Personal

It said something about zombies.
Something about a zombie plan but it was buried in a long list meant to scare off any potential spamming or stalking, maybe a real person sat at the other side typing each entry on the list and then submitting it to craigslist, either way I bit.
I was alone, burning some kind of midnight oil in Lake City. Away from the action and life of the city, in the outer limits of Seattle drinking cheap beers then watching someone get tattooed meant a Friday well spent. Walking past the crumbling facades of the main drag, car dealerships closed for the night, down steep hills to my house but not before buying a few Steel Reserves from the Shell on the corner. The late night cashier joking with me about buying 4 and planning a busy night. Laughing trying to convince myself I wasn’t ready to venture into Rick’s. Pay to see some boobs and have some girl feign interest but looking for a tip. Instead I held out hope that I could find someone for free.
No dice at that point.

I was too young for the girls that go for a guy renting a room and out of work. Hunting for jobs but being too picky for most. Barely talking to people but trying to be around them. Hoping after hope my phone would ring and things would turn around and something would change. Or an offer would be in my inbox and suddenly I’d have somewhere to go that wasn’t the library, bar or coffee shop. Ignoring the looks of people that wondering what I was because I couldn’t be homeless and being in the wrong place to be rich. Maybe a student? Who else would need the coffee and the library?
Yeah that kind of woman was still a decade or two off for me drinking cheap wine ‘til dawn and finding solace in being together back then I had to settle for being alone.

On craigslist personals I saw the ad and responded. By then it was just like looking for a job or getting a dresser. Give some details, interest, and send it off. Hope there’s a person on the other side and wait.
Always waiting.
Eating gyros and looking at model trains. Anything to waste time before I headed home to find an empty inbox and then it was too late to make calls or maybe there were no new jobs to be had. Watch tv and wait. Look busy and cook up some dinner and catch the news.
Act like I wasn’t out of work and bored, questioning my choice. Wondering was someone interested in my zombie plan instead of posting for a late night amusement some last laugh before bed.Either way I drank my beer, watched the news rebroadcast and went to bed.
I never got a response.

Dead Hours: Of Popcorn and Beer

During the dead hours I don’t make the best culinary choices. Few options and prevalence of 24 hour diners or drive thrus just aren’t what they should be. How many times can I ask for 24 hour sushi and be denied (too many I say). Still little has changed as I speed from one distant city to my bed. It reminds me of the month of October.

Years past standing in the lot after being told, ‘Get the Fuck out of here/Finish up that beer’ by the Tom Kat. Few choices in the Anaheim/Buena Park area beside Denny’s and a handfulla of drive thrus. Beats going home where there is nothing but co(r)ntainers of food left from Haunt dinner.

Not the choice for someone watching there figure or BAC but I made do.

Maybe a taco or jumbo jack, feeling rich (not Rich Watson rich) there’s Carl’s and a 6 dollar burger. (Guac with season fries and mix some rum in the coke)

In Seattle that’s changed.

The choices a bit lessened and a bit better. Not so much recycled grease and late night diner, maybe the late night special and a beer. Finish the night how it started and in some bars a better thing drinking beers above my wage and eating food out of my range except during the late night specials sure it’s usually Fish and Chips but there are other places with other choices.

Then again ending up at home finishing the last of a 6 pack and watching ‘Clerks 2’ I eat some popcorn.

Or cheese. Or both.

Whatever the fridge holds and usually it’s the insight that I live near a few stores but don’t frequent them enough. Tough place to be when money isn’t short and your soles haven’t run thin. Laziness and the ever present busy brings me to drink cheap 7-11 beer and eat popcorn. It’s not the late night tacos consumed in the kitchen of a Man house while listening to what I missed or sitting in an empty pool feeling like a movie from the 90s, making sense but not funded properly having candy from a liquor store still open despite the hour. Even if it was a toy candy lollipop bought for the brief amusement it’d bring.

Yeah all that made the dead hours more tolerable but in the end the choices aren’t what they should be. After all why can’t I buy teriyaki at 3 in the morning? (cause it’d hit the spot right now, seriously)

But those are the dead hours.

[Thirty-nine secrets about yourself]

[One] What is your natural hair color?
Dark Brown but lately I’ve been noticing some grey in it. I’m getting older and I’m not sure if that’s cool. Still have all my hair but getting older does present some problems. But if I’m getting older why am I still carded? Damn this baby face.

[Two] Where was your default picture taken?
Anjuné’s couch… I think. In fact I almost changed it just to spite her.

[Three] What's your middle name?
Benjamin

[Four] Your current relationship status?
odd at best

[Five] Does your crush like you back?
I think so, I’m not too sure. It feels like it but I don’t really know for sure.

[Six] What is your current mood?
Introspective going on drunk…well tipsy… not because of the introspective part but because I feel like it… I think. Jeez Can I try saying that without seeming like I have a substance abuse problem. I almost put I had a stressful week and that reads like something out of an AA handbook.

[Seven] What color underwear are you wearing?
Green I think, they might be blue… now I’m curious. Hang on a second. Nope Black.
I was way off

[Eight] What makes you happy?
When I make someone laugh, kind of lame, (admitted) but still it makes me feel good.

[Ten] If you could go back in time and change something, what would you change?
I alter the course of history and restore question 9 . A lame use of power I admit but I think it might be worth it. Instead I shall invent a 9

[Sal’s Nine] If you had to live without water or love which would it be?
Man could you take the Kelly Link out of the bathroom already. I realize ‘Water off a Black Dog’s Back’ is a good story but give it up. Put something else in there. I got an idea put the ‘Bukowski Reader’ in there then you can read about his life.
Dickass.

[Eleven] If you must be an animal for one day, what would you be?
Sloth? Yeah why not but like a more active sloth… or maybe a giant sloth I mean I’d be extinct but they were giant and sloth like. Regular Sloths are kind of cool in they’re own lazy way even if they don’t make use of those claws.

[Twelve] Ever had a near death experience?
I had an experience where I thought I should have a near death experience. I was changing some lighting stuff and had a pipe resting against the lift I was in, 20 feet in the air, and all the weight is against my lift’s bucket as I remove the shackle holding it to a rig point. At that moment I realize it’d be a great moment for me to have a near death experience.
But I didn’t.

[Thirteen] Was it because of something you do a lot?
No but I started wondering when I began taking risks like that.

[Fourteen] What's the name of the song stuck in your head right now?
The Gambler or Ana Ng but I’m going to say the Gambler to not be all nerd rock.

[Fifteen] Who did you copy and paste this from?
Anjuné

[Sixteen] Name someone with the same birthday as you?
Taisha we’re birthday buddies.

[Seventeen] When was the last time you cried?
I don’t know, a while ago.

