other contestants. One of which was using an idea our store used at last year's Games Day. The Overall winner is pretty good though.

Thankfully, I haven't had to deal with the castle since it is back. The crew that went to Baltimore showed up at closing with it. Last minute is their specialty. Currently, my boss has to figure out how to put it into the window display. There will be some construction because the castle is way too big at the moment. We will have to basically remodel the whole area behind the counter. This will not make me happy, which is pretty much par for the course.

At least there are awards to accompany the huge thing in the window.

Vote Team One

2009-05-07T02:05:00.005-04:00

A friend of mine, Eric, is a mural painter in Phialdelphia. I am not kidding. He does this stuff for a living. It's pretty cool. There is currently, the Citywide Mural Competition in Philly. There is voting on three different sites for the competition.

Vote for Team One.

Mural Arts Program: This We Believe

6 ABC ( you know... the news)

Philly.com

It's pretty amazing all the detail that is involved with the mural. Eric goes into it more on his blog. I don't want to just copy and paste his stuff.

EricOkdeh.com News

There are even slideshows of the mural design and close-ups of each of the mural panels.

Go vote. He deserves it.Just look at the beauty of that design. Don't you want that in the City of Brotherly Love?

Oh, you can click the image above for a larger, better view of the mural.

Fellowship of Breaking

2009-04-30T01:12:00.003-04:00

I am attempting to go crazy over the next week. The signs started showing today.

For the past few days, I have actually felt pretty good. It was almost euphoric. Nothing could drop my spirits, which is saying a lot considering I am mostly a pessimist. I shrugged off nearly every negative thing hurled at me. Most problems were dealt with an, "Oh well", and a smile. That changed around 3PM this afternoon.

Work just really got to me today. I felt the strongest urge to destroy the castle we have been building at the store. Mainly I have been feeling that "I" am building... no "we" involved. As soon as I was leveled with about 16 things to do for the night with about 2 seconds notice, I just welled-up with rage. At one point, trying to screw in crenelation to the wall, my positioning was obstructed by a tower. The tower was graciously placed there by my boss in an effort to add detail, never mind that I had to do work before it should have gone in, now I had to work around it. A screwdriver was thrown. No one was hurt. I just feel all this work is wasted effort. My name won't appear for any credit.

I am trying not to hate Lord of the Rings. I should re-watch the movies. I have all the extended editions, and haven't even watched the 3rd one, Return of the King, in it's extended form yet. Apparently, it is the best one with additional material, like the Mouth of Sauron.

I decided to play to my loves. I thought it would be in my best, sane interest to contribute with something that I like to the store. So, I found a bunch of Lord of the Rings soundtracks to bring in to listen to while working. At the momnet, there is only the Fellowship of the Ring CD at the store, and I am sick of it. I figure showing up with about 6 more CDs worth of Balrog-slaying music could change the atmosphere.

Free Comic Book Day 2009

2009-04-28T02:14:00.003-04:00

For the 4 of you that read this, and the one of you that may pay attention:

Free Comic Book Day is this Saturday.

For the past few years, the first Saturday in May promotes literacy. As the doors fling open and the gates go up, hundreds, if not thousands of comics will readily be available to the public for FREE! Show up at a participating store or location, and grab yourself some cool reading.

Common misconceptions:

Not every comic book in the store is free.
You do not just get to pick anything and take it for free.
Don't be a jerk and take more than one of any title. I don't care if it may go up in value.
Just because we didn't get enough copies of your independent free comic, don't whine.
The comic book stores do actually have to pay for these things. It's at a reduced rate, but the comic book store owners agree to hand them out for free.

I don't think I have ever really been there for a Free Comic Book Day. I at least never had to work it. I think I showed up last year just to see how it was going.

