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Blog - November 2003 |
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This page stores my blog entries from November 2003. The entries are dated November 6, November 12, November 14, November 18, November 21, November 25, and November 30.
All You Need is Love / Pam Gets Bitten by Street Dogs: a Concert Experience / Elf: ** / Memories of Merryhill / Weird Wednesday Walk-about: Job Search Follies Thursday, November 6, 2003 Ask a 5-year-old what love is, and that kid will give you one answer. Ask a 15-year-old, and you'll get something different (assuming you get a response at all). Ask someone in their 30s, and you'll get a different response as well. Whether engulfed in it or jaded from it, love is one of those abstract concepts that seems to defy definition. In high school, a friend said that it was, "the strongest feeling one can have for another person." This never seemed to be satisfying, since one could feel absolute hate for another, and that could be rather negative. There probably was some notion of "positive" in that statement he made, but it still didn't quite fulfill what I needed from it. Even a couple of months ago, while pondering what love truly meant, I couldn't figure out something that seemed quite right. Of course, one's perception of love is personal and can vary depending on one's life experiences. In an era of commercials with scantily-clad women, pornography, and nude beaches, "love" and "in love" seem to be confused as being one and the same. Commercials, TV shows, and movies focus too much on the physical sexuality of love and not on the subtleties of the broader feelings and meaning of love itself, including the non-sexual aspect. (Not that I mind with the sexual content in movies, mind you. <grins> ) One certainly loves one's parents (assuming they're good parents, of course, and haven't truly done something unforgiveable), but one certainly doesn't want to have sexual relations with one's parents. Traditionally, then, one usually defined the difference by what "in love" had that "love" didn't as:
For most people, such a description would be satisfactory. But, what qualities do both emotional states have in common? I think most people internalize this rather early and overlook it in the long-term (it tends to not matter after a while). The ones I associate with all forms of love are:
There are others, I'm sure, but those are a good start. Given that I am male, I probably don't see or notice these qualities being portrayed in movies and TV shows. It's probably because such presentations don't appeal to me, which is not a surprise, really. Or, I just might not look for such things while watching movies. ***** On October 28, Pam and I went to see the Street Dogs perform at the Capitol Garage. They were performing with four other bands, including Pressure Point and the Whiskey Rebels, a couple of "popular" local punk bands. I have seen the latter two before, but I have neither seen the Street Dogs nor Mike McColgan, their lead singer, in concert yet (FYI: Mike McColgan was the original lead singer for the Dropkick Murphys). Two bands opened up the show: The Briggs, and the Angel City Outkasts. I have never heard of either band, and neither really lent much of a favorable impression on me. In fact, I don't know which band was which, since I don't recall either of them saying who they were. Conversation over the P.A. ended up being highly muffled, and both bands used The Briggs' drum set. The Street Dogs (SD) played next, which surprised me. I expected them to be the crowning piece, but I'll explain why I think they played in this slot a bit later. I had only heard a couple of songs beforehand, but the set sounded great regardless. Mike had very little room to bounce around or pose, but he made the best of it. Alternating between throwing one fist up, facing different directions, and doing other antics, Mike belted out each song with conviction. The thing I like about Mike's singing voice is the emotion behind each song he sings. All of the SD were there except their drummer, former DKM drummer Jeff Erna, for which Mike explained that Jeff got caught up in some sort of child porn ring. The SD played a good, solid set, ending their part of the set with a cover of Sham 69's "Borstal Breakout" (which sounded like "Boston Breakout" on CD and in concert). After that, Mike said something about "this" being a test and nothing more. The SD then broke out into two DKM songs: "Tenant Enemy #1" and "Get Up", both off of the DKM's first album, "Do Or Die." I never, ever expected them to do so, since many bands tend to not delve into their previous-band's material. It sounded great, and there certainly weren't any complaints in the crowd. Pressure Point played a solid set, having Lars Frederiksen play on one song. I had seen Lars hanging around the venue most of the night, and I'm still not sure why he was there. The Whiskey Rebels played, but I can't say I was too impressed this time around. I had seen them before, and they sounded a lot better the first time. I'm not sure if it was the P.A., where I was standing (that night: about 10-15ft. away from the right-hand side of the stage (as one faces the stage); before: up in the loft area towards the left-hand side of the stage), or just a bad night for them. It was still cool, though, and I'll definitely have to pick up one of their albums one of these days. Other expenditures were minimal. Pam and I each had an italian soda there. I ended up buying the SD's album, Savin Hill, for a rather nice $10. They were giving away bumper stickers, so I nabbed one of