Stare Down

So with this post, we've now had as more posts this month (12), than the past three months combined (11).

Important? No, not really, but as a baseball fan, I like my stats, so I guess they're starting to invade my nomral routine. Maybe.

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So the bulk of the painting is done now. From here it's just touch-up work, which, of course, will take longer because I have to use the brush instead of the roller. But it's all moving along much faster than I thought, which is nice. I'm not going to set a hard finish date on this, but if I could have it done by MLK day, that'd be fantastic. And, conveniently, just in time for Godzillathon 2007.

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I don't know if I've never noticed this before, or if yesterday was the first occasion I'd had to really notice it in a long time, but eye contact can be a really powerful thing. I don't necessarily mean just looking at someone when you're talking to them. I'm talking about looking at them, like, right in their eyes. It's quite...intense.

Case in point" I had lunch with Sarah yesterday, and at one point, I decided I'd look right into her eyes as I was saying something. I don't remember what we were talking about, though it wasn't anything terribly important. But I went ahead. And it was only a few seconds, but I had to look away after a bit because it was so strong. Or maybe I didn't want to come across as staring. Or both. But it was kinda cool. It helped that she reciprocated.*

And we're going to see the Blues on Thursday. Which, given the team's current state if playing, should make for a good evening on more than one front.

At least, I hope so.

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And, if I don't post tomorrow, everyone** have a happy New Year.



Dave


*Good word, good word.

**You know, the hypothetical "everyone" that reads this.

White Out

I have $84 worth of paint somewhere in my basement right now. It's either on the wall or in a bucket. And what a bucket!

So yes, I've been painting the basement. It's going to be a long process, to be sure. First the panelling, then the stucco (God help me), then going back to touch up the tight spots, and then coming back in with a color on the trim. It's all white right now, which might look nice, but is a bit...bland. So we'll fix that eventually.

Then the ceiling, then the carpet....

This is going to take awhile.

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I don't knoww what it is about jumping, but it's strangely cathartic. I did a shoot for the Journal on Wednesday and went to a place that was a former fitness center and is now a....well, it's a gymnastic-like place for kids. The main room features a 30-ish foot trampoline for kids to run and bounce on, and at the end is a big pit full of foam blocks. Well I shot the kids in there for a bit, and then when they all left, took a flying leap for myself. And boy oh boy was it fun.

And I have no idea why. Maybe it's just that one moment, small as it may be, where you can let go of anything bugging you and just be kinda goofy. I wish I could figure it out, but I'm glad to have those opportunities.

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New Years is almost here. I'm going to say 'bah' to making a resolution and just live my life as best I can.

So there you go.




Dave

Major funky.

How I managed to forget this last night is beyond me.

So we're at the Moore's house on Sunday playing the aforementioned fierce game of dominoes. Or were we playing sequence? Well, the game is irrelevant. Resistance was futile*. And somehow or other, Nancy mentions that she has some limberger (sp?) in the refridgerizer. But no bananas**. Anyways, I mention that I'd never seen, smelled, nor tasted said cheese. I had to find out if it was as nose-turningly funky as I've been led to believe.

So she goes to grab said cheese, thankfully stored in its own plastic bin, and brings it to me for...odor inspection. And hoo-boy, was it funky. It was far and away the most intense smell I've ever smelled on something not rotten. I mean, of course, rotten in a bad way. Lots of cheese has good mold in it.

So once I get over the smell, I have to taste it, right? So I put some on the cracker, and it tastes exactly the way it smells, if that makes any sense. I think the odor of the cheese was wafting up the back of my mouth towards my nose. And while it didn't taste bad, per se, the pervasive odor was so intense I couldn't finish it.

Would I try it again? Maybe, I'm not sure. I am glad to say that I have tried it though. After a steady does of cheddar, colby, mozzerella, and what-not, trying something new was refreshing. If you go to stores around here, you'd think those were the only cheeses in the world. I do wish NorCo had a good cheese chop.

No matter how runny their cheese may or may not be.

I was going to post a snippet from the Monty Python skit, but it's so damn funny you can just go read it here.


Heh. Cheese is funny.

But is it funnier than bananas?




