| |  | I don't know crap...but I can at least guess.
Contagious July 25, 2006 - 18:26:19
Okay, so I'm the first to admit I'm not a big reader. I like to write...scratch that. I write when my "conscience" butts in and says "YOU NEED TO REMEMBER THAT AND WRITE IT DOWN!" All technicalities aside, I enjoy the little bit of writing I do, when the proverbial lightning bolt strikes, but I've never been that much of a 'reader'.
However, as of late, I've been sucked into Terry Pratchett's 'Discworld' novels. My girlfriend stumbled onto the series with a book called "Small Gods" a few months ago. Since then she's started accumulating a huge stack of Discworld books, all of them thick with dog-eared pages to indicate interesting quotes. I recently started reading them as well.
The books sounded really funny, so I decided to read one of them. I started with "The Color of Magic", which is about as old as I am. I really couldn't tell, though, as Discworld is an odd fantasy realm which is akin to the Forgotten Realms, but gone bat$h!t crazy.
I really enjoyed it, so I moved on to the second book, "The Light Fantastic". That was equally hilarious. I finished that in an incredibly short time, even by my standards.
I recently started reading "Guards! Guards!", which is with a different set of characters, but in the same city of Ankh-Morpork. Even though it has different main characters, it's very similar, and has alot of the same themes, minor characters, etc.
For any of those who are unfamiliar with the series, I highly recommend it. Pratchett's style is very odd, and usually relies on witty almost-metaphor to describe situations. Just watch out, though, as it's highly contagious.
- Cap'n Kellin
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Radio Hijinks July 18, 2006 - 9:54:44
There's been alot of changes in Radio over the past year or so here in Milwaukee.
'The Brew', came, playing oldies to try and take away from the other oldies station. Their mascot is a huge, HUGE shirtless guy who dances around. Great, now any possible tourists here in our city of about 1/4 Million (not counting suburbs) are going to think we're all obese 'fun loving' alcoholics.
Then the 'all things rock' station changed to really obscure oldies AKA 'redneck rock'. They call it "The Hog". No offense intended to anyone in particular; I can't stand it, and I don't even know half of the music. They're trying to take some of the share of this duel between the Brew and the other one, KLH.
As of just a few days ago, my favorite radio station changed as well. Instead of playing pop rock and a bit of alternative, they're focusing more on 80s, 90s, and current mod rock and alternative. I've been hearing some pretty damn cool things lately, especially their "Flannel Flashback Lunch", which is chock-full of the late-80s/early-90s tunes I remember growing up with. Old Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, along with weird one hit wonders like Squirrel Nut Zippers, etc, make my day. They're also playing Indy Rock of today and days gone past on the weekends, which is pretty cool.
What's not really all that cool about the new station is they're trying WAY to hard to sound "not corporate" and "100% independant". I think it's more creative wording than anything, but the music is jammin', and that's all that really matters, right? They could be claiming their airstaff is a bunch of genies and purple elephants for all I care.
- Cap'n Kellin
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It Happens Every Day July 13, 2006 - 9:44:54
Made by my girlfriend, Samantha AKA "Taeliac". Be sure to note all the downplayed doom.
- Cap'n Kellin
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Head Case July 12, 2006 - 10:03:51
What the hell. I've had this really bad procrastination problem for all of my life. Every time this happens, I say to myself "Damn it Chris, you can't let things go! You're killing yourself!" I really do try to get things done, but it always takes some kind of kick in the pants. I got a pretty hard kick today.
It seems that the worse things get, the worse I make them for myself. I always know that things need to get done, but I just can't force my stupid ass to follow through on ANYTHING. Yes, I am fully aware that "inability to complete tasks" is a tell-tale sign of ADD/ADHD, but I've never been diagnosed or medicated .
I've kind of dug myself into a hole. Again. I won't bore you with the details, but I have not only my school and my credit card company breathing down my neck for money, but also a ER bill that's pending as well. I had to go to the ER because a pinch in my back turned into a really bad Panic Attack, and I nearly passed out. Just thinking about it makes my chest tighten up. At the time it felt like my ribcage shrunk and there was a huge boulder on my chest preventing me from breathing.