[Eighteen] Have you ever sung in front of a large audience?
Yes, I played Nachum the beggar in DALO’s production of Fiddler on the Roof in Las Cruces, NM. That was back in ’03 I think. Nothing like being cast by the director asking if you wanted to be an inn keeper, book seller or beggar, what else can I do but choose the beggar.

[Nineteen] If you could have one super power what would it be?
Telepathy or this new one I proposed to my friend Bob which was the ability to affect probability.

[Twenty] What's the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?
Literally the first thing would be if they have all their arms and legs yeah after that it boils down to some other physical feature depending on how close I am. Vague yeah but I don’t want to admit that I judge people on superficial features and would rather say something like ‘eyes’ or ‘smile’ but I don’t know if that’s true each person in a new story… also hair color I notice that pretty fair up the list.

[Twenty-one] What do you usually order from starbucks?
Grande drip no room. On the rare occasion I feel experimental grande drip no room with a shot or four could be a shot in the dark, a red eye or something else like that but it’s the same kind of thing.

[Twenty-two] What's your biggest secret?
I’m not as calm and together as I’d like to believe I am.

[Twenty-three] Favorite color?
Green. Has been since I was a kid will be forever unless I get hit in the head, become color blind and forget what colors look like then I’ll say grey.

[Twenty-four] When was the last time you lied?
Today, don’t ask me what it was but I’m sure I lied today even if it was along the lines of ‘that’s not possible’ which was actually ‘I can’t do that in that amount of time’

[Twenty-five] Do you still watch kiddy movies or TV shows?
Duh, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends is kick ass.

[Twenty-six] What are you eating or drinking at the moment?
Black Boss Porter, it is also kick ass.

[Twenty-seven] Do you speak any other language?
no but I know a few expression in Spanish

[Twenty-eight] What's your favorite smell?
Baking bread or the smell of salt water, put’em together and it’s awesome.

[Twenty-nine] If you could describe your life in one word what would it be?
Zen

[Thirty] When was the last time you gave/received a hug?
Last weekend.

[Thirty-one] Have you ever been kissed in the rain?
Sure why not. I bet it happened at some point. I like the rain, I like kissing only natural I kissed someone in the rain. Next question.

[Thirty-two] What are you thinking about right now?
Why am I filling out this asinine survey isn’t there a better use of my time. In addition to that I’m wondering about my expenses, thinking about my trip and questioning a lot of choices I’ve made recently.

[Thirty-three] What should you be doing?
Sleeping, writing or playing a game

[Thirty-four] What was the last thing that made you upset/angry?
Can we go with frustrated instead? Being asked to run a circuit to an electric despite the fact the theatre is out of cable longer than 10’ and I’d need enough to make a drop and if I use a bunch of smaller ones it’s not safe or a good idea so where can I pull 30’ of cable and right now out of my ass is not an option.
I made it work, somehow. But now I’m going to be expected to do it again sometime.

[Thirty-five] How often do you pray?
Heard something once that said something like for the faithful everything is prayer. While I don’t believe everything I do is an expression of prayer I do think that I pray more than I think I do. Then again there are times I do something risky and call out to something greater than myself (See #12)

[Thirty-six] Do you like working in the yard?
Not since it was a punishment as a kid.

[Thirty-seven] If you could have any last name in the world, what would you want?
How about I stick with mine, in someways is two last names depending on how I want it pronounced.

[Thirty-eight] Do you act differently around your crush?
I’d bet I do. Don’t want to admit I do but I do.

[Thirty-nine] Name one song that reminds you of an ex?
’Whoa Black Betty bam ba lam’ She better get it.

More things I learned from Teenage Sitcoms

1. Once accepted into a clique you may leave temporarily but ultimately you have to go back.
2. The personable, cool, hip, role model will be a hypocrite
3. A bad hair cut can spell social ruin
1. A true understanding of acceptance will be learned.
4. Younger Siblings are annoying; older siblings are cool
1. Both will lead to embarrassing situations.
5. With a Driver's License comes a car
1. Or the prospect of rebuilding one during a montage
2. Gas will never be a concern.
6. The one unobtainable person will choose an unexpected person to go with at the last moment. Claiming they (the unobtainable one) always thought they (the loser) was cool.
7. Drinking and drugs are always bad.
8. If you have a band and never practice you will be good when called upon to play
9. If you are in style you will always be in style. Unfortunately the opposite is also true.
10. Elaborate pranks are easy to execute and there are no repercussions.
11. Everyone has their day.
1. If you aren't part of the main cast you may not be seen again after your day.
12. Janitors, lunch ladies, groundskeepers and other support staff are walking fonts of wisdom
13. People will rally to your cause no matter how far the odds are against you.
14. Wearing a black leather jacket makes you a rebel.
1. Wearing a brown leather one makes you a poseur.

1. If it has fringe you are a megaloser.

A. Unless you are a girl then you are a hippy.

15. Single mothers returning to school will receive support from students, facility, friends and family.
16. Eventually someone will have a pregnancy scare but everything will turn out ok and be forgotten.
    
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    Now playing: Salute Your Shorts (theme song) - Tv Themes
    via FoxyTunes
    

Q and A

If you could become leader of any country (or nation) on earth which would it be and why?

Cuba. Not to become the leader of socialist country or anything like that but for the ability to erect a giant sign that says, ‘Suck it Yankee’ that could be seen from Florida. It’s a bad reason to want to lead a country but it follows my idea of humor. Hell almost lands under the realm of public art too.

Still got beat out by a guy saying Thailand and his reason, ‘There are girls that dive for pearls that can hold their breath for 5 minutes. I don’t know what I’d do with a girl like that but I want to find out.’ Not overtly dirty but definitely leaning that way.

Great Reason.

What Teenage Sitcoms Taught Me About Life

1. Laziness and bad grades won’t keep you from a good college
2. All Classes are a few minutes long
3. Loitering in hallways is as acceptable as going to class
4. Your standard locker can fit at least one person.
5. A friendly rivalry with a teacher or administrator is inevitable but they are actually trying to instill some life lesson.
6. Hang outs don’t expect you to pay for food
7. Summer Jobs are sources of amusing antics
1. Or brief mention at the start of September
8. Don’t worry the blind date will be a probably be a hottie
1. If not an import lesson to not judge people based on appearance will ensue
9. Bullies can come around to you side and lead to interesting situations.
10. All cliques are clichéd stereotypes
11. A nerd can build extraordinary devices as needed.
12. The nerd girl can become a cutie but you’ve probably ruined your chances by then.
13. Seek popularity above all else
14. Teachers don’t mind if you drop by their houses unannounced to ask for help with life’s problems.
15. A group of strangers with different backgrounds will become friends if forced to be around each other long enough
16. The school will only ever perform Romeo and Juliet, Our Town or if you’re lucky A Christmas Carol.
17. Driver’s ed will either involve car mock ups and an old movie of driving or a golf car. Either way be prepared for hilarity
18. All shop students are delinquents but their skills will come in handy when a party trashes someone’s house or car
19. The slang will beyond cutting edge
20. Once accepted into a clique you may leave temporarily but ultimately you have to go back.