Dave



*Sorry. Too much Star Trek.

** A banana?!?

Ho ho ho and a bottle of rum

So another Christmas has come and gone. The theme this year was "Drive Everywhere in Missouri." And by everywhere, I don't exactly mean everywhere. But I did put 300 miles on my car the past 24 hrs., which has to count for something. From my house to grandma's to dad's to Curt's house in New Bloomfield to mom's back home. Whew. Thankfully it was 98% highway mileage, so it wasn't too bad.

This was the first time in 4 years we didn't go to visit grandpa's grave at Jefferson Barracks. Interesting.

I did, I think, come across an activity that can count as a Moore Family Tradition! Whenever we go visit the Moores (Curt, Nancy, and kids), the odds are good a fierce game of dominoes is going to break out. And I like it, because it's a little different. And at that table, we had grandma, Nancy, myself, Steve, Jake, and Sarah, which was quite the generational span. That was cool, two.

What wasn't cool was learning that, among my skills, dominoes is not one of them. Granted, not much skill is needed, but a player has very little control over most of the gameplay, so when the going is bad, there's not much to do. In Scrabble, I can usually make do with some bad tiles, but in dominoes, I'm just stuck. So grr. But it's still fun.

And overall, this was a good Christmas. I realized last night that I've never had a "best Christmas ever." I like them all. The food, family, gifts, etc. are always wonderful.

So I'm off aaaaaall week. Have I mentioned that?

Sweet.


Dave

Christmas Time is Here

Happiness and cheer.

And phlegm. For me, at least. Nothing says holiday cheer like a stuffy nose and a kick-ass cough. Right? I mean, nothing's more festive.

I went with Kara and Karl for a slight twist on an old Christmas tradition. Most people go out and look for cool light displays on people's houses, yes? Well we went out and tried to find the tackiest houses we could find. And believe you me, not only did we find plenty of our quarry, but it was extremely easy to do. In fact, the number of ugly houses far outnumbered the good houses. It's almost as if people don't care anymore. It tends to look like people go buy anything and everything and then toss it around with no real thought as to aesthetics. Now, I'm not saying it has to be perfect, but SOME thought would be nice. Maybe a consistent color scheme? Some consideration as to the scale of one's house compared to the amount of decoration? Hmm? Please? And a personal request: no more of those inflatable things. They just look stupid.

Who would have thought A-B would have had the best decorations around?

So our senses of aesthetics were assaulted, but we did have fun. And seeing all the schlock made the well-done houses that much nicer. So to you, I offer my thanks and a hearty round of applause. Well played.

So I'm all ready for Christmas. I don't think it crept up on me this year, and I actually "feel like it's Christmas," for a change. And that's nice.

I was...not worried, but.......concerned, maybe, that Christmas would be a bit harder this year, what with becoming disengaged*, but it's been pretty good. On the totally practical side, I saved a fair chunk of change. And on the emotional side? I'm doing pretty good. No particular reason, really. But I get to see most of the family tomorrow, and that's always nice. I get to see the Moores, who I only see about every two years. And if Steve and I are lucky, we can sit in front of the video fire at mom's house on Monday. And next week! No work! Sweet! And more!

Aaaaaand...I have something else on mind. But I'm gonna save it for a bit. Like, until the end of the week, I think. Suffice it to say, it's kind of an interesting development. Certainly not one I'd planned on.

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So I took a sick day on Tuesday and a few sick hours yesterday afternoon, thus affording me a chance to catch a Star Trek: Voyager marathon. I forgot how good that series was. Lots of good episodes, and it may, after more viewing, just nose out TNG as my favorite Trek. We'll see. I've caught a couple episodes of TOS the past two nights, and both have been excellent episodes. So it's been a good week for my nerdiness.

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All for now, dear readers. Enjoy your Christmas as best you can. And stay healthy!


Dave


*credit to Karl for that one.

Cough cough, hack hack

I took a sick day yesterday, and it was a truly wonderful thing. Slept until noon(!), and proceeded to watch a lof of Star Trek: Voyager, and remembered how much I liked that show.