I know it's happening, but I just. can't. make myself do it. But 'it', I mean whatever procrastinated action I'm speaking of.
Anywho, I think I've found a reason why this always happens to me (besides the obvious "i'm an 'effing retard" excuse) : I'm a damn coward. I know you're thinking "don't be so hard on yourself!", but it's 100% true. I've always been extremely nonconfrontational. Maybe it's because the first and only time I ever stood up for myself ended up with mildly severe head trauma (I was stabbed in the head with a sharpened pencil after standing up to a bully, and had to have graphite surgically removed from my scalp and skull, along with about a dozen stitches. I was in early elementary school at the time).
Where was I going with this? Oh, the possible cause. Now, I'd like to say that I'm smart enough to know I can't just leave stuff sitting, but for some reason I either forget or rationalize some excuse. I friggin' HATE myself for it. Is it that I'm afraid of confrontation, even with events in my own life?
I have no idea. All I know is that I keep hurting the ones that I love because of it, and I don't know what I can do about it...
I can say this, though:
Just because I procrastinate, doesn't mean I don't care. Just because I have a hard time finishing something doesn't mean it's impossible. Just because I don't have answers to all of my life's questions doesn't mean I don't have a plan. And just because there isn't a ring or a title doesn't mean I don't want to wake up every morning next to the most wonderful person I've ever known/kicker-in-the-pants/love of my life.
After speaking to my girlfriend for a couple of hours about this, I think I'm going to start to take more risks in my life. I get so caught up in a daily routine that I'm comfortable with that I don't even realize it (as the world around me just passes me by). I'm going to take more acting classes, and I think I'm going to try for a part in a production. It's completely NOT something I would normally do...but that's the point.
- Cap'n Kellin
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Runs In The Family July 9, 2006 - 10:36:00
My Dad's side of the family is steeped in Military Tradition.
My grandpa (not the piratey one) died before I was born, but he was in the Air Force all his life. My father, in turn, is a former marine and has been active duty in the Air Force for nearly 25 years. He's currently Master Sargeant in charge of training and resources at the 128th Air Refueling Wing. He's run out of wallspace in his basement for all of his medals, etc, and his stack of ribbons is nearly a square. Not joking.
I always felt a bit bad that I didn't go into the Air Force as well. My parents are all very proud of me for becoming a Teacher, but I know my dad always wanted me to follow in his proverbial footsteps.
Well, my sister Brittany, oldest of 3 sisters of mine, graduated from High School early so she could enroll. It's very odd. She was planning on going to Madison for Music & Sports Medicine, being the crazy daredevil she is, but up out of nowhere she decided she wanted to join the Air Force as well.
My dad was as shocked as I was.
She just finished up with Basic Training/Boot Camp, and is currently in Tech School in Texas. After only 2 weeks there (and being the only lady in her class), she's made Airman of the Month for June. She's also her team captain (unsure of the technical term). She reports directly to the instructor.
If that isn't awesome enough, it turns out she got the position she was shooting for. She's going to be a Flight Line Crew Cheif. Apparantly that's a really difficult and fairly highly regarded position. She gets to be the one in charge out on the deck where the planes are. She also got her permanent assignment: Rammstein Air Force Base, Germany. Also, exactly where she wanted to be.
I'm really proud of her, and she's making me feel alot better about myself as well. I know I wouldn't have been able to cut it in the Military, as my main assets are communication and technical skills. I'm sure they could've found *something* for me there, but I know I never would have fit in quite right.
She gets a couple of weeks off after graduating from Tech in the fall. I can't wait to see her in her uniform.
- Cap'n Kellin
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So Much For 'Corporate' July 8, 2006 - 19:04:12
So one of the 'team leaders' called in sick this evening at my Corporate Callcenter, so the supervisor above them came in instead. He didn't feel like staying until 9, so he just left at 6...
So what did I do about it? Well, nothing too devious...but I did bring Mc Donald's to eat at my desk, grabbed my MP3 Player with FM transmitter and put on the Final Fantasy 7 Soundtrack for the entire building, and have been floating around the net all night. All of said activities, of course, are no-no's, as you may have guessed.