Whatever happened to Wally George?

It must have been a weird day quite a long time ago, looking through the videos that the Blockbuster staff hadn’t reshelved. I forget what Al and I were looking for but Wally George came up and dropped a few videos in the drop box. Al waved. I, too much in shock, couldn’t think of anything to do. Now I’d do the raised fist greeting but then not so much.

He’s dead now, not Al, (he’s still up and kicking) which leaves the southland without a great white conservative hope. A man broadcasting on KODC from a crappy set somewhere in OC and yelling at pseudo liberal guests while his station runs phone sex ads. He was some kind of staple and now that he’s gone and, I haven’t found his NW equivalent, I miss him. Not in anyway that his politics swayed me. Hell the first time I watched him his guests were witches and I remember writing a letter (that may or may not have been sent) saying how he was dumb and the witches were hot. But that’s the sort of thing a kid would write, especially a kid buzzing on Dr. Pepper and the thrill of staying up all night.

Sure he was a kind of home grown Rush but with a John Wayne poster and doing spots for local business. Complaining about the state of things in front of a crowd of rabid white suburbanites, barely letting his guests get a word in but there was something about his toupeed head that made him worth watching. At least in those dead hours of the night after Are Oh Vee and before anything good would start up. Then again if I was lucky some bad movie would be on and I would watch Wally George. But I wonder about the guy, even if it’s a question of who’d win in a fight Wally George or Cal Worthington (without his dog Spot).

2HT Weekly Update 6

There was a time I was in one of those complete or have it cut moments before a show. We did our damnest to get all the kinks out but some just kept happening. Not even those little livable ones but sometimes it just wouldn’t work. We were tired, overworked and had tunnel vision. In other words the thing just wasn’t gonna happen. The guy who was in charge of finishing this looks at me and the other fellow with and says, ‘Failure is not an option’ and one of us says, ‘Failure is always an option’. Who said that became a point of contention.

Traffic-ters this week I failed at coming up with a weekly update that is up to the standards of my previous ones. Next week should be better… or I’ll fail then too. After all failure is always an option.

-Sal

Dreams of Midget Town

Most kids that grew up in Long Beach, Lakewood, and other outlaying cities have heard wild tales of a town with houses meant for tiny people. Some even went looking for this place only to come back with wild tales and a night gone. My story isn’t too much different.

It began at Bolsa Chica, like a lot of summer nights, with a bonfire burning and the boredom of a night spent hanging out in a parking lot doing the usual shit that teens get up to on summer nights or perhaps back to someone’s house for a few movies and then home by the time the sun rises. When the beach patrol rolled by saying the beach was closed and to get the hell out we piled into the whale that one guy drove, chucked our cups of coke and whiskey and he started driving. Leaving the beach and turning onto PCH, we end up at a parking lot sitting on car hoods listening to Rodney on the Roq, bumming cigarettes and being bored. We get to telling ghost stories and legends and someone brings up Midget Town and says they know the way. So we follow.

Fueled by youth, excitement and black velvet we head into a wealthier part of Long Beach. With the promise of glory and midget sized town stop at the Ferris Bueller house, ring the bell and run away screaming ‘Save Ferris’. Dashing through the dark streets and back alleys, we follow our guide and his strange directions. Stopping in places to double back and finally coming to a hedge ‘On the other side’s Midget Town’ he swears and we climb the thing. On the other side is the manicured grass of a golf course. He shrugs saying him and his cousins came through and there was Midget Town.

We start to argue.
The sound of a car pulling up stops us and we take off across the grass. All swearing it’s the cops come to get us. Through another set of bushes and doubling back through the streets we pile into the whale and take off.

A bit later at Denny’s we talk about the night. Like adventurers come back from fights with head hunters and pygmies, the weird and exotic inside the boundaries of the south land. Our waitress isn’t impressed with our round of cokes and sampler, our tales of near arrest and saving Ferris. Putting down the bill she tells us in her day Midget Town was up in Hollywood.

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Now playing: Don't Let's Start - They Might Be Giants
via FoxyTunes

2HT Weekly Update 5

This past week saw me contemplating what is really needed as far as modern conveniences. After all a decade ago would someone in my situation feel a near need for internet because the walk to the coffee shop (or library) is too much to send some mail? Or would this even factor as a problem.
I'm not sure if it did for me but breaking down and deciding checking mail without getting dressed is better than being that guy at the library that just rolled out of bed, put on some shoes and walked a few blocks to see if there are any new developments in my virtual life.

This disconnect is somewhat puzzling to me. I can't pinpoint when this need became so pronounced but a recent 'South Park' made me think about it then too. It had a dust bowl like feel but with the internet going down across the country and people going to California because they had a little internet there. Sure life has become overly connected to the point where some people purify themselves by not using the internet or cell phones for days and maybe it's like fasting for them. Transcendence by denial.

Whatever works for those folks, I guess.
-Sal

2HT Weekly Update 4

90s Weekend

Coming of age in the late 90s it use to be 80s flashback weekend on KROQ, after college it seemed that suddenly 90s were on the flashbacks lunch. Also Richard Blade had long since left KROQ to be replaced by Tammy Heidi and later Kat Corbett. But none of that rotating Jockery mattered just that I got to listen to music I had forgotten about. Songs like Tattva and The Way one hit wonder like songs that caught in the old brain cavity and would ring through the week. Or something like Your Woman that happened to get fame near when the Star Wars re-release happened so that riff that sounded a bit like the Imperial March had people humming in all it’s 4 track glory. But those weekends showed all manner of lost gems that couldn’t be crammed into an hour.

This past weekend The End here in Seattle did the same turning over the airwaves to the old time music of its first decade. Back when Alternative wasn’t a generic subgenre of mainstream rock… then again it may never have been a legitimate subgenre of rock. Merely something that wasn’t the 80s pop classics that preceded it. Some of those songs brought back memories that I’d rather forget about. Sitting alone waiting for a show, listening to near static after school or riding long trips on the bus after summer school. But also of dreamier times when my form of difference was a real shock to some kids that I hope are happy with their choices and don’t want for the courage I had to make some seemingly stupid decisions.

There’s a quote that I remember from a documentary on Rock n Roll when it was dealing with the Grunge and Gangsta movements that happened in the 90s it went something like ‘…but they’d have to come up from the underground.’ Seemed to sum up a lot about what was happening. But listening to by gone bands on a long weekend in Seattle just didn’t give any great insights on what the underground was or if it's still there but it was fun anyway.