those. At the end of the concert, I inquired with the Capitol Garage people about the advertising poster for the show, and they said I could have it. It shows a blurry picture of the SD, and it has the date, time, cost, and undercard for the show. The only thing it lacks is the venue name, but I'll write that on the back somewhere. It also has the release date for the SD's album, but it appears on a sticker over what's either a previous release date or an incorrectly printed date. ***** While I browsed through the Virgin Megastore in Arden Fair Mall (which, since they closed off the rather larger upper area, really isn't all that "mega"), someone handed me a free pass to see "Elf", the Christmas-themed movie starring Will Ferrell. Pam and I ended up going to that preview October 30th. Neither of us were quite certain what to expect. I had immediate strong doubts, since Will Ferrell used to be on Saturday Night Live, for which such credentials would normally make me lose all desire to see any movie from one of their alumni (exceptions for some of the original members and Eddie Murphy). On the contrary, I had seen previews on TV and thought it had potential. With healthy skepticism in hand and open mind in tow, we shoved off to see it. Overall impression: not bad. It was certainly a bit better than I expected, but I didn't go in with much of any expectations. There were a few funny moments, including a scene with Will Ferrell's character testing out toys. Pam laughed through most of the movie, bursting into hysterics at one point. The TV previews cement my opinion about the movie and its target audience: if you like humor involving someone completely clueless and doing either disgusting (safe disgusting, though) or amazingly dumb things, then you will love this movie. Storyline? I felt it got a little lost in things, and I'm not sure what the point of a lot of it was supposed to be, either. The end felt a little rushed. At least they do a decent job of character development (which I can't say about Fox's "Arrested Development", which left me wondering why I'd care about what happens with any of them). Rating? Two stars out of five. If you truly love this kind of humor, it'd probably be a three or so. ***** I had a rather sad feeling today while bouncing around and looking for other job opportunities. I've been wasting my time with Monster.com, even though I have found one that I think I applied for a bit ago. One of the recent entries that caught my eye (for which I'm nowhere near qualified) is for an Elementary/Middle School Director of a Private School. This never would have garnished any of my attention if it hadn't been for one short string: Merryhill Middle School. Apparently, nowadays, it's run or owned by some group called "Nobel Learning Communities, Inc." What most, if not all, of my friends and readers probably don't know is that I'm a product of the Merryhill school system. [Not a very interesting point, but hang with me here.] My actual knowledge of the ownership of the school is not very good for things back in the '80s, but I thought it was privately owned by a local group of some sort. One of the main campuses is on Eastern Avenue, and other campuses were strewn around the Sacramento area, including in the Pocket area. As far as I knew, when I attended the Eastern Ave. campus, there was only one middle school for MCS: Eastern Preparatory School (EPS). Apparently, at one point, demand for the middle school, and apparent initial thoughts on a high school were growing. When I was at EPS, both the 7th and 8th grades together had a total of 50 students. I don't believe the high school idea got off the ground because of it. The Eastern Ave. campus had Mrs. Joan Strawn as a principal, and they used to have a Dr. Donald Leisey as the director. I never knew who Dr. Leisey actually represented, but I guess I assumed it was a private, local education group. Sometime around 7th grade, some people came into our class and explained to us that Dr. Leisey had retired (or something) and that the person taking over was someone from a different school group. I guess he ran a different set of private schools. In retrospect, I guess Dr. Leisey might have sold his part of things to the group led by Dennis Vickers, the new Executive Director. That, in itself, was a sad moment, since Dr. Leisey held a fairly important spot in my development. I remember one day where I was running around and did something I wasn't supposed to do (this was in 1983 or so). A tall, stout, mustached gentleman had asked me if I did something, and I responded in the negative. Instead of getting upset with me or yelling, which is what most young kids dread and expect, he sat down with me and talked with me briefly about lying. I remember nothing of the conversation except that it did happen, and I feel that it did have some effect on my up-bringing. During the post-Leisey era, I graduated the year after the great change-over. Over the years, EPS acquired a permanent residence on Engle Rd. not too far from the old American River Hospital. They had a dedication-ish open house and renamed it "Merryhill Middle School." It always seemed awkward to try to describe how EPS was a part of MCS, so the name change was a good move marketing-wise. Mrs. Strawn remained principal of that and MCS until her death, I think. At the open house, I think she was there, along with Marc Arroues, our P.E. coach, and Mrs. Rudolph, who was my Pre-Algebra and Algebra 1 teacher. I think Mrs. Rudolph took over as principal, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I never visited the old campus again until I was in the teacher