I woke up this morning, feeling well enough to go to work, but very insensec, or as much as one can be upon first waking, that it wasn't Friday yet. I just want this week to be ovah! I want it to be next week so I can not be working. At work, at least.

Working in my basement, well, like the fourth floor of DeSmet, that's another story.


Dave

Keep on Walking

Sometime last year I posted about The Urge song Take a Walk, and the yell lead singer Steve Irwin yells that, in the words of dear old dad, "sounds like he got kicked in the crotch." I always assumed he'd still get, um, a kick out of it (he being dad, not Mr. Irwin) if he heard it today.

Well I played the song for him a month or so ago, and the reaction was just as I expected.

Something else i learned is that Anheuser-Busch, for reasons I can't recall, doesn't let employees keep Quicktime on their computers. Weird.


Dave

Brand New Shoes

So I tweaked the layout, as you may have noticed (this assumes people are reading this and saw the old layout).

I guess it's alright. It's a bit more readable, but it doesn't have that "homemade" look of the old site since I'm using a premade template. But I was guessing that no one really used the links to the other blogs anymore, so they could go. I (sort of) redid my website, and all the links to the pictures were dead. And on every computer and every browser I tried, there was an odd error that put a huge gap between the post title and the post itself, and I didn't know how to fix it.

Which brings us to here.

I will accept feedback, of course.


Dave

Season's Spirit

So an interesting thing happened. I went to Target this evening to buy the few items I need to complete my (admittedly minimal) shopping for Christmas, and I found myself shirking at the idea of spending $15 on a picture frame. Now, I will admit I don't have tons of money to be spending on gifts, but it's not like I can't afford $15 a frame over 4-5 frames. And it made me mad, because I know mom and dad spend way more on me. And I know they don't mind, and they'd say something reassuring, but it's still...annoying. Like I'd rather have the money for me or something like that.

And that made slightly more sense before I tried to type it.

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Also interesting: after a little over 2 months since Janice and I parted ways, I'm in pretty good shape with everything. But for whatever reason, my mind keeps going back to one moment the night she came over. Right before she left, we just stood there for a couple minutes, hugging/crying, and I think there were a couple "let go, come back" moments. It seems an odd moment to be doing such a thing, but it was all I could think of.

Maybe a "if I don't let go, maybe she won't go," or something like that. I don't know. But it's still the only part of that night that still really gets to me.

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It is still more interesting what goes through one's mind over the course of trying to, for lack of a better word, woo someone onf the opposite-type gender. Lots of silly thoughts, and the creation of drama within one's mind that probably doesn't even exist. Plenty of "what ifs" and "should I's" and "shouldn't I's" and oboy is it ever fun!


Three totally unrelated points and I'm out.


Dave

The Music

I'd meant to do this a looooooooooooong time ago, but forgot. So I'm gonna do it now.

Open iTunes/iPod or Windows Media Player to answer the following. Go to your library. Answer, no matter how embarrasing it is.

How many songs: 942; Not many, really, even with all the concerts I have loaded.

Sort by song
First Song: 'Wake Up-Everyone' from the 12/9/06 U2 gig in Honolulu
Last Song: Zooropa by U2; hmm....

Sort by time
Shortest song: Track 16 (:11), which is actually Mike Doughty doing the classic 'Fire Truck.' I imported the song and never renamed it
Longest Song: Sinister Minister (19:54), by the 'Tones from the 3/16/06 gig

Sort by artist
First Artist: 'Weird Al' Yankovic; Apparently punctuation ranks over actual letters.
Last Artist: Yes

Top Five Most Played Songs (not including repeat artists)
Flipped Off by the Ghost of Elvis
Blue Moon Weasels
Ghetto Flannel
Squacking
Altered Inflections

All written by, um, me. So I like my songs, what can I say. Top 5 non-me songs:

Ashes--Embrace
For What It's Worth--Rush
Brainless--The Urge
I Predict a Riot--Kaiser Chiefs
It's Getting OK Now--311

First song that comes up on Shuffle
Angel of Harlem--U2, live from Tokyo 11/30/06

Search
"sex", how many songs come up? 2
"death", how many songs come up? 3
"love", how many songs come up? 34 (3 versions of Everybody Loves Jill!)
"you", how many songs come up? 74
"final", how many songs come up? 0


Well, that was fun. Real post to follow in a bit, I hope.


