Something wicked clever should go here

My abbreviated work week is over. This is a good thing, but not nearly as good as the reason it was abbreviated. I got to add another state that I’ve never been to when I went with Assassination City‘s travel team to Taos, New Mexico. I can’t help but rave over the weather there. While I was there, the highs were struggling to get past 80ºF and in the mornings, it got down to the low 60s.

However, despite the amazing weather, I don’t know if I could live there because the cell phone reception is pretty crappy. 3G isn’t anywhere to be found, and even the EDGE network is kind of spotty. I can’t complain about the view, however. It’s positively gorgeous and I actually took several pictures, which is something I’m not particularly accustomed to doing. Normally I’d rather be seeing the sights through my own eyes instead of through a lens, but hey. You can see some of the pics here, and here’s an example of one I took:

The main damper on my weekend was that someone got my credit card info and my bank froze the card for safety purposes. I didn’t find this out until I was already on the road and thus have to survive on very little money until Friday, when I get paid. I really hope I can get comped for the gas I paid for on the trip to Lubbock back in June. I paid for the gas, I drove all the way back, but it wasn’t in my car, so I’m not sure I’ll get comped. Sadly, I didn’t know that was a rule until just last week. Otherwise, I’d not have paid for gas.

Part of the reason I’m more broke than usual is that I bought some new glasses. It’s not a cheap thing for me to get glasses because of my prescription, but I thought nearly a decade without getting new glasses was long enough. I’ll have pics up later when I can get a pic that looks halfway decent.

I’ve been playing Psychonauts an awful lot lately. I bought it back when Steam had it on sale for $2, and I’m just now getting around to it. Holy crap is it an amazingly creative and fun game. Then again, it’s a Tim Schafer game, the brilliant mind behind Day of the Tentacle, Secret of Monkey Island, and Grim Fandango, so I shouldn’t be surprised at just how original and clever it is.

With two D’s, for a double dose of my pimping

I’ve been lazy. I know, I know. Derby’s been fun, and so have the afterparties. I’m definitely becoming part of the league and not just with people attached to the league. The past two bouts, I’ve not had to buy my beers thanks to one of the fans. And better yet, his girlfriend is going to volunteer to be a non-skating official. After putting together the bout paperwork together, I could definitely use some more people that I can train from the ground up and not have to un-train bad habits.

I did go see Wicked with Farrah last week. I knew the basic story of it, and I knew like one song from it, but other than that, I was going into the thing pretty ignorant. I have to say I came home impressed. I had a blast and so did Farrah. We’re looking to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat next month. I probably should have gotten pics to prove it, because she looked freaking amazing. Sure, it’s a theater date, but it’s not really a date, per se. I’d just as soon not be a douche and not go out on a date date until she’s formally dumped the BF, despite her saying that she’s needed to dump him for several months now (and I don’t disagree based on details I’m privy to). I’m predicting she’ll dump him the last week in August. I’d considered starting a pool among her friends, but I feel they’d interfere instead of letting things take their unnaturally long course.

So, in the meantime, I’ve actually shed any pride I may have had (hey, I still had a little) and gotten an OK Cupid profile. Yeah, I know. Internet dating. That said, I’m thinking I have a better experience than women typically have in that I’m not dealing with a bunch of jackasses sending requests for n00ds or hook-ups. Good news for me, I imagine all those assholes in my gender really make me shine when I send someone a message. Actually, there’s not a lot of imagining there. I’ve been told that flat out. Apparently it’s also a pretty good place for meeting polyamorous people in Dallas, as that’s what I get matched with a lot of the time. Hell, I’m going out with a couple people tomorrow night to go see a midnight showing of Serenity, so I can’t be doing that badly.

Oh, so my mother recently requested friendship on Facebook. I waffled for a couple days, then I called her and asked her if she were completely sure she wanted to do that. I warned her that there might be some things on there eventually that she just didn’t want to know about me. But, she said that I was an adult and there wasn’t anything she could do about it, so I went and approved her. I just hope she feels that way when she finds out about that entire polyamorous thing. I’ve got my arguments in order already for when that happens, so I’m not really concerned on that front. That said, I’m not going to push it. I’m not going to go out of my way to hide it from them, but I’m also not going to go trumpeting it in front of them every chance I get.