credential program at CSUS. I was doing some student-teaching at the nearby Winston Churchill Middle School and drove by the MMS campus almost daily. I think I stopped to get a ball that had been kicked over the fence (a frequent occurrence in any school), and I decided to stop by to see who, from my days, might be left. That visit ended up being a bit of a sobering experience, since nobody was left. Someone inside (a teacher, or possibly a heavily-involved parent) showed me the pictures on the wall. I knew that Mrs. Strawn had died a couple of years before then, so that wasn't news. This woman did tell me that Marc had left not too long afterwards, saying that Mrs. Strawn's death was a good time for him to move on. I guess Mrs. Strawn had originally hired Marc, and they had been fairly close over the years. So, her death had apparently been a bit difficult for him. Or something like that. So he left for the Tahoe area. I never felt comfortable visiting old stomping grounds for some reason. Label it an effect of my shyness or something. It's kind of sad to see how the way things were when I was there have changed drastically, but it's also sad to know that I can't visit the people who were a part of my life back then. I could hunt down some people, like Marc, but the others are probably off somewhere else. I know that one of my former teachers was in Denver at one point, but who knows where they might be now. Despite the sadness of seeing one's childhood dusted away for the new generation, I'm happy that MCS has succeeded and is still around. There are now six different MCS elementary schools in the Sacramento and Davis area; I think there were only two or maybe three when I was last at the (original?) Eastern Ave. campus. The middle schools now are up to two campuses. There are locations of both in other areas in Northern California as well. ***** Yesterday (Wednesday, for those of you who aren't reading this on the same day I wrote it), I endured a rather weird day. I had applied for a position with a marketing firm. Sure, that does seem rather unusual for me, but I thought it'd be worth a look. The first problem I had with this company is that all their people talk fast. Really fast. Salesman fast. My first interview was short to begin with, but the fast talk made it even shorter than usual. We set a date for yesterday for me to go out with one of their representatives. I had no idea what I was going to do, and the confusion began. I arrived on time and filled out yet another form; I had already filled out one application earlier, but this one was a little different. After missing my first potential meeting with my representative due to Nature's Call, one person called me in and showed me into an office where two other people were standing there. One of them, who I'll call Ray, was the one I'd spend the day with on-the-job. So far, at no point during this process, do I have a clue as to what we'd be doing. What we ended up doing was going door-to-door trying to sell these coupons. I heard someone say that they weren't into sales, but it seemed enough like sales to me. So, starting around noon and going until 8pm (with a one-hour lunch break in the middle), we walked door-to-door in a residential neighborhood, trying to get people to buy this deal. It was a particularly hill-y area, and we walked the neighborhood two or three times (I lost count). At lunch, I learned another new piece of information that had been conveniently been kept from me in all this: they expected their hires to work towards becoming a manager. This seemed odd, but I could understand that need for people with drive. The only problem was that "manager" actually is "business owner." Apparently we didn't take the same language courses in school, since I missed this synonym. At this point in my life, I have no desire to own my own business, regardless of income potential, and I probably would never have pursued this if I had known that earlier. So, by lunch, I knew I wasn't interested in this position anymore. Yet, I decided to stick with it the rest of the day and get the full idea. By 8pm, I joyously walked with the crew back to our pick-up spot. (We car-pooled with a couple of other people, and they dropped us off at our neighborhood.) On our way back, I learned what was probably another slight detail they failed to mention: the entry-level position is commission-based. That detail would also have killed the deal for me very early on. This was never actually revealed to me directly. I listened in on a conversation a couple of people were having with a motorist in a gas station about what we did. Now, those are two different detail that I don't remember ever being told. The people who know me certainly know that I'm a good listener. Even if I'm stressed, I'm not going to miss details like this. Nor, to top it off, was I told that I'd start my career with them by walking around a neighborhood multiple times in a day, only to repeat it with a different neighborhood the next day. All that walking took a noticeable toll on me physically, and I know that I would not have survived the physical requirements of this "opportunity." A day later, I still have a painfully sore right leg and a sore left forearm. I'm sure I'll be fine, but walking has been rather difficult. Certainly, there are a lot of negatives to this experience, but that's not really all that important. I had a few good points from the day:
So, the search goes on. Somewhere out there is the job I need and would fit into well. Then, I'll try to work my way towards getting that A+ certification and something else, depending on my desires.
