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April 17th, 2005

02:17 am Best night ever? Possibly. Intentionally vague? Definitely. Current Mood: drunk Current Music: tinnitus Tags: celia, chicks

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February 7th, 2005

07:09 pm What the Hell? Two cute chicks in as many months have had crushes on me. Welcome to Bizarro Twilight Zone World I guess. This New Year's resolution is becoming very intriguing. Current Mood: amused Current Music: Nina Gordon - 18 and Life (live) Tags: chicks

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January 12th, 2005

04:53 pm - Digest: I decided to continue taking Theory this semester and don't regret it. It's something I naturally enjoy, but I wish I had read ahead over Winter break as I told myself I would instead of letting the books (and the knowledge) gather dust. Slightly more disappointing, I think Very-cute-badass-pianist-girl has a boyfriend. Of course what she really needs is a manfriend. Curiosity having gotten the better of me (as well as an indulgence of my affinity for surveys and questionnaires), I took the personality evaluation at eHarmony. Unsurprising: no matches for Smeg. Surprising: the accuracy of my profile. Out of some 50-odd statements made about my personality, I only found one to be questionable. Man, I farted and it smells. I recently polished off Doug Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (initially typed: "Brain"). I enjoyed it tremendously, but have since been left longing for something similar to read. On somnium_lux's recommendation, I examined Stephen Wolfram's A New Kind of Science while browsing at the library. Scared shitless, I ran away and instead checked out A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell. King Crimson's The Power to Believe and Gordian Knot's Emergent both come highly recommended, in the unlikely occurrence that someone reading takes me up on it. In the spirit of continuing this post's schizophrenia, here is an unadulterated suite of dreams experienced last week (NOT GAY). ( Cut because you don't want to read it. ) Seriously, NOT GAY. I always dug the Hell out of Rick Veitch's Rare Bit Fiends and have sometimes considered trying something similar. That last dream especially would be some fun material to use. Current Mood: full Current Music: Rush - Witch Hunt Tags: chicks, dreams, music, reading

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April 26th, 2004

09:04 pm Last week, some genius (*cough* Sherry, our CSM) allowed one of those vendors who setup free flyer racks (Auto Traders and the like) to do so in our store entrance. Jeff screamed bloody murder when he saw it. Why? Probably because half of the "Charlotte Job Finders" and "Employment Guides" were taken before the store even opened. There's a big ad on the front of the Charlotte Job Finder placed by Sygma Network, a subsidiary of Sysco. They're hiring for positions in their warehouse, for work that appears to be similar to what I'm doing now. Starting pay is $10/hr, with a 50 cent raise every 90 days (dependent on attendance and performance). That's a significant improvement (on wages and raises) if you weren't sure. Scheduling is for four ten-hour shifts rather than five eight-hour shifts; not unacceptable, depending on what time of day we'd be talking about (Hell, I've pulled longer shifts at this job). I filled out their online application, so I guess we'll see where this goes. Apparently Pearl Jam is Tami's favorite band. Could be worse really, but till now I never had any Pearl Jam in my repertoire. Now don't get me wrong, I like the songs...but man are they ever boring to play. Why couldn't she be a Rush, Dream Theater or Metallica fan? My skills are much better suited to such music :) Speaking of Rush, I bought my ticket. Yup, going alone again. I always feel like I must be the only person in the world willing to spend $67.50 to see the band, but then I get there and the venue is packed. So there must be other Rush fans in the world, but somehow I never meet any of them. Maybe it's kinda like the Spice Girls - you know they sold millions of albums, but no one confesses to buying them. Current Mood: tired Current Music: Pearl Jam - Yellow Ledbetter Tags: chicks, employment, music, tami

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April 1st, 2004

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March 20th, 2004

01:19 pm - Let there be Limelight Friday, May 28. 7:30. Verizon Amphitheatre. Fifty bucks. Who's going to go to the Rush concert with me? ...OK, so I'm going alone again. You people suck. Went drinking with work buddies and heard Baby Black again last night. Good show. If they don't make a CD soon, I'm going to start bootlegging them :P Tanya brought her sister Tammy along too. I'll have to ask her why she didn't set us up when she was thinking about it a while back. She's cute. Current Mood: excited Current Music: someone vacuuming :( Tags: chicks, music, tami

