Nothing Doing.

Tonight was a bit of a waste. Damn the time suck of uninterrupted Internet!

Another Round

I grow weary of the same thing again and again.

Mist vs. Fog

This morning the city was covered in a misty fog. Not brain-eating fog as that is only found in The Spooky Woods. Are mist and fog the same thing or is there a difference? I do know it was misty as I was jogging through it and felt the water on my face. The scene itself was pretty spooky. Still dark, the streetlights seemingly floating in midair barely shining through the thick gray haze. The trees casting shadows from the penetrating car headlights. If you ask me, evergreens are spookier than their leafy counterparts, in fog or in clear weather. It's the permanent and encompassing shade that they give that gives me that vibe. That and the lack of ground cover beneath them from that shade. It's just dead needles.

Well, I wasn't jogging through pine forests this morning, there aren't any in my neighborhood. Just the occasional one in the lawns that got me thinking. I was in no way scared this morning, but it did remind me a lot of Silent Hill. The mood was compromised though when General Public's Tenderness came on the iPod. Despite the graveyard lyric, there is nothing spooky about that song.

Get Your Pig On

Oops. We are now eleven days into October and I am just now pulling out the ol' Halloween coffee mug at work. Up until today I have been using the Piggly-Wiggly mug. The mug that constantly gets commented on when I am by the coffee machine. I don't think I get small-talk or conversation in general as  these comments annoy me. It's like when I am wearing a t-shirt with writing on it and someone reads it back to me. I know what it says, I put it on. I know it's a Piggly-Wiggly mug, that's where I bought it. OK, so sometimes it's more than just "Piggly-Wiggly mug, eh?" Sometimes it's an actual conversation starter. Or an attempt anyways. But really, is that the best to offer? Is Piggly-Wiggly that interesting of a topic that it gets brought up to me all the time? Frankly my Halloween mug gets me a month break from these questions. I wish I would have pulled it out sooner.

I Don't Even Work There Anymore

I was having dreams of being remarkably late for work. When I finally woke up It was 45 minutes past my normal waking hour. Leaving me with only 45 minutes to get prepped for the day.

This was OK though as I needed the sleep. I did some morning jogs the last 2 days. They say rest days are good to help your legs recover, so there's that. Also I stayed up a little later than normal last night working on the other blog. Today I am well-rested and that is a good thing. Tomorrow I can run again.

I do need to get back into serious running. Without a race I am just lackadaisically doing it. No goal means no motivation. There is an interesting "run from zombies" run coming up that I should sign up for. That would get me back on track. We shall see...

Half Closed Eyes

Oh so tired.

Last night I was out late at the Indians/Rays Wild Card game. Sadly the Indians lost. More sadly, I didn't get to sleep until 1am and woke up a mere 5 hours later. I was functioning well this morning, but since eating lunch I have hit a wall. In my head I see myself curling up in my darkened bedroom wrapped up under numerous blankets. Sleep sweet sleep how I desire you.

So a nap is what I need. Can it happen this afternoon though? I had planned on going to the library to pick up some things that were waiting for me. I also need to do tonight's pumpkin project for "From the Patch" which is a dinner recipe. And Sooki is going to need a trip outside sometime.

Here's how we can make it work: I can skip the library tonight and hope that my items will be waiting for me tomorrow (a quick check shows me that they will be) This is OK because I have an overdue movie that needs to go back, but is sitting at home, This would save me from passing the library on my way home just to pick up the DVD and then drive all the way back. It will save me time, but it won't save me a nickel for the overdue charge. I am not going to sweat a nickle though. Whoever is waiting for The Evil Dead can wait another day. They'll have it in time for their Halloween celebrations. I can probably start dinner at 5pm, one hour after I get home. Taking the dog out only takes a couple of minutes. That could give me 50 minutes or so of sweet nap time.

So long as I have lentils. I don't now if I have lentils and I absolutely need lentils for dinner. If I don't have them then this whole plan is scrapped as I head out to the store to get them. And if I'm heading out to the store then I might as well hit the library as well. And if all that happens, then no sleep for me. It wouldn't be the end of the world, but I wouldn't exactly be the best company tonight. Nobody wants me tired and cranky.

Screw it, maybe I should just do a double shot of espresso.

Weekend Getaways?

Friday's here after another September week flies by. How is it that October is a mere 4 days away? I am looking forward to it of course. October is the best time of year (after Octember.) Fall is in full effect, the days can still be relatively nice, Halloween is on it's way and everything is pumpkin flavored. Speaking of which, I am getting a bit nervous about the 31 day Pumpkin challenge. Can I maintain that many, projects, posts etc? We will see. I probably need to go ingredient hunting this weekend.