Well, I guess you’ll just have to go and wake him up now, won’t you?

So I’ve been running pretty raggèd, what with the moving, particularly last week. Wednesday, all my books made it in a single trip of 18 boxes. That was not my idea of a good time, believe you me. The kitchen stuff came next, and then my clothes and DVDs and then my futon mattress. There’s still a lot of stuff, but most of it I’m packing, but waiting to move it on Thursday when I get help moving it. The bed and mattress will by far be the most annoying of these things.

I should load up the car and drive over there with a little bit of stuff each day until Thursday, but I was bad today. I went roller skating and hung out with Farrah instead. I think I’ve done pretty damn well with regard to avoiding the friend zone, but some independent research/verification would be super useful to me. I don’t think I’m going to crash and burn, but I may go down swinging. For me, that’s actually an improvement over my normal striking out looking. Note to self: get verification on appropriate levels of boldness/aggressiveness. I think my allowable levels of boldness may be somewhat muted due to the fact that I actually know and have interacted with her on-the-way-out boyfriend. And yes, I’m pretty confident he’s legitimately on the way out and this isn’t merely wishful thinking.

In news that’s far more interesting to others, I’ve put in for another water plant operator position. This one isn’t in Dallas, however. It’s at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. While I’m doing what I can to not get my hopes up, the idea of working in Antarctica is just so freaking cool that I can’t help but get a little bit excited. I’m right in the sweet spot with regard to required experience and I think that being isolated for months at a time on a submarine would be a significant advantage to my being hired, given the location. It’s only a temporary position, either for 6 months or for a full year, so I would be coming back to the States eventually. But hey, if I like it, it might be something I’d try to do on a regular basis.

Finally, check out this game if you think you can resist the cute: http://armorgames.com/play/5379/sushi-cat

Wil Wheaton says, “Don’t be a dick.”

Alas, the First of May has come and gone and little has changed. Been doing a bit less of roller skating, but that’s mostly due to training days and Interskate re-surfacing. I move starting next week and I’ve done a whole lot of nothing so far. I hate moving so bad. Really.

This past week was brutal, but not necessarily bad. Thursday and Friday gave me training during my sleep time, and that kicked my ass pretty good, but not as bad as Saturday. Saturday day had me at Scarborough Faire with Ruth, and then Saturday night had me at Stacy and Tony’s über awesome tiki party. Much goodness was had by all, thanks to great conversation and an abundance of rum and fruity drinks. Oh, and a 5 Hour Energy so I was actually able to function. Ended up chatting it up with old acquaintances and new ones until 4 in the freaking morning before crashing. Woke up a few hours later, drove home, and then went back to bed until time for work. Note: 99 Bananas is pretty freaking evil stuff.

I got a bit impatient and annoyed at being in an unknown position, but fortunately, I’ve verified that contrary to my earlier assumptions, I’ve not been shuffled off to the Friend Zone with Farrah. I spent a long-ass IM conversation tonight with her over a myriad of subjects, including some fun stuff that made her spit drink out her nose. I know I shouldn’t be making any sort of moves until she dumps the current BF, but on the other hand, if I’m to be a confidant/conspirator, as seems what I’m rapidly becoming, it’s only fair that I fly my flag and fess up to the fact that my motives might not be entirely pure and that any advice should be taken with a grain of salt. I am kind of paranoid that the advice I’ve been giving might be me being a manipulative fuckhole instead of being genuinely good advice. I should probably get permission from her to show the conversation to a third party she trusts so I can make sure that this isn’t the case. Then again, would that act itself be douchey and manipulative of me by having one of our mutual friends in essence go to bat for me? I think it’d be fine so long as I expressed my concerns about that up front.

No, I’ve got instincts of my own

Given the comments on my last post, apparently I’ve changed for the better, seemingly thanks to derby. I wasn’t trolling for comments or encouragement, honest. Well, at least regarding that part. I am still wicked curious over what the hell it is with vendors assuming that I’m the significant other of my female friends whenever I’m at Renaissance Faires.

