Web 1.0!

 So, here I am back here. Safe to say that Web 2.0 sucks and Web 3.0 can't figure out if it is the metaverse, blockchain, AI or all three sponsored by cryptocoins. All a way to say I want something calmer with less noise. I expect the readers of this continuation of brain farts to be approximately zero, but I'm doing this for me.

I'm watching Heavenly Creatures for the first time in, uh, a decade and a half? Still my favorite Peter Jackson film. I remember seeing it at this small second-floor theater in Nottingham when I studied there. It was a double bill with a film called Suture. Still feel a lot of darkness in this one. I think in the 90's I was more a fan of Kate Winslet, minus Titanic, which is overrated with crappy acting. Now, Melanie Lynskey. She makes everything she is in better. No slight on Kate Winslet of course.

Well, here's a post!

The Weather Outside Is Frightful

But inside it's so delightful. In grand upper-Midwestern style, a huge blizzard will soon bury us in so only the most strident and/or foolish venture out more than the few feet it takes to get to the nearest tavern. I do have a bar/restaurant nearby, but I'll take something else.

Toki

Anyone who has seen Metalocalypse must know that I can identify with Toki. It just fits.

Democracy

The popular definition of democracy is where people vote for their leaders, but it is much more than that. It is getting involved in your own fate. Case in point.

Enough!

Enough of the discouragement already! I'm playing rugby and when I get my ass kicked with my knee the size of a melon and I'm crying on my sofa whacked out on oxycotin while watching Fight Club for the eightieth time, you can have your satisfaction by saying "HAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!!!"

Geesh, some friends.

Forward Ho

So in the coming weeks, I'm going to try my hand at, um, competing and not winning the Commodore's Cup. Basically, it's ten days of competition with parties every night. It would be a good way to waste away summer.

So the hard part is, I would LOVE to win the best team name. My first thought is "The Davey Jone's Rejects", but I'm not sure.

Any ideas?

Time

So all of....

the bars where I made a grove in the railing,
places I would hide and watch people walk by,
pop culture that was fresh at one time,
streets that I'd walk down every day,
haunts where I would feel comfortable,

are in the past.

On to the next thing.

Bad Bet

Well, it looked better at the time...

Random Tidbits

Since I have nothing substantial to say, here's some random things:

1. I don't like asparagus.
2. I'm listing to Queens of the Stone Age right now.
3. I'd much rather be outside doing something active.
4. Grindhouse bored me.
5. 300 did not bore me.
6. I have not yet read any Kurt Vonnegut. Shame on me.
7. I have five hours of work left.....

See, I have nothing substantial to say. I've followed through on my promise.

I'm Annoyed!

and impatient. And really annoyed. Damn it!

Update: It's just frustrating when something is stuck in place when you're ready to push it onwards.

Damn it.

People I Know

I've been digging through my own posts adding tags to them. I found the old avatar jobs that I did and decided to do so again:

Shari & Michael
Here's Shari and Michael. Michael is a nobleman and Shari is out shopping by the Pantheon. The lamb can be taken as a friend or a sacrifice. Shari will probably take it as a friend.



Aasa
Here's Aasa at a Ren Fair. I gave here a mini dragon that'll eat you if you're mean to her. I wanted to find a easel, but it wasn't available.



Shaun & Lucia
Here's my roommate and his girlfriend. He's a the gym ready to kill Brian if he shoves the rules in our face again. Lucia is in Venice. There, happy Lucia?

>

Joe
Shaun & I recently caught up with our old friend Joe. Since he's working on getting a job with the Madison Public Library, I put in this background. He also gets the zen hawk trainer look.



Kyle
Here's Kyle with his artist look and box of kittens; one more than he has. He also is working towards being a surgical tech.



Jess & Dave
Here's the Chicago Roommate Duo of Jess & Dave. The first posts, the second is going to get nailed with haiku if he doesn't get back to it. Jess is at a Red Sox game and Dave is Mr. Social, so he's the Fonz at a concert.