But, how about instead of that we take a mini-vacation instead? We had debated whether or not we should go camping this weekend. Are plan is (was?) to visit Conneaut Lake Park on Saturday, camp somewhere and then go to the Geneva Grape Jamboree on Sunday. Sarah is convinced that 2 hours there (we can't do more) will be enough. I am not so sure. That is something we will have to figure out.

I've been wanting to go to Conneaut for the last couple of years. It's something we did at least once when I was younger and I want to go to see if anything jogs my memory. Also, it is potentially a tad run-down/old so it may offer some cool/creepy visuals. Or it just may look sad. You never know. The thing is, it appears that this is the last weekend of the season for Conneaut. (though there is a Pumpkin Show that I don't think we can make it to in October) Also, rumor has it, that the Park might be Auctioned off next year. Would it ever reopen?

 

We have gone to the Geneva Grape Jamboree for a long time now. It's almost like the traditional start of Autumn for us. We love street festivals, especially ones where we get Purple Cows.

Can we somehow do both? I hope so.

Purpose

I am looking at the past three previous entries and am realizing that they are all about music and are directly related to what I was listening to at the time. That's fine, as I love listening to music. However, after publishing the last post I realize I am sounding like an advertisement for rdio. It made me feel weird. Going forward I am going to try to avoid being an unpaid sponsor.

I guess the questions are what do I want to write about here? What should this space be for? What are my musings?

These are hard questions for me to answer because in general I tend to be reserved in my interests.

I like photography but I am not out daily or even weekly on personal photo assignments. (I have in the past though) I can think of the typs of photos I would like to take but I don't take the steps to take them. Most days it's just pictures of P and the things she is doing. Yeah, that gets me the Facebook love from friends and family, and yeah I think I take good pictures and she's super-cute, but it's not a creative endeavour. It's more like photojournalism or simple snapshotting. It's a good hobby, but I am afraid I am not much of a hobbyist.

I like movies, but I go to the movies maybe twice a year and maybe we see a movie once a week. The thing is movies don't seem to stay with me beyond the initial viewing. The next day I am not thinking about them so I am not writing about them. Plus it's not like I am a critical thinker in regards to films. I see them and I like them, or I see them and I don't like them. Move on.

TV can be a decent topic. With the fall season strarting soon that could be something. Though I am not a huge television watcher there are a few shows I want to catch. We will see if I get to watch them. Hold that thought I might come back to it.

"Musings and half-formed ideas. Music, Movies, Television and all the rest of the things we use to distract ourselves." Seems like an easy enough description, seems like a nice broad theme. So what is my issue? I've touched on music heavily in the past and I can keep that up in the future. There's no reason why I can't discuss movies. Am I worried about timeliness? Who cares about timeliness? As for television, well, I think I have a future post so I am ok. It's the musings and half-formed ideas I am getting stuck on. Is that too broad? Too general. No, I don't think so.

I know the reason.

It has to do with confidence and a lack of trust in my abilities; a lack of faith in myself to write something interesting, even if it is just to me.

So how do I gain confidence in my writings, in my ideas, in my photos, in my abilities?

My answer right now is just to keep on plugging away at this. If I think of something I should write it. Half-formed ideas. I gave myself permission for those in the descriptor. I should stop worrying and learn to accept my ideas for whatever they are.

I will refrain from writing some declarative statement here about getting back on track or getting better about this. Or saying "it all starts here." That seems to be a recipe for a complete disinterest and abandonment.

I'll just wrap this up and tell myself all those things.

Closing Credits

It's not often that I listen to full-on instrumental albums, but today I was checking of Lights & Motion's album Reanimation and found it absolutely breathtaking. (ok, not fully instrumental as the last song has lyrics)

I have been going through my rdio collection letter by letter and picking out music that I grabbed but don't recollect. It's quite easy to listen to something, like it, collect it and not listen to it again. I don't even know how I heard of this album in the first place. (More than likely an AV Club article) Anyways, it's good to take stock as you can be surprised by what you have.

Now, if I listened to this tomorrow I might not find it as captivating. Today could just be the right time and right mood for it.

P's and Queues

Most days at work are tolerable thanks to my rdio music queue. I love listening to music as opposed to listening to the myriad conversations that take place outside my cubicle. (I am right next to our department boss' office so it can get pretty busy and annoying over here.)

Tuesday's are the best as that is new release day. (for albums, Mondays see single releases and other days might have new to rdio releases or reissues) Today's slate is chockablock full of potentially good music.