Country Invasion: Man in Black with a Street Dog / Better Cooking with Pam / Introspection On the Processes of Thought / You, Too, Can Be the Benefactor of Immaculate Conception! Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Partly truth, and partly fiction"
My musical tastes vary with time and exposure. I'll go through weeks where punk will suit my tastes, and then my desires change. Some moments, it'll be something metal. Others, industrial or some other realm. Country music never enters into the equation. The twangy vocals and steel guitar, which are stereotypical elements of country music, never appeal and tend to irritate and annoy. I do like some country music, but I have never bought any. Despite all this, country music enters my life in rather unusual manners. Twice in recent times country music has found its way into my life. The second-most-recent example is Johnny Cash. I rather like Johnny Cash's take on country music, since it's simple and reflects more of the elements that found its way into rock 'n' roll. As many people know, he did a cover of the song "Hurt", originally done by Nine Inch Nails. Not only do I like Cash's version, but, very much, I like it better than the original industrial version. I feel it captures the emotions of the song much better than Trent Reznor did with the original version. Or, maybe it does an equally-good job of capturing such emotion but in a manner better suited to my perceptions. The most-recent example of country music slipping into my life came unexpectedly. Recently, as you've just read, I attended a Street Dogs concert with Pam on October 28. I picked up their album, knowing I would not be disappointed with it or Mike McColgan's vocals. One of the songs (of many) that I liked on the album was a song titled "The Pilgrim: Chapter 33". No lyrics appeared in the insert, so I checked online for lyrics and found these. It turns out that Kris Kristofferson wrote the song, and he is very much a country music performer. Even though I like the punk-ish version better than the much-slower country versions, it's still a cool song and an illustration of how good some writing is for country music. We'll ignore the aesthetic differences in taste. ***** Pam and I had a fun Saturday. Our plans included making chocolate chip cookies and bounding off to my house for dinner. The cookie-baking kind of got pushed a bit later than anticipated due to shopping (Cost Plus; they had a sale on Ghirardelli baking chocolate) and a visit by her grandparents. Lunch figured itself in there as well, but we still had time for the cookie fun. We bought a 30-oz. bag of Double Chocolate Chocolate Chips for the cookies, using a Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookie recipe that Pam had in a book. We made a quadruple batch, figuring we'd eat quite a bit of it. That worked out well, since it gave us four plates full of cookies. I need to pay attention to mixers a little more now, since the one we used at her house had a rotating bowl mechanism. The beaters and bowl spun such that the bowl turned towards the side of the beaters that spun out. It seemed a little counter-productive, since one would want the dough to go through the "in" side of the beaters in order to be mixed thoroughly. After our cookie fun, Pam and I bounded off to my parents' house for dinner. "Tacos" was on the menu, and my dad was slow-cooking a pork roast in the crockpot for the taco meat. I just love slow-cooked pork, and Pam agreed completely with that sentiment. Neither Pam nor I did anything for dessert (given all the cookie dough we ate beforehand). We spent the rest of the night watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on HBO. It seemed a bit better than the first movie, even though it still seemed a bit silly at times. I guess that's because it's still aimed at a younger audience than what I fit in. As for future happenings, some new possibilites came up recently:
Those are in addition to the previous list I made. ***** It's interesting how my perception of things have changed or become more aware over time. There used to be a time where I was the epitome of negative, but that was a few years ago. I couldn't see much good in some setbacks in my life. I couldn't see life in a positive standpoint, whether it involved friends or interests. Now, I'll see a thing or two and think about how negative a person is or how negative a viewpoint might be. It's a rather unusual feeling to be on the outside and see what others had to have seen in me. The pessimistic, whether it be in the form of a griping co-worker or my perception of a self-dialogue on love, seems to stick out more and get more of a pull-back reaction from me. The co-worker can be avoided, but perceptions can change. Mental pursuits and personal views on more philosophical points in life tend to be specific to the individual. One's life and their experiences with it have a strong effect on how one would perceive and interpret things. Regardless of how one arrives at such a conclusion about abstract notions, the important part is for the individual to be happy with the way they think about things. A viewpoint one has may work wonderfully for that person, but due to life experiences, to they way one naturally processes things, or to other input sources, that view may not work for the other. Concern for another's personal happiness tends to be ignored for the sake of being right, and I think that's an unfortunate occurrence with many people when considering other people's viewpoints. Maybe it's just an aspect of being male that drives me, for example, to want to be right. Or, maybe it's a struggle for me towards what I truly believe is right. Whatever frustration I could feel from someone not agreeing with me might be the effect of me failing to find what's true in my life. Either way, it shouldn't matter as long as I end up being happy in what I believe. As I re-read this section of what I wrote for today, I realize that this seems rather vague and, possibly, either rambling or overly-wordy. Inspiration came from a blog entry on love. Overall, you can consider this part a free-write on the thoughts that surfaced after reading it. Sometimes, by judging one's reactions, one can learn much about themselves. ***** Ending on a positive, funny note, a local priest once said that the best method for conception was through prayer, fasting, and abstinence. I don't know about you, but I thought Immaculate Conception only happened once.