Dave

Break on Through

I'm glad I randomly selected gmail when I was setting up a new account a couple months ago. It saved me a few steps logging into this new Blogger thingy. However, I fail to see any actual difference with the merger, but whatever.

I managed a small miracle today, and actually got the bulk of a new song recorded. I combined a couple difference chord changes I had laying around, and presto! New song! And it's good, considering the musical rut I'd been in lately. Nothing more frustrating than a creative rut, especially when you trade youself on such endeavors.

And it was more than music. It was stuff at work, and junk I've been doing on the side. I don't know if I've reached a peak in terms of what I know, or if the material I've had has been less than inspiring.

I suppose a new challenge and or a break are in order.

Taking a week off from work would be helpful. Ooh! Maybe I'll do that! Yeah, the week after Christmas sounds nice. Brilliant!

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Eh, I think I'll save the other point for another post some other day.



Dave

Back in the Saddle

It's been some time since I sat down and committed words to this little chunk of the 'net. We've been online for a little over 3 years now, and I had often wondered how long I could keep up something like this. And for awhile, I was thinking I'd just let it fade away, like so many other blogs out there have done.

But then I decided that would be silly.

So I'm going to try this again. I have no idea if anyone actually stops by here anymore. If you do, I'm impressed you stuck around (thanks, though). If you've just happened across the site, I'm sorry, since there are probably far more entertaining ways to spend your time out here. Though I will admit we've had some pretty amusing stuff posted here. Or maybe it was funny to us.

Regardless of whether or not anyone still reads this, I'm going to try to make an attempt at regular(ish) updates. One a week would be great, though I think I could pull off 2-3 a week. So we'll see. I make no promises, though, so if we go a couple months between posts, well, there you go.

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So my last post was back in August. An eternity ago in more ways than one. A lot has changed. And some things are still the same.

-Despite all best efforts and intentions, the engagement is no more. Janice and I are no more. It's very weird looking back/thinking back to the way things were. And I have to wonder what happened to cause it all to fall apart so fast. Well, fast relative to the 2+ years of time we spent together. And, ironically, the last two months were probably some of the longest, hardest months I've ever endured.

-So we're two months on since the break-up now, and I'm pretty much fine. I think I'm just now letting myself be a little upset about the whole ordeal. Not blind rage, mind you, but a bit miffed.

-I think a lot of it has to do with starting over. I was pretty confident I'd never have to do that again, but here we are, and I rather resent having to do it. No, I'm not going out on dates all cranky about having to do it, but the general idea of doing it, since I/we were so established.

-I apologize if I'm rambling. It's late, and for some reason, it's easier to talk all this out than it is to type.
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So what else has happened?

-I went to the wineries and learned that too much wine can make the ride home in the back of an SUV kinda icky.
-I went to Decatur and watched The Pillowman while hoping Anthony Reyes could hold off the Tigers.
-I learned some basic HTML, which may or may not be of use to me on this site.
-I watched, from a bar in Kirksville, as the Cardinals won the effin' World Series.
-I took the scenic route home from Kirksville, soaking up the scenery of northern MO.
-I went back to Decatur and played in a rock show with the brother, and had a fabulous time.
-I shot a wedding, which, thankfully, was not too traumatic.
-I managed to cancel most of my own wedding, which, again, wasn't too traumatic.
-I spent 2 1/2 hours trying to get home during an ice storm.
-Said ice storm knocked out my power for 36 hours, but I was able to stay warm thanks to the wonderful space heater in my basement.
-My love of crossword puzzles has bloomed into a full-fledged obsession.
-I went on a blind date. Good times were had, but not enough to go again.
-I'm trying to build a new relationship. We'll see how that goes.
-All the while, I've rediscovered how cool most of my friends are.

And I've been trying to write lyrics along the way. It turns out that the end of a relationship can provide a lot of lyrical fodder. But I don't want to dwell in that realm forever. But I think I'm getting a feel for it.

Whew.

I think that's enough for now.

Here's hoping for more later.



Dave