• Sweden's Holograms released their sophomore effort Forever.
• The Stereophonics have Graffiti on the Train.
• Out of Scotland we have Glasvegas with Later...When the Tv Turns to Static.
• The 1975's self-titled debut has finally arrived.
• And rdio has finally gotten Clubfeet's Heirs and Graces back. ( it came out months ago but disappeared quickly)
• There's even a new Nine Inch Nails album that I will give a try, because why not? It's called Hesitation Marks.

My day is set and my queue grows longer.

End of Summer

Pen loves the moon and is always amazed and excited to see it up in the sky. Especially during daylight hours. Twilight yesterday we were taking the monster for a walk when Pen pointed up in the sky and said "The Moon!" with a beatific smile on her face. It has been waxing the last few days and being low in the sky it looked big and bright. Looking up at the moon my music-addled brain started singing REM's "Nightswimming," specifically the line "September's coming soon, I'm pining for the moon." Quite apropos,as we are in the tail end of August and September, Fall, Shorter Days and all that entails is not too far off. So, a perfect excuse to give "Nightswimming" a spin while at work this morning. That song is my favorite REM song and one of my all time favorites as well. It's so beautiful and melancholy and aching and nostalgic and all that. I always think to myself, "August is the perfect time to hear this song" because of that lyric. Yet I almost forget to listen to it every single year. This year though I am excited to hear it now when I think it's most appropriate. Little things like this make me happy.

Lists also make happy, specifically music lists. So this train of thought got me thinking of other end of summer tunes. The only one that comes to me is The Caesars' "Spirit" which has the line "Like September's coming on /Summer won't be back for long ." It's a good song and I also think now is the best time for it. For whatever reason it also makes me think of High School bonfires, pep rallies and football games.

This in turn gets me thinking of "Mr. November" by The National which is the perfect High School football song (aside from all the fucks.)

I doubt I'll ever get a playlist of end of Summer songs besides the two above, and I know for certain I won't put together a High School football playlist. In the future years I will just try to remember the right time to get these songs on.

Turning point in a Career

Have I come to the point where I am stuck due to a certain comfort level financially? 

What's more important, money or happiness? And are they always exclusive of one another?

False Memories

I am listening to Passion Pit's Manners. It's a wonderful album. A sugar rush of energy and throwback yet modern 80's sounds. It came out in 2008, but I didn't discover it until 2009 or 2010. It kept popping up on my Pandora stations and I couldn't help but love it. So I bought it and I have listened to it a lot in the last 4+ years. Yet, the odd thing is I feel like I have been listening to it for a much longer time. As if I had heard them and loved them during my college years. It would have been a perfect album on the long-distance trips from Indiana to Ohio, or my various other explorations through middle of nowhere farmland. I can even imagine these songs soundtracking my high school years, though I don't think their poppiness would have sat well with the angst-ridden teen I was. These things never happened though. I've never gone on a road trip as a (relatively) carefree young adult with this album playing. I never heard it blasting out of the speakers at a teenage house party when the parents were away. Mostly I have just listened to it while doing data-entry as a (relatively) full of cares adult. I'm sure these false memories have  to do with the throwback sounds I get from it. But I really do feel like I am rewiring my brain to think that these things actually happened. A form of wishful thinking. "This would have been the perfect college album if it had come out during my college years!" "This is a great song for my teenage bash!"

I wonder if in 20-30 years as I move into and out of middle-age will I have forgotten reality? Will I have a gilded memory of something that never occurred? Will it really matter?

Moods

Try not to let their negativity affect your day.

Barbarian at the Gate

I finally got around to listening to the Original Conan the Barbarian Soundtrack today on rdio. By god, the wait was worth it. Though what the hell was I waiting for? This is epic stuff. Who wouldn't want to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women to this music?

It's not going to happen today, but I also have the Conan the Destroyer soundtrack queued up. I ought to see if the library has these films on DVD, though I should probably just leave the awesomeness to my imagination

Christmas in July

Christmas in July doesn't make any sense to me. June 25th is the in-between date before Christmas comes again, not July. Shouldn't we use this Summertime to enjoy Summer festivities like cookouts and the beach, rather than try to enjoy Christmas things? Christmas Season starts in October now, it's not like we don't get enough of it. Maybe this is for the Southern Hemispheres who are in the midst of Winter right now. It might be a chance for them to enjoy the Winter Season aspects of Christmas. After all, part of Christmas is bringing light during the darkest part of the year.

Regardless of all that I did decide to brush off my Ultimate Christmas Playlist on rdio at work today. I only got through about half of it. Hey, it's long and I was busy. Also, The sun is shining and the days are long. I don't want to hear about sleigh bells and snow fall.

Short Term Obsessions

For me, Pop-Culture/Entertainment obsessions only last so long and I rarely, if ever, finish what I have started. That last bit can be applied to my life in general, but I am not going to head down that path so early in this relationship. These short-term obsessions vary in length and intensity but I think that I can say the average length is around 6 months, and the average intensity is around not that much.