I still don’t see myself as a particularly shiny, happy person. In the back of the mind, I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop and have everything come crashing down around me, and so much harder than usual because it’ll be a lot farther to fall. That sounds pretty damn cynical to me. Admitted, it is still only in the back of my mind and it’s not preventing me from doing stuff I’d like to do. But nonetheless, the thought still occasionally surfaces.

One of my co-workers today said that based on my personality, he’d have thought me a stoner. Really? His rationale is that other than the times where I rant and rave about work, 95% of the time I’m just cool and I don’t let things bother me that much and that I just take things as they come. I’ll admit that when I look myself, I’m using a circus mirror, so my view of myself tends to be distorted and not to be trusted, but that comes off as a bit silly. Sure, I’m pro-legalization and I think that pot is less harmful than alcohol, but I’ve never touched the stuff. Eh, this is coming from a guy obsessed with joking about Dutch Rudders and buggery, so I’ll take it with a grain a salt.

While I don’t have class this weekend, I’m still looking at a busy weekend. I’ve got a vet appointment for Mango (Jesus, my fingers almost typed Jet there. Jet being my old cat.), a haircut appointment, and apartment hunting. Tony’s suggested that I buy a house, but given that I don’t want to send more than a third of my monthly pay to a mortgage payment AND don’t want a 30 year mortgage, I just don’t see it as feasible with the amount of money I make. Single income households are rapidly becoming nothing more than a myth.

Fun stuff this week? Later today, I hope to take Farrah roller skating, or roller falling, as she’s referring to it, so that she can learn to skate and pass a pre-assessment and become part of Assassination City. Thursday night will be Rifftrax night for a MST-ifying look at Twilight and New Moon. You bet your ass there will be a lot of drinking to make those movies tolerable, even with Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett making fun of them with us.

Friday’s a toughie. There’s too much stuff to do. At the Pocket Sandwich Theater, there’s the Lollie Bombs doing a burlesque show. But, on the same night, in Austin, the Red Elvises are playing, and they’re like a Russian surf rock of Cowboy Mouth in relation to just how much ass they kick. I really would like to go to that, but I don’t know if it’s really worth it to drive four and a half hours there, stay for the show, then drive four and a half hours back. If I could get someone else to road trip with me and share the driving responsibilities, then maybe. Difficulty: there’s no way any of my derby girls will do something like that the night before a bout. Hmm, seeing that they now have a date for a Dallas show in November, I think I’ll go to the burlesque show. I do hope Oleg’s still touring with the band in November.

Ahh, bouts. This Saturday, you should come out and cheer on Assassination City as they take on Memphis, or better yet, cheer on your favorite team in the Cougars (30+) vs. Kittens (<30) mash up bout. The bouts have sold out the last couple times, so get your tickets early from acderby.com.

Finally, I’ve been made aware of a couple ways to get cultured. You know, like yogurt. This season’s got Don Giovanni playing at the Ft. Worth opera in late May/early June, and Madame Butterfly is playing at the Dallas Opera around the same time. I’ve never gone, and after seeing the prices for orchestra level seats, I can see why. Holy crap. That said, it would be something that I’ve never done before, and something worth doing at least once in my life.

Just words and a tune

Here I sit in Cafe Brazil, letting my meal digest before I leave and head for bed.

Shock of shocks, I actually got overtime last night! I could do with that more often, provided it’s covering for a night shift opening. Overtime for the day shift bites because they always call you minutes before you’re supposed to be there, so I’ve typically just stayed up all night when the call comes in.

Do you wanna hear something strange? I was referred to as a sunny and happy person recently. Of all the adjectives that could be used to describe me, I think those may have been the last two I’d have considered. Well, maybe not the last two, but they’re definitely way the hell down there on the list. Eh, maybe in comparison to someone else, maybe. Depending on who that someone else is. For me, I’d use adjectives like cynical and curmudgeonly, and empathetic and considerate if you really pressed me to come up with positive adjectives.

