Today is one of those

Today is one of those days that just rolls off you. I’ve already forgotten everything I’ve done today, and I feel very busy while having accomplished very little.

The impending house-purchase is going steadily. I’m excited about the prospect of living with Laura now. It’ll be fun to sleep in her bed all the time instead of mine… and yet the video games and computers that make me feel secure will still be there, just waiting for me to wake up, comforting me with their presence.

well, Laura’s car has a

well, Laura’s car has a flat, so I gave her a ride, and I’m into work at the unbelievably-early hour of 8AM. How do people fucking do this? There were three of us here when I first arrived, and now the population of the office has doubled. I feel like some kind of lab rat. Plus, I should be wearing a sweater, my office is FUCKING COLD.

Oh yeah, everyone wish Yami a happy birthday. w00t!

Friday I’m in love has

Friday I’m in love has to be one of the best songs known to man. It may even be my favorite cure song, although it’s got stiff competition, especially in that remix of close to me on the “mixed up” album.

I got up early for work today, so I can leave early and drive down to chicago for the Stevenson’s Toss Up juggling festival. I’m pretty excited, because I hear they have a great space, and there will be lots of people. Plus, I have this new weirdo haircut that I want to show off.

I have had many comments on the new haircut this morning… I’ve had two people say it looks like I’m wearing some kind of helmet, (including a very blurry-eyed Laura this morning), but my favorite was from Alex, (a designer here at work) who said it looks “evil”.

Greg Bear’s latest novel, Vitals,

Greg Bear’s latest novel, Vitals, was a very well written pile of steaming shit.

I was extremely disappointed in this novel. X-files syndrome galore. No plot tie-ups, no ending really to speak of, this thing sucked ass. It was far too possible and plausible and yet stupidly, inanely, without conclusion, without coherence. Maybe I should explain a bit. I hate half-cocked science fiction. It’s a fine line really, but one that I think bares flushing-out (pardon my pun).

I love certain kinds of surrealist writing. And I (obviously) love science fiction. But there is an area where they should never meet. If you’re writing what is obviously intended to be swallowed as a “hard science” science fiction novel, damnit, you better fucking have it all make sense at the end!

Don’t get me wrong. This novel was written well. It’s internally consistent. I’m not going to be looking for holes in the logic any time soon. What bugs me is that, at the end of the novel, we still don’t know who dun it. In fact, we’re scratching our heads as to who are the “who” candidates.

The first half, and yes, admittedly, toward the end, the narrative was compelling as hell. I kept turning the pages–completely unsuspecting–and after the climax, I raised my eyebrows… a timeline. A mother-fucking time line right there at the end of the book. I kept reading, waiting for a punch line. It never dropped, the other shoe is still out there floating in space.

One of two things is at fault here: pretentious writing, or lazy writing. Greg Bear could have really nailed it with this novel if you ask me, but he fucked it up good.

Ode to Fighting Robots

I’ve decided I don’t use enough fucking descriptive terms in my god-damned blog.

I guess there’s nothing for it but to celebrate the robots, robots who are “idealized post-modern savages“.

=====
Ode to Fighting Robots

silver-fist, babelfish
low-to-the-ground–vaccumed to the wall–
full of flame-throwers and bandsaws…

spin like flin, an angry din
axes and sharp sticks.
Robots making robot toothpicks.

Majesty of microcircuitry.
Radio-controlled Andy Warhol waltzing on tripwire
white iron and ornery LED conspire

Still life in electro-strife–
an onlooker’s geek rush and tussle
breed of new athlete’s mind-muscle

dissatisfaction, stirs within
our saucer-shaped metal-killing-coaster.
If circuitry got sympathy, it would have been a toaster.
=====

God it’s horrible. I’m like some kind of abomination.

Mondays are a bitch. Especially

Mondays are a bitch. Especially mondays that follow fairly satisfying vacations where you visit your girlfriend’s sister, and find out how much cheaper housing is in the middle of nowhere, and finish your book, and start another really excelent book by Greg Bear, and watch that new cohen brothers movie, and go see a nice museum, and dance on the heads of needles wearing winged sandals and halos and togas all the while singing about lolipops and choochoo trains…

Yeah, so I guess that last didn’t happen. But mondays are still a bitch.

I got a lot done

I got a lot done today. Read slashdot, theonion, played some Cannons with Chris. It’s funny, I really did get a lot done today. And I’m still working! My computer is upgrading itself… (mac osx software update RULES!) The onion and slashdot both had interesting articles. Plus, the onion links to a hello kitty dildo, which I may have to buy as a gag gift for someone, because… damn that’s funny.

I’m getting excited to be on the road. In less than an hour, Laura and I will be on our way to Kansas. Yes, it’s only Kansas, but it’ll still be fun. My only real concern is that I won’t get to play nearly enough video games while I’m gone. I probably won’t have a ps2 at all! Plus, lately, I’ve been getting pretty into the copy of Summoner that I picked up for $10. It’s not as bad a game as it first appears, and the graphics do get better as you play–although they’re still nowhere near what a PS2 game should be capable of.

I’m also looking forward to hopefully finishing my book while we’re on the road. Since laura can’t read while she’s in a car, I’m hoping I can make her do most of the driving.

Today has been surreal. I

Today has been surreal. I think it may be carryover from last night, when I watched the second half of Mulholland Drive. I rarely stop watching a movie and start it again, but for some reason this one wasn’t grabbing me the first time. Hell, it didn’t really grab me the second time either, but it left me thinking “I must have missed something.

So I turned to the internet, and found a really great article on Salon that explains the entire thing. Strangely, after understanding more of the nature of the film, it was far more haunting. I think I had dreams about some of the various aspects of the film. (unfortunately, my dreams did not incorporate the lesbian sex scenes.)

I guess I woke up somewhere in the middle of the night and told laura she was making too much noise. I don’t remember this, but she decided to leave. I feel pretty bad about it, and will try to make up for it by staying at her place tonight.

I got a message from my illustrious friend Peter. His life rivals most novels in terms of plot points, and excitement. I’m always jealous of the kinds of things he gets to do. This week it was some kind of inline-skate-theater-event. I’ll have to write back and tell him about my rollerblade Cyotes. (The rollerblades with 6″ wheels.)

The drive to work today felt more like swimming through traffic. I was probably still far too tired to be driving, but I don’t feel tired. Just surreal. To keep with the water theme, I keep thinking stuff on my monitor is just floating there… like it’s some kind of fishbowl.

how come it takes me

how come it takes me so long to read a book now? I realize that I’m maybe halfway through the book I’m reading, and I posted on the 25th of last month that I started it. yuck that’s slow!

Another former co-worker has started

Another former co-worker has started a blog! This time it’s nancy, who used to be president of our company. She registered watressdreams.com a while back, and has just now gotten around to putting some stuff there.

I’m eating Teddy Grahams, and for some reason, my fingers are not content to pick just one at a time out of the box. Yet, my mouth seems only able to accept one at a time. I am constantly picking them up off my desk and lap. I must look like a total slob.

This weekend is a trip to Kansas City to visit a couple of Laura’s sisters. Supposedly they have DSL, so maybe I’ll even get to update my blog. Not that anyone reads this thing. ;)