Here is a list of some of the free comics (Marvel and DC Comics tend to do 2 freebies each):

Archie Comics: Archie Presents: The Mighty Archie Art Players
BOOM! Studios: Disney/Pixar’s Cars
Bongo Comics: 2009 Free For All
Dark Horse Comics: Star Wars: Clone Wars
DC Comics: Blackest Night #0 and DC Kids Mega Sampler
IDW Publishing: Transformers Animated/G.I. Joe
Image Comics: Savage Dragon #148
Oni Press: Resurrection #0
Marvel Comics: The Avengers and Wolverine: Origin of an X-Man
Viz Media: Shonen Jump Presents: Ultimo

Most of the books are reprints of some kind. Once and a while, the freebie is new material, like DC's Blackest Night #0, which sets up the summer event for the company. In some cases the new material eventually gets handed out everywhere, but demand is still high, so they release a purchasable version of the book. Marvel did it with a Spider-Man and an X-men free comics from the last 2 years.

There really is stuff in there for everyone. That is not even a complete list of comic available. I particularly like the attention to the younger reader comics because they tend to be better stories. Many of today's most prolific writers got their start writing the "kids' books". DC Comics tends to win out in that vein. Other comics are media tie ins' that showcase the company with a license of other media, like Disney's Cars, and the GI Joe/Transformer stuff. Dark Horse is even coming out with a new Aliens comic for it. Oh, and if you didn't know, Bongo Comics is almost solely Simpsons related.

So, please, if you can, make it out to your local, supporting comic books shop for some free stuff. Once and a while they even have events to coincide with the "holiday."

My store won't have any real events because we aren't a real comic book store in my opinion. We will have a ton of free books for people though.

distracted

2009-04-22T00:03:00.005-04:00

I am easily distracted at the moment. It's like many things suddenly turned into shiny objects that my raccoon brain must pay attention to at the moment.

It happens a lot at work. It may seem like multitasking, and part of it is, but I really just keep switching focus. From placing an order, to doing inventory, to building a huge castle out of foam, I was doing it all. I even found time to price and shelve an order. Isn't my day exciting?

I have been meaning to write something for a while. The ideas just aren't germinating. This is an excuse after all. I attempted to start reading more dense literature, which means those books without pictures. The bulk of my silent knowledge comes from comic books and magazines. Now, if only those magazines were news sources for global events and not upcoming video games. The bulk of my creative output comes during work.

Being in a comic book store means people who come in there like to read comics. Many times, conversations grow about different things. Sometimes it's "can this character beat that character" or whatever the new comic movie comic out will be like. I almost have to play devil's advocate at times as to why certain things occur the way they do. Some times it is fun, and other times I just want to strangle the fanboy who won't listen.

I think I wasted enough time. My mind is shutting off as my television calls to me. There is only so much late night tv I can take before I have to hurt something.

Videowrestling

2009-04-19T00:50:00.005-04:00

Someone said I don't post here often. I would have to agree.

I need some time away from moving pictures at the moment. So, for the moment, I am listening to a gaming podcast while attempting to write something. I was playing Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Xbox 360. It's a lot of fun. Probably the best $30 I spent recently. I finished up a game called Beyond Oasis, which I started just to grab an achievement. It's sort of like Zelda in that it is an action adventure game with a fantasy theme. Parts of it were frustrating in that they didn't really show you where to go. I did a lot of backtracking and roaming around. It was fun, but easy at the end.

I have been in a wrestling mood lately. It started a couple weeks ago leading up the Wrestlemania. My friend, Ken, came down from NYC to go to a wrestling show here in Philly. Granted, Ken is originally from Philly, but a live show with a respectable price at the old ECW Arena is rather enticing. Ken and I were joined by a third, John. Ring of Honor snagged a recent television deal, and we just happened to be on the second night of a two part TV taping. Lot of action and a lot of fun. No slow points.

Other than that, I really want to pick up Samckdown vs. Raw 2009, to link both the videogame stuff with the wrestling stuff. They just released more downloadable content for it too. Before the extra content was a couple current "superstars". The current addition is more retro. When the list of new wrestlers includes Doink the Clown, it's almost a must buy.