I Can't Type 55 / Unethical Use of Ten Commandments? / The $11 Million Bra / Knee Update: The Appreciation of Painless Walking / End of An Era Friday, November 14, 2003
***** In a note of irony recently, Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was brought up on ethics charges for disobeying court orders to remove that 2.6-ton statue of the Ten Commandments. Just a couple of day ago, he was officially removed from office. I kind of found it humorous that someone who heavily supported a pinnacle of morality would be brought up on ethics charges. Of course, we're talking about two different types of ethics, here. Frankly, I'm glad he got the boot. Though my cries of, "dis-bar him!" should not truly be followed, it's good that the other eight Chief Justices stood for what was correct. Thankfully, the state ethics board saw things the same way. ***** Want an $11 million bra? Victoria's Secret (which, frankly, really isn't a secret anymore) showed off the 2,809 diamonds, sapphires, and amethysts on this multi-million dollar bra during their annual "fashion show" on TV. Not that I know anything about bras (wearing them, that is), but wouldn't the $11 millon bra actually be one that fits a girl comfortably and covers things up sufficiently? For them, that is; we'll ignore the male opinion in this. <grins> ***** You may remember my recount of that time November 5 where I went walking around a neighborhood with a company representative (see "Weird Wednesday Walk-about: Job Search Follies", above). By the end of that day, I felt so horribly exhausted. Dress shoes were not meant to be walked in for many miles on end. If only I knew about what we'd be doing that day, I'd have changed my plans. By November 6, I noticed that something was just not right about me in the physical sense. (We all know that something isn't right mentally with me, but that's another blog entry. <grins>) For some reason, my left forearm was sore up near the elbow. That healed up without a problem, but my right leg had other ideas. I had some serious soreness with my calf and with my knee. While walking around Downtown Sacramento last Friday, I tried to jog across the street. Partway across, I felt a sharp, horrible pain in my knee that made me hobble to the corner. I don't know what I did to it then, but it made walking even more painful. Although my knee feels better now, I still feel some rather minor pain in it. I cannot take the chance and run, jog, or even walk fast in fear of re-aggravating it, although I can walk fairly swift now like I used to do. A few nights ago, I noticed that my right knee felt much warmer than the left. It also looked rather red. I can only hope that some of these things are signs of healing. No longer do I feel the harsh, excruciatingly painful, grinding-ish feeling when trying to bend my knee or when standing up. No longer do I feel pain when walking up stairs. All of these are good things, of course, and I have been rather happy with my progress. My temporary walking disability has made me value the agility and flexibility I had before all of this. Heck, it just makes me value walking without pain. Some people need to have something taken away from them in order for them to truly appreciate it. I'm not sure why that is, or if I'm like that completely or not. For those of us who can walk normally, walking itself can be taken for granted. ***** "End of An Era". The confused feelings wafted through my head as I typed that out for a folder name. I didn't expect to always be a part of it, but I never expected to actually see the end itself. As many people know, I ran the web site and e-mail list for the CSUS Ballroom Dance Club. I overhauled the old site and, eventually, scrapped it for a new design that's used to this day. I created the e-mail list from scratch, with a subscription volume of over 200 people. The index page of the site, at the moment, has had at least 100 visitors per month for over a year now. The schedule page had over 207 hits last month ... during a time when no meetings or advertisements for the club existed. All of this will disappear into the history of the university and the club, probably to never be seen or remembered except by the few of us who were involved in the last three years. Gradually, over the next week or so, I will be letting people know on the web site and e-mail list that the club has officially folded. With no officers to lead the club and no current way to recruit honestly-interested students for the officer positions, there really isn't any chance for the club to exist anymore. Maybe, at some point, someone will gather enough interest and attempt to re-start the club under their own vision. I have mixed feelings about the dissolution of the club. I miss the rare friendships that I had