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March 9th, 2004

03:53 pm - This year blows I'm still using the folks' computer, and it's driving me nuts. If you have any comments on my computer issues mentioned in earlier posts, please speak up (or type up), no matter how insignificant you might think your advice is. My car is in the shop again. It died just short of getting to work on Saturday. I woke up at 3:30 AM to be there by 5 on my day off (I'm not even supposed to be here today!). I only wound up getting about an hour of work done, so I paid $65 for a tow so I could make ten bucks. So my head gasket is blown. The resulting pressure caused my radiator to suffer irreparable damage. At the very least, I'm looking at $207 to replace the head gasket and valve gasket, $347 for a new radiator, $22 for an oil change as this coolant leak has fucked my oil, $60 to flush and refill the coolant system and $450 for an estimated six hours' labor. The total for repairs is about half of what I still owe on the overpriced heap. I think my next resort will be to attempt to reason with my dealer. If I say to Hell with this car and let him take it back, he could either do so and fuck my credit, or make a deal with me on a new car and continue making money from me. I think that would be preferable to sinking over $1000 more into this car. Why is this year so awful already? Here's Smeg's 2004 year-so-far-in-review! The only dog I ever liked died. The folks have two new dogs; a St. Bernard mix that's a puppy, and a two year old Pomeranian with a terrible begging habit. Duncan was so fundamentally different I don't even know where to start. I fell in love to be let down. I'm not over Danielle in the slightest. In fact I still try, although I may not post about it much in here. Everything about her, every nuance or mannerism or expression makes me feel like I haven't in a long time, but she's almost certainly a chronic, pathological liar. This has gone far beyond the point of maintaining optimism in the face of doubt. She still never calls me, whether she tells me she will or if I call and get her voice mail. Yet every time I talk to her, she has some new story, some new drama, some new excuse and tells me she still wants to go out. I'm not going to let her turn me misogynist, but I'm still at the point where it's hard to imagine anyone else exciting me like she does. Garden Ridge filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and has closed eight stores and one warehouse so far. Work has taken a turn as we've started receiving double the usual amount of freight, as one warehouse has started shipping to us before the other has been emptied out, and we've also received freight for closed stores that's been redirected to ours. Coupled with the number of associates who have already found new employment (we're talking about people who made the job bearable), we just can't come close to managing it all. We have merchandise coming out our ears and I still have to try to find room to unload more every day. My computer is comatose. It's worked flawlessly for six months, and all the components should still be under warranty. It's still a pain in the ass to deal with, and I'm practically lost without the thing. My car has been in the shop three times now this year, and since August I've already put $700 into it on top of insurance, gas and payments. She has 135k miles on her and just isn't worth the upkeep anymore. I think it's time to put her out of her (my) misery. 2004, in short, blows. On a lighter note, I cut my hair (no pics till the computer works again). I'm still not quite satisfied with it, but I guess it looks OK. It's more rugged and less metro than I was aiming for, and I'm told the result is more Hugh Grant than Takumi Fujiwara. I don't know what to think of that, but as long as transvestites don't start hitting on me I guess it could be worse. I think some gel experimentation is in order. Current Mood: exhausted Current Music: Rick Wakeman - Minas Truth Tags: angst, cars, chicks, computers, danielle, employment, life, mazda

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February 13th, 2004

04:26 pm - Newer news So um, yeah. Definitely starting the job hunt ASAP. Garden Ridge has only the two distribution centers to supply ~45 retail stores in the southeast and midwest. They claim the Dallas DC is sufficient on its own to serve 100 stores, but I think if that were the case, they would have done that. That's not to mention the impracticality of delivering freight to distant locations - the further from Dallas the store is, the more it will cost to deliver the same merchandise. The further out stores are in greater jeopardy than anyone besides those with poor sales performance. Fortunately there are stores both further from Dallas than ours as well as less productive ones, so I don't think it's urgent to find a new job yet, but the sooner I get started the better. Then there's also this. We found out this morning about Douglasville, albeit in an unofficial sense: we received a truck from Statesville today when we weren't supposed to. Its original intended destination was Douglasville, and all of the freight within was marked for their location, but the address and store number on the bill had been whited out and relaced with our own (hand written). Miami was an expected casualty on account of the distance from Dallas factor. Nashville and Kansas City are big markets though, although I'm not aware of any actual sales figures. Things are happening rather quickly, and much quicker than anyone is telling any of us. Also of paranoid interest is the fact that our new president/CEO/whatever stooge is responsible has already seen a furniture retail chain through chapter 11 bankruptcy...and on into chapter 7. To close more upbeat, I gave Danielle a Spongebob Valentine today (she loves Spongebob :|) She has absolutely no clue that she'll be receiving a half dozen pink rose bouquet tomorrow, and I'm confident that she'll be thrilled. I look forward to hearing her surprised reaction :D Current Mood: hopeful Current Music: Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight Tags: chicks, danielle, employment