2HT Weekly Update 3

(Note: I'm part of a theater company and it was decided we should do weekly updates. I haven't been taking it seriously. I'm usually the first one to post.)

Spent a good chunk of my week thinking about Artaud's 'Theatre and its Double'. There's a section where Artaud describes the spreading of the Plague in Europe and uses this as an analogy for the spread of theater. Didn't quite see what he was saying at the time but I often thought about that while doing this show 'One Flea Spare' which I thought was called 'Wonderfully Spare' until 3 weeks into the rehearsal process when I finally realized I wasn't doing a show that was a light heart romp through the Plague years but a serious show about people descending into madness under horrible circumstances.

That show had an illness that spread, like the Plague, through the cast and crew and enhanced the show by giving people this horrible cough. But sucked when you were in the booth trying to stay quiet.

Still waiting on a letter to mail with my envelopes. Other than that nothing to report.

-Sal

2HT Weekly Update 2

(Note: I'm part of a theater company and it was decided we should do weekly updates. I haven't been taking it seriously. I'm usually the first one to post.)

Spent much of the previous week in Issaquah operating a spot light. Gave me perspective on single point perspective. After all in a proscenium house you can create multiple vanishing points but when you get right down to it there is only one that you can exploit to the greatest effect. Beside that I looked over the hardware I had and attempted to sort some of it. Didn't complete this task, perhaps next week.

Other than that I have very little to report beside the fact that working in theater is so much easier when the weather sucks and much harder when it is nice.
Here's to another week,
Sal

Savages

'He who makes a beast of himself

gets rid of the pain of being a man.'

Dr. Johnson as seen in 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'.

Dante: Somebody put gum in the locks

Randal: Buncha savages in this town.

Dante: That's what I said!

-Clerks

I've tried to avoid E/N (Everything / Nothing) posts but this one I feel deserves to be added to my blog. Especially when I factor the increased speed with which I am trying to depart my current residence. But first a little background: I live in a 3 floor house with 8 other 'adults', mostly the experience hasn't been too bad usual sort of stuff when you get that many people in one place for an extended period. We each have a room and there are three bathrooms, (which will go uncatalogued so as not to expose the squeamish to those conditions) a shared kitchen and a living room. I live on the main floor and it can be loud when a bunch of people are hanging out in the living room but with a few doors closed it's tolerable. And I keep later hours so it's not a problem, most of the time.

I am no stranger to unclean living space, any one that had the (mis)fortune of visiting me when I lived with Rich Watson knows what a bunch of guys and some apathy can do to a place. After all the bathroom doesn't need to be that clean and a layer of dust on pots and pans that no one uses isn't such a big deal, right?

And the various dorm rooms I've lived in during college where not up to surgical standards. They were ok at best and at worst 'wear shoes when using the bathroom' bad. But I did know people that were worse. There was a friend whose dorm you needed to be out of when the sun came in the window at about 10 am because the smell of urine and rotting beans in the bathroom was intolerable. It wasn't until we hung out most of a night that I realized why he always seemed to swing by at about that time. My room was the model of health when compared to his.

So I'm not OCD about cleaning, I wipe down surfaces and try to do my dishes, occasionally putting them away but since I tend to use the same few having them in a drying rack makes sense (to me).

Now the question might be posed, 'If this bugs you so much why don't you do something about it?' Simple: I'm not these people's mom. I do my dishes, clean up after myself and throw out my trash and recyclables. Like dealing with children once you start taking up the slack it becomes expected and like when I had a bathroom cleaning cold war with someone I ultimately lose. In this case I lose by bailing on my lease a month early (with luck) and getting a new place. Then there is the possibility I bring this up to the landlord but since I only know that most of the other people are doing this and not specific individuals no reason to punish others that are just trying to live out their leases and then cut and run.

In the past I've lived in places where things went missing occasionally. But it was usually returned, except in one case where Rich Watson stole my ketchup thinking it was his but that happens since we shared condiments (and some weird condiments we got from Food 4 Less), or some money left in its place. On one of the fridges a house mate has repeatedly put notes saying not to eat his food. Even if something has your name on it there is not guarantee that it's safe. Now if we were miles from a grocery store I could almost understand. It's late (or early) and starved so you snatch a bite of someone's food but we are 4 blocks from 2 grocery stores and one of them delivers groceries. If this were a co-op or people split costs of groceries or a situation like that it'd make sense but nothing like that had happened. To combat this I stopped buying things people seemed to enjoy or went about keeping more expensive items in my room until I wanted them. Not the situation I enjoy. But when the excuse I've gotten was, 'Oh someone else owed me money and I thought they were his' with promises to reimburse that never occur I can take only so much.

My plan is to move, maybe to this decent spot I saw the other day, maybe to another one I'm going to see soon but either way I'm getting the fuck out of this place. But there is something about having to search for something to put your breakfast in and ending up with a measuring cup. Not because you can boil water in it in the microwave without fear but because it's clean. That's how I like starting my day.

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Now playing: The Grouch - Green Day
via FoxyTunes

2HT Weekly Update 1

(Note: I'm part of a theater company and it was decided we should do weekly updates. I haven't been taking it seriously. I'm usually the first one to post.)

I spent the last week or so contemplating lime lighters. The old style ones that often died in an explosion as the mixture of gas was sparked and brought a brilliant end to a career on the Victorian stage.

Other than that nothing to report because I'm still waiting for a letter to be set out so I can beg my folks for some green.
-Sal

All of my best titles are stolen from better people

During my last trip to California I found an old bag of mine, it came free with the lap top I got back in '99. (Jeez that 9 lb monstrosity nearly made it all the way through college with me but died just a year and half short) I haven't used this bag since about the winter of my senior year and only did a bit of emptying it when college ended and left the Land of Enchantment. So here in a place with far more water and trees than the desert that I went to school in I got a few presents.

It was like a delayed X-mas, thankfully no one gave me an orange, chocolate or other perishable that may have made this 4 year package all the more strange. Instead there was an invite to a birthday party for September 13^th and of course BYOB. An add slip for Journalism 105 but the interesting thing on this is that my signature hasn't really changed from the one I was using then. A copy of the 10/7/02 Round Up (Campus auto burglaries rising) and one from 11/11/02 (Insurance cards mailed late [real late indeed]), two thank you cards from 'The Laramie Project', a program from 'Africa A-Z', a Steer Skull bolo tie from a costume I wore back in the Halloween of 2000(?) and a red ribbon saying 'I promise to be drug free.'