with people there. I missed the get-togethers with Jeanine, Curtis, and Andy. I miss the challenge of creating a good site for the club and conversing with club members. A part of me misses the challenges of learning complex dances and dancing with various women as well. I miss the sense of accomplishment and the comraderie that existed in some part or another. As with much that I do miss, I certainly don't miss quite a few things about the club. I don't miss the drama that existed between club members. I don't miss the many, many socially awkward people who attended the club. I don't miss rude dancers who insist on leading when they should be following. I won't miss the frustration of seeing what could have been a good social club being treated as a class. I won't miss the struggles of finding officers who will actually stay and participate, rather than flake and never show up (or, worse, plan on starting a competing club). I will not miss the miscommunication or lack of coherent structure for the officers, leading many officers to not know what they should be doing to help out. Sure, that list covers a lot of things I don't like and won't miss about the club. But, that doesn't mean that I can't see the good times. The get-togethers at Curtis' apartment with Shane, Stacie, and the others. The many times that Andy and I would get together to lead a club meeting, only to have us as the only participants. (Pizza never helped that, either.) The first dance that Robin and her dance classes put together at the end of a semester. Seeing Gwen open her own studio, Spotlight Dance Studio, and succeed. Meeting Ariane and having some great nights of talking and bouncing about before she took off for home in Germany. It will be missed.
Give Me AT Or Give Me Death / "Pictures of You" The Cure for Anti-Music? / Gabe No Longer Evil ... Or Is He? / Hipster Rating Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Dead Kennedys - Give Me Convenience OR Give Me Death At first, I believed it had to be the one on Manifesto Records, but it wasn't! I was so horribly surprised to see that someone had sold their Alternative Tentacles (AT) version (which is long out-of-print) to a place like that. It was good, mind you, since I snatched that up like it was gold. Now, I'm only two AT albums away from completing my DK collection. I still need Bedtime For Democracy and a copy of Frankenchrist with the H.R. Giger poster in it. The poster itself doesn't appeal to me much except for the lawsuits surrounding its inclusion in the album many years ago.
***** It's interesting how one's impression of a band can change with the introduction of a single sound clip. Too many times a person can hear one song, label the band a certain way, and never see the potential of a band actually be achieved. For some time now, HP has been running a set of commercials for, I think, their digital cameras. The song playing in the (somewhat) background sings something about "Pictures of You". Today, I finally decided to see who did the song, since it sounded rather cool. So, who did this seemingly mystical song? The Cure. The song appears on their "Disintegration" album. For too long, my impression of The Cure was of the "whiny British" realm of music that would be rather irritating, thinking in terms of what I thought when "It's Friday (I'm in Love)" was popular and playing on all the music video channels. Of course, it's been almost a decade since that song was popular, and I continued on my own path of music-listening all these years. Currently divorced from my hell-ish teenage years, I heard this song devoid of a label or indications that would tell me who it might be. Many people say they are not prejudiced, and I fail to see how that could ever be. It's apparent that my prejudice is against certain forms of music. It takes admitting one's problems to start the road of recovery. Not that this is some sort of, "Hello, my name is Dave, and I'm an Alcoholic" type of thing, but it could open my music-listening realm to an even wider scope. ***** It's apparent that Gabe has seen the light and changed his ways. Don't believe me? His web site proves it:
That's right! At first, "666" was there, indicating the already-obvious evil-ness of Gabe exuding from the very pores of his site. But no, God would not let that be! Everyone knows that 7 is the perfect number, and we have three times that for the number of entries. Of course, this could just be one of his tricks. The devil knows many ways to fool mere mortals...
***** After writing a good note about human development, Jordan posted a link about "What Kind of Hipster Are You?". My result was:
The only problems I had were:
I'm not exactly sure I really fit into the "Hipster" realm anyway, since I don't really care about being "hip."