Oh, and apparently the opposite side of the week is actually interested in derby! My shift and the day shift couldn’t care less, but that’s more because they never freaking do anything on their days off. That said, I know full well that supposèd interest isn’t actually very likely to bear fruit and net ticket sales. Call me Thomas, but I’ll have to see ticket receipts before I believe any co-worker will show up to a bout.

One of my favorite local bands, The Crazy Ivans, has been going through some member changes. First, the drummer leaves, and now Kristen, the lead singer, has left. It’s a damn shame too. She could really wail. I think Justin, their rhythm guitarist, is really the glue to the band, though, and as long as he’s there, the band will survive. *knock on wood* Of course, I could be wrong, but it’s just the impression that I get. Don’t take my word on how much ass they kick. Go give them a listen and then buy their albums on CD Baby.

Honk on Bobo

Apparently my boss has had some sort of windfall as of late, because he’s not been a complete dick for the past couple weeks. Not only was my vacation time in July approved, but I actually am being allowed to go to water laboratory training next week. Of course, I’m going on my own time and I’m not getting paid OT for it, but I’m more concerned with getting the course done than I am the money.

Of course, I should probably be worried about the money. I’m doing fine, but once I move, I can see my expenses becoming a bit tighter, as there aren’t any 1BR apartments available in the place I’m looking at. I could (and should) look elsewhere, but I rather like the idea of having my computer a.) not in my bedroom raising the temperature of that room 10ºF and b.) having a dining room in which I can actually invite people over and show off my cooking skills. Maybe I should just switch to my laptop as my primary computer, suck it up, and get a roommate. Good God I don’t want to do that though. Partly it’s that I enjoy the everloving crap out of not having roommates, but I think a larger part of my hesitation is that I’m kind of repulsed by the idea of my having roommates at my age. It’s pride, fucking with me, plain and simple.

Oh, I have pics from All-Con, all sparkly and tagged: Slideshow
Note: if you tag your photos with “cosplay” you get a hell of a lot more views.

This past weekend was spent at Lee Harvey’s for the Rockers vs. Mods rally with some derby skaters. All kinds of European motorbikes and Vespas. It’s too bad I didn’t go to the show at Trees afterward, but I went to Sam’s grilling party. Kosher dogs, blackeye peas made with chicken stock instead of ham hocks (pork being treif), and quite a bit of sweet tea vodak. It was nice catching up with some, meeting new people that I recognized from back when I was going to The Church, and getting re-aquainted with others.

Oh, and apparently I’ve got a new reader that I only found out about via LJ’s new stats page. I’d be embarrassed, given how much I’ve been gushing about her lately, but fortunately for me I have no shame. Besides, if I didn’t want people reading my journal, then I wouldn’t make them public. Besides, it’s not the most embarrassing thing I’ve written that’s come back to bite me. No, that’d be me writing about the experiences I had at my first Ass City bout and having it get back to Smack the Ripper about how, err, interesting, her mom was.

Okay, two parting shots. Am I the only person who gets tweaked at the wrong note on the kiddie xylophone at the beginning of War’s “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” Also, what is it about women in tuxes that is so damn hot? Maybe it’s just Marlene Dietrich. I mean, look at her. God DAMN.

I’m ironically hip in some flip universe

This weekend is All-Con. I didn’t get a hotel room as is typical of conventions. I’m fine with that. I get to save some money for Taos. Yep. I got the time off approved. This is why I like scheduling my time off so far in advance. It gets approved before anything comes up to get it denied. Unfortunately, concerts are only scheduled a couple months in advance, so taking time off to go to a concert is a bit more uncertain.

Anyway, All-Con. I’ve not been to a convention in years, and never cosplaying. But hey, if we’ve got a significant number of skaters going as DC villains, I figured I may as well too. All I need left for the costume is an umbrella and a tuxedo. I’ve already got the spats, the bow tie, the top hat, and the monocle. Don’t ask me what else I’m possibly going to do with a purple top hat. I figure old school Penguin and Willy Wonka, and that’s about it. And even then, Wonka’s top hat was more plum than purple.