Mentally I'm trying to come up with the rationale of why I have all this stuff. Some of it makes sense and some of it (like the skull bolo) is just odd and I'm curious why I would have carried that to class for 3 years or so. A side note to say I'm horrible about cleaning out anything. I horde things and only when I have to move, or transfer materials from one bag to another do I see the reason to empty a bag. Hell one bag I have has several old issues of the Weekly and Stranger from when I first moved to Seattle.
Not first moved maybe a couple months in.
I swear I'm not holding onto them as a memento I can throw them out at any time or so I keep telling myself. But isn't claiming you can quit at anytime one of the signs of an addict? If only I had the AA book I found and have been carrying (in another bag) since Februaryish.

Still all of this says something. But one question persists why don't I have a copy of the New Testament in this bag? I could have sworn that began in College, I know I had one for a bit in high school but was that because we had religion class? Wasn't it back then I had a green covered small copy of Psalms and the New Testament that I had received from campus crusade, newman, or just found on the ground by the New Library? Also I wonder if the coupons that are in the Round Up could still be used. One or two companies failed to print an expiration date on them but that means going down to Cruces to try and get my cheap sandwich, second soda with purchase of a soda or discounted suntanning.

At least there wasn't any old papers that may have changed a grade and caused me to reevaluate my academic career and maybe try my hand in another field that could have left me in a better (read: different) place. That's always a shame when that happens. Like when I cleaned out a bag before college and found an old story I wanted to submit before high school ended. Reading it again I didn't like it as much but at the time (high school Sal) thought it was the greatest work of fiction ever. Now (Late 20s Sal) would like to read that story again, perhaps I won't be so hard on my younger self or possibly I will agree with the arrogant college bound version. Either way there wasn't any work like that this time. Only a hand full of trinkets from a different time like a poor man's time capsule but, I guess, more like the volcanic ash covered town folk of a different time. Yeah that metaphor will do.

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Now playing: Golden Touch - Razorlight
via FoxyTunes

Man, tell me about it

Had this conversation yesterday:
Guy: What's your name?
Me: Sal
Guy: Is that you're full name?
Me: Nah it's Salvador Ponce
Guy: Well that's no John Smith.
Me: Not even for the Spanish

Lama- palooza

Or of Mitzvah and Booming Bass

It was after a long morning and afternoon. My guts felt jumbled from the blast of bass as I walked by walls of subs. There I stood waiting for a bus near the Space Needle but I had better things to do than stare at the retro future landmark of Seattle. Mostly I watched a crowded bus that rolled down from the U District. Full save an old woman and the driver, then completely empty as it left. Most of the students taking pictures in front of the bus, or the stop sign or the Key Arena itself, I don't think the old lady got to be part of their myspace (or facebook) fun, maybe next concert Granny, this one is to live on in cyber form. A few got excited that Kiss and Movin' were there and had to race over, if they were girls balanced perilously on really high heels, or while holding up really large pants in the case of guys. Though I think the guys were racing (read: Sauntering as casually and speedily as possible) to watch the girls. Not that I can blame them as I watched a pair of bottle blondes take pictures first of whatever was written on their tank tops and then on their booty shorts.

Something about if you like these how about these or something.
I forget.

Sure I could blame exhaustion or I could go with the 'Beavis and Butthead' stand by "When you talk I can't see the panties right," that was said during Blues Traveler's Run Around. Perhaps the oddest 90s take on 'Wizard of Oz'. No 'Dark Side of the Moon' but funny in a 4 minute Mtv video. But in someways it reminded me of a shirt on tshirt hell.

Then walking in the opposite direction I saw a couple dressed to the nines and heading toward the ballet… I think. Maybe they were just getting something to eat and then back to watch Kanye. What was odd was just how pregnant she was and how quickly they tried to distance themselves from the growing crowd.

My bus came and I could put some time and space between me and where I would be until 4 in the morning.

For nearly a week before hand I had been knee deep in setting events for the Dalai Lama visit to Seattle. Maybe the blatant capitalism was better than the hidden kind I had witnessed in the previous days. After all does playing 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life' as walk music really send the best message when emptying a stadium after a spiritual leader speaks?

And I realize they weren't hocking Lama tour shirts or anything like that but I wonder who was getting a cut of the increase in Prayer Flag, bumper sticker and Buddha sales.

Or did I miss the irony they were trying for and only got the irony I wanted to see?

But there also could have been no irony.

I can't be sure I wasn't on the committee that decided that was a good idea. I was only on the group being paid to schlep cases off the field and to the trucks.

It might not have been the best mitzvah on earth, hell it might not even be a mitzvah but I look at it that way. It's the only way I can look at getting paid half the wage I normally get and have to deal with people grumbling about it the whole time. Call it for the greater good (the greater good) but I'll just convince myself it's a mitzvah. While I doubt the same thing would have been done for other religious leaders I may never found that out. But it was something to consider while waiting for the Ballard Bridge to lower so I could get home, catch a few hours rest, wake up and have to pack all the shit on to trucks.

San José Tried to Kill Me

Way back when there was a cartoon called ’Bambi meets Godzilla’. And it’s a bit of folky wisdom that when you get close to your demise time sort of slows down and so you can really take in those last moments… at least that’s what survivors tell us.

Today while a few hundred pounds of ill loaded masonite and MDF began their gradual descent and collapse all I could think of was ’Bambi meets Godzilla’. Before concern comes flying in I’m fine, the crew I was on is fine, everything is fine… beside the maso, some of that is quite destroyed. But who really cares about that shit?
Not me, not after what it did to me.
Bastard.

So I have a minor paranoia that I’ve become color blind. I also have one that I’m someone’s doppelganger. And today I realized that if I am someone’s doppelganger that person is in some kind of secret society. Often when I stroll down the streets and boulevards random people will shoot me a knowing look and nod. Of course not willing to disturb the plans of others I nod back. Often in a knowing way, letting them know that the time is neigh. We must act soon lest we miss our chance. Then there are the random comments I get. Perhaps code, perhaps insanity and perhaps utter exhaustion is actually causing me to make the first movement in a series of plans that I have no idea or control of but am still at the center of the wheel.

Or perhaps the truth is merely the restoration of the causal greeting to an unknown individual but that’s a scheme I’d rather no envision.

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Now playing: The Munsters - Tv Themes
via FoxyTunes

Things Music Videos from the 90s taught me

(Note: I wrote this at midnight, dead tired after a long day and didn't proof it before I posted it. Feedback about how I screwed up spellings, or context or band names is fine and I'm well aware I suck. I usually do some proofing before I post and I didn't this time. Corrections are in red.-SP)

Despite saying making lists isn't as much fun I'm starting to do it again.