Here's my list of past and current obsessions for me.

The X-Files: Back when I was working retail the Halloween season brought out the Halloween Muzak station. God was it repetitive and awful, except for the times Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party" came on. One of the songs played often was the Theme from The X-Files. Around the hundredth time I heard it that October I decided that watching every episode was a brilliant idea. Finally I would find out all the answers to the multitude of mysteries and conspiracies the show contained. Well, I never got to answers but I got plenty of questions. I think I made it through five and half seasons out of nine. The last one I watched was two or three years ago. I still love the show and I still want to complete it, but the longer I wait the more I want to just start from the beginning again. The thought of rebooting has turned me off so I haven't done it yet.

Harry Potter: This series I actually finished so it doesn't fit into my theme for the day. I poured through the books one Summer and loved it. Unfortunately I read all 7 back to back to back so I can't really differentiate the plot points between novels. It all blurs together. I did get into listening to the audio books which are performed amazingly well by Jim Dale. I only got through four of those though. There, theme shoehorned in.

24: I watched three days, loved it, but never got around to more

Lost: I watched a season and a half, enjoyed it, but stopped for no particular reason.

Arrested Development: It's barely three seasons long and it's absolutely hilarious! How is it that I never finished this? Even with the fact that I borrowed the final season (before Netflix) from a friend for a long long time. I even restarted watching from the beginning earlier this year and got stalled around halfway through Season 1. Still love it, still can't finish it.

Battlestar Galactica: I also started watching this earlier this year. I also stalled with this around halfway through the first Season. I also thought it was really good and I hear nothing but good things about this series.

My current obsession, and the reason I started thinking about this, is Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I couldn't tell you what number I am on at restarting this game. Half a dozen? A dozen? Does it matter? I stated playing again last week knowing full well I would never finish it. Hell, if I still had the Original XBox I would have restarted Elder Scrolls III. (Never finished that one either though I had a lot of fun with it.)

I started playing again because my less specific overall current obsession is Fantasy. RPG's, Comic Books, Music, Movies, Books, etc. It's all fantasy right now. I've already exhausted the music options. Using rdio at work I've listened to a ton of epic fantasy music, mostly soundtracks to video games and movies, Fable Soundtrack is good and so is Bram Stoker's Dracula. But data entry doesn't lend itself to epicness so now I'm done. I see the remaining pieces in my queue and keep pushing them back. I'm not sure if I will ever get around to Basil Poledouris' Conan soundtracks.

Comic Books don't really offer a lot of choice. I read Book 1 of Dark Horse comics' Conan. It was good and I would keep going but I don't really like dropping cash to complete the Trade Paperback collections. Obsession stalled. I suppose I could see what the library offers but I don't hold out high hopes for that. I have supported The Guilded Age on Kickstarter (Kickstarter being a minor week long obsession) but I really don't know if it is good and it won't see print until November.

As for regular books I am continuing George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire. I am on Book 4 and everything I have heard about it is true. We are following new uninteresting POV characters and favorites are missing. Too many Greyjoys I say. And it doesn't feel like we are getting anywhere. Just gear grinding. After that I will read the fifth book, but then I am in the "waiting for the next book" phase that the rest of the world is in. Who knows how long that will take? Who knows where my interest will lie when it happens?

Movies, well, I suppose I could watch Lord of The Rings again, but as it is I am sititng on a bunch of other movies that I want to watch. Finding time to watch movies is almost impossible. Especailly if I am using my free time to play Oblivion, which I will never finish, as I am already slowing down with it.

Long Awaited Sequel to 20 Year-Old Cartoon

Here’s what I think would be the best Sequel to Disney’s Beauty & The Beast. Prince Beast hunts down the capricious fairy that callously cursed him all those years ago. Better yet, make it a prequel so he uses his sweet beast strength and skills to hunt down the wicked fey. I should write a spec script.

Thinking about it, pre-Beast Prince was screwed no matter what he would’ve done. Sure, he could’ve let in the old crone, but what if Chip makes fun of her appearance? What if Lumiere Scoffs at her looks while chasing after the young, attractive maid? What if Cogsworth doesn’t allow her to eat in the Master’s fancy Dining Room due to her raggedness? What if Miss Bureau Drawers (Madame De La Grande Bouche) says she needs better clothes? Boom! Whole castle cursed due to the vile nature of that evil fairy. Never trust a fairy.

While we are on the subject. Lumiere turns into a candlestick, Mrs. Potts becomes a teapot, Cogsworth becomes a clock and Chip becomes a chipped cup. I feel bad for Mr. Privy.