I am expecting to have a wicked good time with lots of pictures taken to share after the weekend. And at least one pic of me in costume, in roller skates, because I promised one of the cosplayers in the Oh No They Didn’t: Political that get some pics taken of me with skates on. It’ll be interesting. And fortunately, I don’t intend to buy much of anything in the merch booth. Though if I happen to find some Spider Jerusalem glasses, those will be mine. I really wish I knew what happened to my last pair. :\

But Bill Jr., he was a daredevil!

My lease is ending in May. I’ve not yet heard anything about being transferred to the other water plant. The cynic is assuming that I’m never going to get transferred, possibly specifically because I expressed an interest in being transferred. Nevertheless, I’m still wanting to move closer to everything I do except work. I just don’t know if it’s worth it in terms of gas. If I move, then I’ll be driving 30 minutes to work 3-4 days a week, but I’ll be saving that much time whenever I go out. Furthermore, if I sign another 6 month lease in my current place, and then get transferred soon thereafter, my drive to work will be close to 45 minutes to an hour until my lease is up. I just wish work would quit jerking me the hell around with regard to this and training. I could have taken the test for my next level of license back in January, but I can’t because my boss won’t allow me to take the required classes. I thought employees trying to better themselves (especially with zero financial incentive since there’s no raise for getting the license) was supposed to be a good thing.

In other news, I’ve actually put in for the vacation the second weekend in July so that I can get my geek on in New Mexico. I imagine I’ll need the time off by then, lest I be driven insane.

I know you’re a supra genius

Derby has kept me pretty busy these past few weeks. Two weeks ago, I traveled down to Austin to help out officiating the Governor’s Cup. It was a good weekend and I learned a lot. Sadly, I think my request for an official WFTDA review was likely ignored. Either that or they are sent straight to WFTDA and I don’t know about it

Last weekend had me traveling north to Oklahoma City for derby, again to help with the non-skating official duties. That bout was a heartbreaker. Despite us fielding only 9 skaters (a full roster is 14), we came within 4 measly points of the Victory Dolls thanks in part to some excellent jamming by The Dixie Witch. Unfortunately, after that, their best jammer just started cleaning our clock, weaving in and out of the pack as if we weren’t even there.

This past Friday night, a few of us went to make an appearance in Ft. Worth because one of our new sponsors, Buffalo Trace bourbon, was having a party to celebrate their new website launch. There weren’t very many of us there, but good times and free glasses were had by all. Forgive the shameless plug. I’m not really a bourbon drinker, preferring instead to have an assortment of rums, but Buffalo Trace is pretty damn good, about on a level of Maker’s Mark.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it to the Stepford Wives pre-bout party last night because of work. Otherwise, I’d have been there too. Hell, I don’t even know how I’m going to make the bout in two weeks. I’m scheduled to work, and furthermore, I’m not allowed to take the night off because someone on the other side of the week on the day shift is taking one of their furlough days. Yeah, it totally makes sense. I can’t take off because someone has a day off on a day I’m not even working.

But I digress. Business being out of the way, I find myself in what appears to be living in interesting times. There’s a derby bout coming up in July in New Mexico. While it is quite the trip, I’m about 95% convinced to go thanks to my derby boss, Eve*. I’ve geeked out with her hardcore for hours at a time on any number of subjects to and from Oklahoma City, and again last night at the Buffalo Trace party and subsequent breakfast at IHOP. It’s not the possibility for great conversation that’s pretty much convinced me to go to travel up to New Mexico. Neither is it the fact that we think alike to an extent that it’s kind of spooky. It’s not even the wee bit of a crush I’ve got on her. No no, it’s the fact that she used to work at Los Alamos National Laboratory and that she knows the state like the back of her hand, from Los Alamos to Taos Pueblo to the Very Large Array. It’s that last bit that is really making me squee. No, seriously. She mentioned that and my face lit up like a Christmas tree.

Fuck you, radio astronomy is awesome.

*She is a mad scientist. I am Minion #1.