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December 28th, 2003

05:41 pm - A Christmas Story I attended a Christmas party with some friends of the family Friday night. Jim and Annise hosted, while Tina, Michael, Dave, Scott and our group were all to attend. When we arrived, the only partiers yet to arrive were Scott (who would be bringing his friend Mike) and Michael, who was working and would be coming directly to the party later and changing out of his uniform there. Well shortly after we arrived, Bob received a buzz on his Nextel from Scott. Scott explained that he would be running a bit late but was surely on his way; seems he ran into a snag out on the road. When stuck behind a terminally slow motorist, Mike implored Scott to pass. Pass he did, not only the slow driver but also a patrol car turning onto the road from an intersection. As luck would have it, there was a conveniently located speed limit sign to inform Scott that the limit for this road was 35 mph. Glancing down at his speedometer, he found that his speed was 65. Mike yelled at Scott to turn immediately, to which Scott had to point out that there wasn't a road to turn on to. So Scott turned onto the very next road he came to, made a u-turn, and passed the street he had been taking. Scott said that they would show up shortly, following an alternate route. After the conversation, all had a good time talking smack about how foolish Scott's actions had been, and indeed how fortunate he was not to be in jail at the moment. Then somebody came to a very important realization: Scott had never met Michael. We knew now what must be done. Scott showed up with Mike in tow, and Jim popped in a disc from one of his Christmas gifts: a 5 season collection of Blackadder. Funny stuff, way better than Mr. Bean. Perhaps 45 minutes or an hour later, there was a knock at the door, and Jim answered it. At the door stood a police officer, who requested to speak with the owner of the teal Civic parked outside. Apparently a car matching that description had been seen outrunning one of their officers, and there was an A.P.B. out for the vehicle. Somewhat nervously, Scott rose and greeted the officer. He handed him his license, and answered his questions, denying everything. Mike slumped down in his chair and pulled his hat down over his face, staring forward with his eyes shifting from side to side frantically. Finally, Michael looked at Scott and said, "Scott?" "Yes?" "They're fucking with you." And the room that had barely been able to contain itself up till this point erupted into the most uproarious laughter I've heard in my life. Michael introduced himself to Scott and Mike and ducked into a bedroom, emerging later wearing a t-shirt that read: How to escape a cop 1: run 2: hide 3: throw him a donut Each option was illustrated by amusing stick figures acting out the various escape tactics. I also saw Return of the King this weekend. Now, most people who know me know that I am not a big movie person - I don't like to go to theaters much, and I still haven't seen Matrix: Revolutions (spoil and perish). I'm also not a rabid fan of the Lord of the Rings movies - don't get me wrong, I think they're excellent and I enjoy watching them, but that's as far as it goes. I was in no way excited to see this movie. That said, the movie was fucking badass. It's a bit awkward to recommend a movie without actually saying anything about it, but I don't want to ruin anything for those of us who haven't read the books. Just see it already, if you haven't yet. One thing I can discuss are the advertisement trailers that ran prior to the movie. In addition to an insipid Mask sequel (Blockbuster dancing baby + The Mask? Does anyone watch this shit?), there was, well...this. After finally getting home (gosh, it was light outside when I entered the theater), I decided to check out the website mentioned in the advertisement. It's very professional and seemingly thorough, but I still wasn't convinced. Well, a registrar whois reveals that the domain is owned by none other than 20th Century Fox. Now just what is Fox working at? One curious possibility, given their mention of "the three laws of robotics", may be a new movie based on the works of Isaac Asimov. The truth is probably less interesting, but it's fun to speculate. In other news, my interest in the Hot Chick at Garden Ridge is threatening to develop into a full blown crush, if it hasn't already. I was hoping there'd be a New Year's celebration in the streets of uptown that I could invite her to (as there have been in years past), but I can't find any evidence of it. Phooey. Oh, and I'm probably going to cut my hair. Current Mood: determined Current Music: X Japan - Art of Life Tags: chicks, danielle, humor, movies

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November 29th, 2003

04:29 pm - Things Shop-a-Thon blows, but that new FES at work is so cute. She's like the brown-eyed Alyson Hannigan. Shame she smokes. Looks like I get to hear the Calvary Grand Organ tomorrow. I've wanted to hear it since I found out about it, but I'm a bit apprehensive about entering a church. Barring the occasional wedding, I haven't been in one since I was three or four. They make me feel uncomfortable. I haven't forgotten to write about the Magical Mountain Tour, it just keeps escaping me. I'll get to it eventually. Current Mood: exhausted Current Music: Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - Repose of Souls Tags: chicks, danielle

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