1. Rusty pipes contain meat (Tool - Sober)

2. If you catch your S.O .cheating get a naval piercing, kick a purse snatcher's ass and bungee jump off an overpass. You'll feel better. (Aerosmith - Cryin')

3. Right now is harder than it looks. (Van Halen - Right now)

4. 70s cop shows may go out of vogue but they hardly go out of fashion (Beastie Boys – Sabotage)

5. If you play the VFW's dance and don't feel you'll connect with them. Just ask if they like the music you like and they should come around. (Violent Femmes – American Music)

6. When the artist puts themselves in a cameo role it can be cool. Two cameo roles and a featured part are excessive. (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Into the Great Wide Open)

7. Banned videos are often incredibly over hyped and not very cool (Madonna – Justify my Love)

8. And sometimes they are damned cool. (Prodigy – Smack my Bitch Up)

9. If you light someone on fire and have them run down the street in slow motion the end of the video becomes pointless (Wax – California)

10. Some videos need a shot for shot parody and get it (Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit & Red Hot Chili Peppers – Give it away)

11. And some never do (REM – Losing my Religion)

12. Sometimes death is confusing, as well as marriage (Guns and Roses – November Rain)

13. Singing a song about large posteriors whilst dancing upon one makes me question the current nobility (also it is awesome). (Sir Mix-a-lot – Baby got Back)

14. Don't believe urban legends. They aren't the Olson Twins. (Nirvana – Heart-Shaped Box)

15. If you are an outsider and search hard enough you'll find a place where people are like you. (No Rain – Blind Melon)

16. Videos that look like they were made by a bunch of suburban teens bored on a Saturday are cool only when you first see them and when watching them through nostalgic lenses. (Gin Blossoms – Hey Jealous, Green Day – Longview)

17. Just because it's expensive doesn't mean it has anything to do with that song… actually what is that song about? (Michael and Janet Jackson – Scream)

18. Posthumous success and advancing technology can put a departed band member in a video as though they were stuck down and became more powerful than you can possibly imagine. (Sublime – Santeria)

19. Yes 'A Trip to the Moon' was an awesome silent film (Smashing Pumpkins – Tonight, Tonight)

20. It may not be art blatant double entendres and make up that makes people look like toy cowboys but it should be. (Primus – Wionna's Big Brown Beaver)

21. Having a mostly female band play amongst a group of naked men is an example of gender equality. And sexual exploitation (Elastica – Connection)

22. Happy Days is cool when you combine episodes and when Fonzie Dances (Weezer – Buddy Holly)

23. It would be cool living in an old style Hollywood musical for a day or two. Week at the most. (Björk – It's Oh So Quiet)

24. Living in the suburbs could cause a black hole to form (Soundgarden – Blackhole Sun)

25. Because variety shows don't exist anymore (beside a couple like Sabado Gigante) musicians are forced to create their own (Dandy Warhols – Not if you were the Last Junkie on Earth, Squirrel Nut Zippers – Hell, Mike Flowers Pop Orchestra – Wonderwall)

26. Some siblings have confusing relationships (Len – Steal my Sunshine)
    

27. My elementary school had a really under funded drama program (Crash Test Dummies – Mmm Mmm Mmm)

28. Men's restrooms are so much more disgusting than women's. (No Doubt - Just a Girl)

29. Despite getting instructions I never learned that damned dance (Will Smith – Men in Black)

30. Guerilla Dance groups need to take themselves less seriously (Fatboy Slim – Praise You)

31. Confusion is all down to perspective (Jamiroquai – Virtual Insanity)

32. Planning is the trademark of a master criminal (Jane's Addiction – Been Caught Stealing)

33. Throwing someone to the sharks at an aquarium and then playing a song in front of the tank is not a good use of your time before the police arrive. (Duran Duran – Come Undone)

34. PSAs would be more effective if they rocked. (Megadeth – 99 Ways to Die)

35. Loading up the micro bus and going to the middle of nowhere is a good way to turn a week end into a month (Rusted Root – Send Me on My Way)

36. If your buddy doesn't take 2 as advice just chill and finish your soda (Blink 182 – Dammit)

37. After how hotel rooms are portrayed any one who cleans them should be canonized. (Joan Osborne – St. Teresa)

38. If they're playing this I guess someone in the band died (Grateful Dead – Touch of Grey)

39. Opening acts won't have a problem if you just show up and steal their slot (Save Ferris – Come on Eileen)

40. If I shave my head, get a black turtle neck, sit in the back seat and buy booze for a pack of teenagers I could easily make this a reality. (Smashing Pumpkins – 1979)
    

41. With the right car and clothes everywhere you go becomes an old style dance party. (Fastball –The Way)

42. Music videos are the new milk cartons (Soul Asylum – Runaway Train)

How do you define a day?

Is it the old standard of 24 hours? Because let’s face it that’s a bit old hat. Perhaps not a full hood but definitely something approaching a top hat worn outside of a formal setting. Not so much a fedora or a porkpie because there’s a class and style to those, if worn right and an old driving hat can always find its place and while 10 gallons aren’t my scene they do work for some.

Speaking of lack of style (and horrible segues) you’ve got daylight savings (which screws me up) and daylight standard (which screws me up) and all the while I end up defining a day as the hours I’m awake. Yeah it can be confusing when insomnia hits and I’m awake a couple of days in a row. Or I end up working insane hours and 2 days span 3 and a half normal ones but it works for me. And weeks: well I don’t define those. Let other people be the care takers of a week. The biggest draw back is not being sure what day of the week it is. But after all who cares if it’s Odin’s day? It’s still going to be a bit longer before the weekend and even then it may not mean a break. Also when discussing hats does one have to bring up meshbacks? Do those count as a hat? And who thought it was cleaver to put a bottle opener in bill of some of them? Because it’s kind of clever and a bit lame. You need remove the hat for it to work. Now belt buckle bottle openers are fine by me. But that’s not important right now.

So perhaps things have been hanging heavy on my mind and I’ve been sleeping less. Or I fucked myself last week taking a later night shift and never fully recovered. Or the changing of seasons and just not feeling all that ready to let go of winter, I just got use to you, you broke my heart (because I couldn’t dance) and now you’re taking off and letting the trees blossom and the sun return and all that jive. Then again it might just be that time to say ’hey! How’s it going? Sure you can stay for a while’ to insomnia. After all it’s not all bad. I get caught up on the days affair by news that doesn’t have to appeal to anyone. There’s a slew of commercials that can be entertaining and sunrises are often nicer than sunsets. Even if I’ve seen far too many sunrises for most normal people.

Then again there is that feeling of euphoria and slight hallucinations that can come from longer term insomnia and those are always fun. The old habit of questioning what is real and what is fake doesn’t mean so much when sleep is but a memory. So I guess I’ll pour another glass of water settle down with my thoughts and see where it goes. I’d say see where the day takes me but days are a matter of opinion as far as I’m concerned.