Jeremy & Tracy
Jeremy & Tracy will have the first child on June 6 (hint, hint). I couldn't get Jeremy right, so I put him in a motorcyle helmet. He'll be doing lots of riding soon. Tracy is a pharmacist, hence the equations. Jeremy gets Winston and Tracy gets Lucy.



Bleet & Melissa
Bleet and Melissa are kind of the anti-couple. They've never met, but I can tell. They had this argument, yet neither helped me out. Melissa had a good excuse. I'm not sure what Bleet's excuse was. Anyway, be careful of Melissa. She's in (or just back) from Hong Kong. Piss her off and it's off with your head by dragon. I couldn't get Bleet right, but I though an octopus would be a good companion for him.



Steve
And finally, we have Steve. He always, I mean ALWAYS has a Hawaiian shirt on. He's in Red Square because that's where I got to know him. Well, the Russian trip, part of which was in Red Square.



They're all smilling, even those in masks, because I love them all to pieces. If any of you gives me crap about that, I'll shove a hot poker up your ass.

Haiku Challenge

Back in May of 2004, I caught up with Dave at the Scottish Country Fair. I learned that he had a blog, which was kind of new to most people then. I decided to follow in the master's footsteps. Despite pledging to post one a day this year, he's managed just 11.

We'll be his personal trainers, so let's all give some inspirational haikus to Dave in his comments. Girlfriend time be damned!

Grace

Strange to find that Minnesota has a state photograph. I quite like it. A picture is worth a thousand words, so:

Happy Darwin Day!!!!

Secularists Unite!

Wise Observations

I found this here:

A Boy in a Barbershop

I took my youngest sons to the barbershop Sunday afternoon and, as usual, my 6-year-old brought a book. While the 4-year-old was getting his hair cut, Michael knelt on the footrest of an empty barber’s chair. He propped the book on the seat and, with perfect obliviousness, rotated the chair by pushing against the floor with one foot. In that unlikely posture, he read Strange Museum for the 10 minutes it took the barber to cut his brother’s hair.

I would have been crippled had I done what Michael could do without thinking. His body and mind are elastic. Story enters his consciousness and fills it to the exclusion of sore joints and a too-loud radio. He is open to words and narrative in ways I can no longer imagine. Story displaces cares and conventions – a gift of which he is unaware, that he will some day lose. Remember the wistful opening lines of Randall Jarrell’s “A Girl in a Library”:

“An object among dreams, you sit here with your shoes off
And curl your legs up under you; your eyes
Close for a moment, your face moves toward sleep . . .
You are very human.
But my mind, gone out in tenderness,
Shrinks from its object with a thoughtful sigh.”

Perfect Use

If you bike in Madison and head east on the Capitol Bike Path, you've past the old Garver Mill plant. I find the urban splunking movement interesting and love looking at the pictures of the old, crumbling buildings. Madison just doesn't have many. The Garver site is the exception. There has been talk for years on what to do with it and a new proposal looks perfect. It's adjacent to Olbrich Gardens and near the Williamson neighborhood, which already has artistic bent. The picture in the article just doesn't do it justice. It's a pretty cool building, to say the least.

In other news, I got an African Fat-Tailed gecko for Christmas. She's quite beautiful and named Leopold. I already had the name picked out and she *may* be male, but odds are she's a she. She looks like this:



She really doesn't like to be held, so I leave her alone to veg out. Funny thing is, last Friday I was out for Nathan Moore's (WORT News Director) good-bye part and was talking to his wife. She said she had a bearded dragon she was giving up to a good home and hadn't yet found one. Well, now I have a bearded dragon named Louie. He's very, very mellow and very social. I watch shows with him sleeping on my chest. Here's what he looks like:



So I must say I'm quite happy with the additions.

On Hiatus...

... I have nothing to say.....

I'm a Klutz

I've spilled TWO glasses of water in a minute and a half.

I'm A Little Bored Today

Wish Him Well

I seem to know a few hard core bikers.

Michael is heading out on a 508 race... with lots of hills. That's stamina I doubt I'll ever have.

Wish him luck!