I really didn't do much this Saturday. I played some games, watched friday's Samckdown because I missed it do to "Out Drinking", and generally just sat around. I didn't really have anywhere to go that wouldn't suck the money from my wallet. I had enough sucked out today due to car insurance.

Remembered Faces, Forgotten Names

2009-03-31T23:59:00.002-04:00

I went to a sort of neighborhood reunion on Saturday night. It was advertised a bit on places like Myspace and Facebook, I believe. I saw it only because a friend posted on a forum.

It was a night of remembered faces and forgotten names. Most of the people I recognized were from high school. It was no one I really associated with in high school though. I was never the social butterfly. It came through again that night. I only jumped into conversations when people I knew were already talking with someone I didn't. I don't quite know how to approach some one when it comes to a reunion aspect of familiarity. "Hi, I remember you from when we were in high school. We didn't have any of the same classes, none of the same friends, and probably said only two words the four years we were there together. How are you?"

I don't think I could pick out any of the guys from the yearbook. It doesn't surprise me that I recognized the girls most of all. Hell, it's what I used to look at the most while I was there anyway. If only they felt obligated to break out the old school uniforms. That would have been something.

For the most part, it wasn't a terrible night. Granted I didn't go home with anyone or grab any numbers for future conversations, but that's par for the course. A few people I haven't seen in a while did show up to my surprise. The air was thick with smoke and old school rap. There were many people there I didn't care to deal with and plenty that I wouldn't mind getting to know better. Sadly, I am not entirely forthcoming with the whole ice-breaker thing. The setting seemed almost too forced.

My friend Bill had no problem reintroducing himself to people. He's a loud personality that likes an audience. He was all about mingling as much as possible. I believe his theory was that if he ever met you once, he would try and make sure you remember him this time around. I think it worked on a few unfortunate souls.

The night ended with an escape from the parking lot followed by a trip to Denny's with some friends. That part was so great for me. A half hour wait to be seated is fine. Almost an hour wait for our food to show, not so good. Worse still, my food dropped last while everyone else was finishing theirs. I don't think I will be returning to Denny's any time soon.

3 things on my mind

2009-03-20T01:18:00.003-04:00

I am feeling better. It took a solid 13 or so hours of sleeping to rid most of the sickness. Now, I just have the aftermath symptoms to get expelled.

Sadly, I have to work this weekend. I usually don't have to work on Saturday, but I have to make an exception this weekend. My coworker and he fiance are heading to the mountains for a get away. I thought I would be nice and cover his shift. Thankfully, it is only a morning shift till around 3PM. One of the only problems is that I have to cover a painting class, alone. There would normally be help, but the store is also running a tournament in another storefront, so the bossman will be over there for the most part. I just hope the kids realize that I don't paint. They are usually pretty good teaching each other anyway.

I started trying to get more people to add to my Joker sketchbook. On of the customers at the store has it at the moment. He asked if it was ok to have him look like the Heath Ledger Joker. I told him just to do whatever he wanted. That's the whole point of the thing. I want artists' interpretation of who/what the Joker is. Sure, he is just a comic character, and some people envision certain artists' renditions as the actual Joker. Ultimately, I just want whatever comes from the artist doing the drawing at the moment his/her pen hits paper. The most recent addition was from another customer at the store, Don Downie. He's a huge Green Lantern fan, so he drew Joker getting a yellow, Sinestro Corps ring. It even has a purple glitter pen coloring of Joker's suit. It's pretty cool and definitely fits the cartoony style. While Don is an artist, his main trade is jewelry. You can view some of his work here: Spiral Acorn Jewelry.

Currently, I am listening to part of the Watchmen soundtrack. Specifically, Pruit Igoe & Prophecies by the Philip Glass Ensemble. I like the piece. I feel it fits within the movie and evokes a lot of emotion. It's the type of song and music that gets me thinking. Part of it inspires me to write. Granted, it doesn't particularly help in writing random things on a blog, but maybe something more creative. I do have something rattling in my brain that wants to get out. I just have to give it the proper outlet for escape. That just means dedicating time to it.