Weird Search Terms / What is a Hipster? / Rush, and now Michael: Who's Next? / America's Cook Book Friday, November 21, 2003 It's odd what people search for and eventually end up on my site. The Top 10 phrases used which led people to my Blog page were:
I rather like #5, though I have had nothing to do with selling any sort of mocha at any church. I'm not sure what the intent of #6 was, but I don't have enough pictures of myself (yet) to make my own calendar. I know #10 probably came from people searching around, trying to find information on that "quandary" (which, I think, was made up). The one I wonder concerning its source on my page was #8, and apparently that phrase appears in September, when I talked about the rather silly page concerning the 2001 Christian Science Fair Project winners. As for URLs, my main page comes in first, but other pages of note:
I was surprised with last month's readership. I don't have a sense of how many unique readers I have here, but I had 270 hits to this page in October. That's more than for any page I've developed for any entity. My WFRP page had 235 hits one month. The Schedule Page on the CSUS Ballroom Dance Club site had 207 hits in September, I believe. The kicker: the club hasn't had a single meeting in over a year. ***** Given my Hipster Rating in the previous entry, I had to see how some of the online dictionaries defined "hipster", since I hadn't really known what that meant and wondered if the questions posed would have accurately discerned that in modern times. The Free Dictionary defines "hipster" as "someone who rejects the established culture; advocates extreme liberalism in politics and lifestyle". The Word Reference defined it as an outmoded word for "hippie". The Urban Dictionary has numerous suggested definitions for "hipster", with the first one being more accurate in my mind. Seeking a more-likely recognized source (yet lacking a subscription to the OED), Merriam-Webster defines it as:
It seems, to me, that the impression lies too much on the "hip", which seems counter to a sense of rejecting the established culture. I don't completely agree with the Urban Dictionary definitions, since I don't believe it covers the possibilites sufficiently. Or, maybe it does. If anyone knows or can find a solid definition of "hipster", please let me know. ***** Life events can have such a major emotional impression on people. They become such a major part of how we know life that drastic changes to it can, for many people, be a very upsetting moment. Whether it be the Kennedy Assassination from my parents' generation or the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York, these moments mark a point where people know that life isn't the same as it was before. Different times, different problems. A couple of events recently made me rather sad, given the rather drastic change that it seemed to make in my perception of life. The first one isn't that major of a change (nor is the second), nor has it really changed just yet. Rush Limbaugh, the icon and pinnacle conservative viewpoint-presenter, has been such a mainstay in political commentary. As most people know, he just underwent a 30-day program to get beyond his prescription-drug addiction. Recently, news sources have said that Rush is currently under investigation of whether the money he used was legally acquired. When I heard that, I had a feeling that the end for him is near. I know it's a bit presumptuous, and I'd have to wait it out to see what happens. But, Rush has been on-the-air making numerous comments before without all of this negative attention. I have yet to truly know how I feel about all this, and I can't until I know more. If he truly is guilty of more wrong-doings, then I fear that his credibility will be shot. Even though I consider myself rather liberal in thought, I think all people need someone like Rush Limbaugh either as a check on one's beliefs politically or as someone to laugh at whenever he might say something ridiculous. The event that created the most sense of change in my mind recently came when watching Michael Jackson's motorcade roll into the courthouse in Santa Barbara on TV. I spent most of my time growing up in the '80s. From getting a free Michael Jackson poster in 1983 to buying the "Thriller" and "Dangerous" albums in the early '90s, Michael Jackson had spent a lot of time in my memory as a great entertainer and singer. Despite the numerous plastic surgeries and unfortunate conditions upon which he lost the pigment in his skin, Michael still appeared as a great entertainer and a great person, assisting with assorted charities. He truly seemed super-human, using his privileged standpoint to do good. Granted, Michael's flight from the molestation charges in 1993 certainly killed his career, but his recent arrest, to me, finally killed what had been something great. Maybe a part of me wanted, at one point, to idolize him for being a great entertainer who did do good for the world. Maybe I wanted to keep a part of the '80s, when I grew up, with me and keep my sense of youth. Maybe that sense of greatness should still be kept for what good he did. Or maybe it'll all be overshadowed if he truly did that which he's accused. Of course, Michael Jackson hasn't been convicted or even tried. But I think the damage has already been done. It tends to be easier if the person to whom you are a fan ends up dying, since there's a definite closure that can happen and a preservation of one's impression. But, when that person continues to live and if (s)he actually did the crime, then it becomes more difficult to adjust. My adjustment would hardly be called major. I think I've already "adjusted". Still, it's sad to see such an end. ***** My parents and grandparents each have this cookbook called "America's Cook Book", compiled by the New York Herald Tribune Home Institute. My parents' edition, with a washable black cover and copyrighted in 1943, is certainly worse for wear but contains so many cool recipes. There are cake, waffle and muffin recipes that we've used for longer than I can remember. It's over 1000 pages, too. It contains a section on cooking methods, which has pictures of some types of cooking pots (e.g. a double boiler using glass pots), definitions of ingredients (e.g. "egg yolks, well beaten" means "yolks beaten until thick and lemon-colored"; "coddle" means "to cook slowly and gently just below the boiling point"). It gives tables indicating what some oven temperature terms mean and how to cook meats in the oven, giving oven temperatures, cooking times, and what internal temperatures should be. This book also has a table of equivalent measurements, telling that 1 tablespoon equals 3 teaspoons. At some point, I'm going to have to acquire my own copy. I know I can find one in used-book stores, and I can probably request one through Barnes & Noble.