52 Thoughts About 26 years

(This is a long blog that goes no where but some info maybe gleaned from it but only for those with true grit)

1. Nails references are never as cool on paper (be it electronic or otherwise) as I hope they will be.
   

2. My handwriting is in a subset of unreadable. Though I print, having been told by multiple education professionals to do so over a decade ago, it still has a style that borders on 'arthritic chimp holding a pencil with its feet' and 'trying to write with your off hand because you won't buy into the whole right handed domination'. Funny thing it's nothing new. In Kindergarten I remember the teacher commenting that I needed to practice handwriting more.

3. I can't trust my teenage self. Even though I defer to those memories for help I can't trust his instincts. Same goes for my preteen self (meaning years before I was a teen not the strange category we have these days of tween. Can't we just have it done with and come up with some new cultural coming of age ceremony? The Driver's License use to be it but nowadays could it be lowering the tattoo age to 16ish and just let kids do that? Sign of rebellion and regrettable youth in one foul stroke. The true passage into adulthood.)

4. If it weren't for peer pressure I wouldn't be in theater. I also probably wouldn't have contacts, drink coffee or try my hand at writing occasionally
   

5. Making lists is not as much fun as it was in 11^th grade.
   

6. Despite being a fan of Jethro Tull since I was a wee one I have yet to see one of their concerts. Something has always come up when I could. The top three: 1) No car to get to concert but enough money for a ticket. 2) No money for a ticket but a car to get me there. 3) No car or money for a ticket. This past time I had work.

7. The whole beer before liquor thing.
   Don't care. Never have never will but maybe I should? Those are decisions one should make sober and not after having had a half dozen.

8. My favorite color hasn't change since I was a kid. Did go through a phase where people thought it was black or grey but in truth I was preparing for my future career.

9. When I was 17 I took close to two hundred postcards that advertised the (then) upcoming movie 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'. Despite using them occasionally for years I still had over 100 of them last year. I recycled most of them but kept about 20. I'm that kind of pack rat

10. There are people who were incredible influences on my life who I don't talk to anymore and probably won't talk to anytime soon. Even if I did talk to them I worry it might be very weird to talk about the trivial things that occurred that I took as being important. It'd be kind of anticlimactic. Much like an email I received from someone I went to high school with telling me how I influenced and changed their life. There's no good come back for that especially since my response was, 'That's great… I guess.'

11. Wandering around alone in the middle of the night usually means you're drunk, homeless, crazy or a combination of the three. Doesn't matter where you do it people have the same reaction of giving you space. Even if I'm stone cold sober with a place to live and an accepted mental status. This does not apply to drunk, homeless or crazy people who engage me in long deep conversations when I'm just taking a walk to clear my mind.

12. I've taken something from nearly every show/job I've done. Most of the time it's something really small and meaningless that I lose in a few days but other times it's something huge like my banner from TWATS (that's 'The World According To Snoopy') or yellow star from 'The Diary of Anne Frank' it's a klepto tick I have.

13. I really should have been a comic book geek. In fact I lament the fact I never was. Nowadays I just can't get into them except the realistic slice of life comics but I can find webcomics that are free instead of waiting for a monthly issue and spending money.

14. Collections are never cool at the beginning. Right now I'm starting my collection of stickers, bracelets or other indications (that aren't tshirts I'm starting to have too many local crew shirts) of me crewing a show. It's lame when you only have 2 stickers, a lanyard and a bunch of wristbands (I'm throwing out the paper wristbands that don't say who the group is) but in a few years it'll be a cool collection.

15. I can't get away from the nerd stigma of having been in Math Club and Chess Club. No matter how cool I may think I am there are pictures, somewhere, of me in each of those.

16. My days of enjoying conversations about RPG related topics are hopefully done. I'm sure I'll engage in them occasionally but lately I've witnessed a few of them and just been bored. I do find the passion those people debate the issue to be admirable but it's not for me… any more… with luck.

17. I like the number 17. It's not my favorite number because that's a bit asinine but it's a good number

18. I'm never going to be the right age for fitting in. For some reason I'm either too old or too young. And if I am by chance the right age I act to much in one direction or the other. Character faults I'm well aware.

19. Having non sequitur references to things don't make you funny, interesting or anything of that sort. But having a stream of conscience thought process has lead me into situations where I have to explain how I got to that place.

20. No one should reunite ever. Under no circumstances. Ever. But if they do do it right like the Rolling Stones or Van Halen. But if it's become apparent it's some kind of money raising scheme just give it up. Like The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Grateful Dead.

21. Stop trying to convince people to dig deeper with 'Fear and Loathing'. If they want to see a drug movie they're going to see a drug movie. No convincing on the death of idealism that came with both the end of the Sixties and in the latter half of the '90s will resonate with some people.

22. There are worse things than being remembered for having one work of art that was considered great early in your career. And I'm not sure if being a neverwas is one of them.

23. Putting 'O-matic' on things I build isn't as much fun as it use to be.

24. The Columbine Massacre affected me more than I can fully express. There were (and probably still are) quite a few similarities between Dylan Klebold, Eric Harris, and myself.

25. I'm not sure if "Weird" Al was ever funny. Sure I found (and still find) some of his work amusing and respect his ability to parody but I'm not sure if he was ever that funny. He was good in 'UHF' but so was the rest of the cast. Got to say that his medleys of songs in polka form are my favorites. But no matter what is said about the man he does a good stage show.

26. In order to be able to win future bets I learned most of the lyrics to 'It's the end of the world as we know it'. So far that bet hasn't happened and I haven't broken down and sung it at a karaoke night.

27. I will go to an ATM, get money, find a way to get some change and give some money to a busker but I won't give a kid with a sign that says 'Punch me in the face 5 bucks' any money unless they let me bash them with a hammer.

28. Even though Punk could be consider dead there are plenty of people that will say it's not. Given the socio-economical forces that help create the first punk movement I wouldn't be too surprised if another one gets started… or the February Revolution for that matter… but where would we find a Czar at this hour?

29. No matter how good I get at an arcade game some one will always be better. Often someone younger than me and they will rub in how much I suck. Exception: Back in '99/ early '00 I spent a lot of time getting good at 'Area 51' in Corbett Center's arcade. I may not have been better than everyone but I knew the first couple levels so well I could drink a soda and still get a high streak.
    Yeah I was a really cool freshman.

30. I should have become a musical theater geek. Because the straight male musical theater geek has such low probabilities of occurring I'd fill an odd kind of niche.
    
31. I've met more famous people than I realize.

32. No decade is as 'cool' as it's remembered. Now if you get into movements that lasted closer to a generation (20 years) I might be will to get onto that turnip truck.

33. Huell Howser is a fluke of success and should be envied but not recreated. He's some kind of low cost advertising campaign for California. I suppose those are called grass roots now but it still means low budget.

34. Max Fleischer should be remembered a bit more than he is. Just a bit more perhaps not on the level of Tex Avery or Chuck Jones but he was good in his own right.

35. My nicknames tend to suck.

36. I should have become a music geek so I could either have a better than thou sense when dealing with modern music or the paradoxical love/hate relationship that record collectors tend to have.

37. Old blues or jazz artists are cooler than I can ever hope to be.

38. 'Shock Treatment' and 'Grease 2' have things going for them that the originals never had. Perhaps it's the campy songs or the overall feeling of the films that should never be staged but they are just good in ways the originals may never be.

39. If you grab life by the teats you can milk success so thoroughly a fan base will respect you even if you never get to the same place you were with your one break out success. In other words: I envy Kevin Smith and Alfred Jarry.

40. Greatest response to 'There's no "I" in team': 'But there is "me at work" in "teamwork"'. Thank you Minister Faust and your unique brand of Sci-Fi. [That quote is not sic because I don't have a copy of 'From the Notebook of Doctor Brain' were the quote appears and while I do have 'Coyote Kings of the Space Age Bachelor Pad' I don't have it with me and if I did it'd do me no good.

41. I'd sooner become a vegetarian then try to keep kosher. At least when I fail being a vegetarian it doesn't count as failing my faith.

42. People don't try to convert me to their faith as much anymore. Lately it's been more of their political views. Which leads me to wonder if politics is the new religion… at least for this year?

43. My earliest complete memory is when I was three and bragging about talking in complete sentences. This is odd since I doubt I understood what that meant but I still bragged.

44. In some ways I'm a movie geek. It's more like I'm Sublet from Gibson's 'Virtual Light'. I can sum up plots and name some actors and then relate a few connections, look for god in the film and that jive. But not a true movie geek.

45. In '95 I saw a play called 'The Late Great Me' telling the story of a girl's descent into social ruin by the dangers of alcohol. I really like the title and use it in my inner dialogue sometimes and here's the kicker especially when drinking.

46. The first time I heard 'Smells like Teen Spirit' I thought there were a lot of potato references. And in '94 when a classmate had a memorial to Kurt Cobain I couldn't help but laugh at bit thinking of that when he played 'Smells like Teen Spirit'.

47. I saw 'Blues Brothers 2000' in the theaters. It was fairly close to opening weekend and it wasn't at an odd ball time like first or last showing but the theater was empty except me and maybe 3 people. Same thing happened with 'Biodome'.

48. I've only had one job I've done consistently in my life and that is being a stage tech. Number two is working at McDonald's.

49. I was a computer geek when it was a lot easier to be a computer geek. Knowing what a baud rate was enough. If not that then simple things like RAM and how to read software requirements. Nowadays it's so hard I don't even try.

50. There are a few songs which I've heard the radio edits of so much that the actual version just doesn't sound right. Violent Femmes have a few songs on that short list.

51. There are certain hobbies that are cool when you're good at them and quite lame when you're not. Those can include: magic, yo-yoing, juggling and impressions. Thankfully I gave up most of those before trying to show off my half formed talent which was still in the lame range.

52. Fifty Two pick up is a really one sided game.

Big Money, Big Money, No Whammy, No Whammy…STOP!

What happened to game shows?

Not the evening ones, those were always hot beds of anticipation, excitement and perhaps a little too much spectacle. After all when a game of Jeopardy gets going… watch out it may get crazy, especially if it's one of the easier versions where plenty of people get into fights because they actually know an answer. The over heard mumblings of treadmillin' folks during the high school/college tournaments.

And only now do I finally get to see Drew Carey on 'The Price is Right' and I'm a bit under whelmed. Much like when Louis Anderson left 'Family Feud' and was replaced by Richard Karn, I'm just not feeling it. Anderson seemed to hate the whole situation and just want to be out of there for the day. Karn returned it to the standard game show roots of 'fun', enthusiastic hosts. I like my hosts to seem bitter with the situation, which Anderson did so well.

Then again his act did that too. Even his cartoon 'Life with Louis' had that feel of melancholy fondness for his youth… or fictionalized youth at any rate. There was a joy to be had from a melancholy protagonist that wasn't Charlie Brown.

Still gone are the days of the game show hosts that had that over the top dated tv style. Now it's comedians, actors and never forget the monstrosity of 'Who wants to be a Millionaire' with this devil like host of Regis. 'Well you're damned right I want that million but I have no life lines, have no idea what the answer is but I guess I could trade you my soul.'

It's weird to write the lines 'Monty Hall save me from these monstrosities' but there it is. But with 'The Game Show Network', if that thing even exists anymore, showing what was and movies (okay it was a while ago) like 'Quiz Show' revealing the seedy underbelly of these programs were does that leave people like me?

Well I'll tell you: I can name that tune in one note.

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Now playing: Why Don't You Get A Job - The Offspring
via FoxyTunes

Post Modern Psychosomatic Syndrome

There's plenty of programs I shouldn't watch. Sitcoms (because I'll be sucked in), reality Tv (because I'll be upset and sucked in), local morning news (just too damned amusing), blocks of pseudo science programming and medical oddity shows. Not because I'll end up thinking I have those diseases. Let's face it those show focus on people that are statistically anomalies. I shouldn't watch them because I become highly aware I don't have that disorder in order to make sure I'm damned sure I don't have it.

See the thing is I'm pretty susceptible to suggestion. The weird part is I know I am going to end up influenced by that sort of thing and go to lengths to make sure that I know so much that I'm damned sure I can't be influenced by it. Take West Nile… the virus not the region. Beside traveling to Egypt and standing to the west of the Nile River I have no idea what else that region would have in it. Probably the same shit they have on the east side but if one side is better than the other there will be problems.
Stupid direction based feelings of exclusivity.

Still no matter how you slice it when there were rumblings of the beginning of the epidemic, which I was lead to believe would be a pandemic, I went out of my way to find out everything I could. Same thing with Bird Flu, went so far as to not eat Peeps that Easter… not really because while Peeps aren't all that great there's a sick sick joy in eating something shaped like a small bird. But microwaving Peeps while very amusing can go to places where most people were not meant to tread.
And it usually involves microwaving plenty of other things… some which shouldn't be microwaved.

When I don't go out of my way to avoid becoming influenced I will sometimes become influenced in odd ways. Usually it's an odd sort of obsession that can morph into a kind of trivia gathering machine. But not in a bad way, it'd work out better if I did pub quizzes or quiz shows or pub shows. As hobbies go it's not the worst one I've ever had. I'd rather not have to remember some really odd hobby I had for a day just to prove my point which is I don't own a suggestion Box for a good reason.

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Now playing: My Name Is Jonas - Weezer
via FoxyTunes