Painting and Eating with Pam / Dead Link Detector Online / KKK Needs To Practice Their Shooting: Self-Correcting Shooting of One Of Their Own / Redesign of California's State Seal / Thanksgiving Tuesday, November 25, 2003
On our plates for the next few weeks:
***** I caught wind of a cool site that checks for dead links. It works very well, except that it'll detect downloadable files (e.g. zip files) as receiving a 403. Other than that, it works rather well. ***** Yesterday, a participant in a KKK initiation shot his gun up in the air, only to have the bullet come down and hit the person they were initiating (story via CNN). Apparently there were seven other adults there. The only problem with this scenario is that the accused stopped shooting... ***** I received the following image via e-mail. I couldn't find it online anywhere, but maybe I didn't search for the right terms.
Click on the image for a much, much larger version. (1128 x 1275; ~277KB) ***** As a last note, I hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving!
Gobbling Up a Weekend: Thanksgiving Fun-in / Stress of Christmas Shopping: a brief note / The Price of Stubbornness / Thankful on Thanksgiving Sunday, November 30, 2003 This Thanksgiving weekend passed by entirely too fast. Given that's a sign of me having a lot of fun, it's certainly not completely bad. <grins> My weekend events occurred as such:
So, the weekend was a full and fun one. Next weekend will be filled with helping Pam move into her own place. Unfortunately, I won't be able to make Gabe's going-away party, so I'll be a no-show. ***** The Christmas shopping season leaps upon us with delight ... and frustration. It seems to be so difficult to find the right present for ones you love and care about. Sure, you can just buy a gift certificate, but when you actually know someone well, that doesn't feel very satisfying or sufficient. The drive to find something that you know fits what that person likes and enjoys can be horribly difficult. Pam and I are going through this on some levels. I know she's been having a lot of trouble since shopping for me can be rather difficult. It doesn't help that I'm rather particular about what I want and haven't expressed much about things I really want (or have seen much, in a reasonable price range, that I really want). She has some ideas, and I think a talk with my mom (who doesn't have much of a better idea, but at least she has some idea as to whether I would or would not like something) helped. On my end ... I'm done shopping. I have what I'm going to give her, but I have had some doubts. I can't say much, since she reads this upon every update. She will enjoy this, and I know it'll go over well. I guess I just get nervous about getting things that aren't on a person's list. My family and I always exchange lists each year. I never really know what to get my parents, so lists always help. I never like to deviate from lists, since I could be getting something that the person really doesn't want. I'm not as worried about what I got Pam, but I still have that low hum of concern that will probably reside until she opens it up. ***** Stubbornness appears to have a fair amount of free-reign in my life. Actually, it's not that bad. Genetically cursed with the "stubborn gene", I know I have my stubborn moments. I have seen times where this stubbornness has prevented me from enjoying something that I would eventually enjoy. Both instances that come to mind come from the field of music. I'll only illustrate one, since both are rather similar. It was a dark and stormy night, and I had started to attend youth group meetings with a friend. This group had many different people, girls and boys. (Or should I say "young women and men"?) One of the girls played an album on a stereo. The song sounded rather screechy and, at the time, irritating. I certainly did not appreciate what it was back then and shoved it out of consideration. Whether I was too young to appreciate or too prone to shutting out new things, I missed out on an early opportunity to get into a band I love today. I'm not entirely sure which album it was, but eventually I would hear another album of theirs after I got into them. It was being played in the UC Davis Coffeehouse II and something I bought recently: the Dead Kennedys' Give Me Convenience OR Give Me Death. If only I were more open then, I would already have all of their albums than trying to scrape them together. Expect a review of the aforementioned album soon. I experienced similar moments with Pantera, but they haven't exactly lasted in my favor. But the Dead Kennedys and other related bands (Lard, 1000 Homo DJs) have stayed with me. ***** As Thanksgiving has come and past, there are many things to be thankful for in this difficult yet rewarding life. The things I'm thankful for at this time:
I'm not sure what else, since this is a first for me. |
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