...so much for 'corporate'. Yeah, we're real professional.
- Cap'n Kellin
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Remodeling June 30, 2006 - 21:23:35
Some of you may know that my girlfriend has an at-home business of doing Cosplay Commissions, and that I'm her prop maker and assistant. Her online 'handle' has always been "Taeliac", so the business has been appropriately named "Taeliac Studio". (see www.BeAnime.com if you're curious)
Well, this business, which will probably be listed as an 'LLC' in the not-so-distant future, has been run out of our basement. Cutting tables, shelving, fabrics, 4-5 sewing machines...you get the picture.
We've been working on a remodel of that basement for a short while now. We've packed up about 30 hefty (not wimpy!) garbage bags full of fabric, and have moved everything out of that area so we can frame it in with 2x4s and drywall. We're also going to be adding a door and linoleum flooring.
This wednesday we started the actual work, and man are we kicking ASS! We've got 3 of the 4 walls framed in, one of which has the electrical outlets run and connected already (for practicality's sake).
On an odd sidenote, I've discovered that I enjoy cigars. I had 2 of them at Summerfest last night. We went to go walk around and to catch the Big Bang fireworks. I should probably mention that the power went out at said World's Largest Music Festival for about 2 hours right after we walked in the door. I'm glad they got it back on before it got dark, otherwise that could've been a big security problem!
- Cap'n Kellin
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Residual June 27, 2006 - 20:38:46
I used to work at Best Buy #25 in Greenfield, WI, back about 5 years ago. I started as a Customer Service Goon, making pretty much minimum wage. I was basically a cashier. I moved on to Home Theatre Sales, back when HDTV was first starting to show itself on our soul-crushing tone of beige shelves.
I ended up working there for about 3 years before I quit. I had been promised a tech position on multiple occassions, "as soon as one opens up", and they ended up hiring 3 different people across a 1 year period instead.
Anywho, I was in at the aforementioned hell pit yesterday to pick up a new CD (Gnarles Barkley: St.Elsewhere, which is excellent by the way) the other day. Of course I walked around a bit to see what was new (Legend of Heroes 2 for PSP? Groan). While over by the video games, I saw a pre-teen boy with his parents looking curiously at a DS Lite. My residual salesman kicked in automatically, and I said "You know, the lite really is alot better. It fits in my pocket so much better, and the screen is alot brighter". They looked at me with a sideways glance, and I walked away feeling awkward.
Then, as I approached the exit with said compact disc in my hand, a lady started to ask the 'security' (doorman) "I'm looking for something for my kid's birthday". You have no idea how hard it was for me to resist the urge to stop and offer some "professional recommendations".
I haven't worked there for years, and I still wanted to help people find stuff. It's scary. I guess the moral of the story is as such: don't work retail sales or it will ingrain itself into your very being like a spell from the Octavo, minus the pentagrams.
(kudos to you if you get that obscure joke)
- Cap'n Kellin
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Key Beast June 26, 2006 - 18:52:01
I've noticed that, as of late, my keyring has been steadily growing. I remember just last semester when, in one of my Tech Theatre Classes, we were asked to show our keys and corresponding hangers-on to the class to help "show a bit of ourselves". The only thing on my keyring was my parents' dog's rabies vaccination tag that I was given when she passed a way a year or two ago. That's tiny, though, and barely noticable.
However, in just the past few months, I've noticed that it's been accumulating things...
First, a dark blue Sharpie Mini showed up (which came in quite handy at No Brand Con for the signing of 'Con Shirts). Then, shortly thereafter, a Leatherman Micro decided to join the party. It's got a pair of scissors, knife, screwdriver, you know, basic survival crap. I figured "no harm there, they're both tools. it's good to be prepared!". Besides, it's not like there's anything that isn't necessary there.
Most recently, when I was in the Bahamas, I aquired a keychain with a resin-set Bahamian Penny, which spins freely in a metal ring...just a harmless memoir, right? The beast grew...
Today is when I noticed that this once-tiny gathering of necessary items has become too much. I've been having a bit of a panic/anxiety problem lately, for no apparant reason according to my doctor. Anywho, when I went to pick up my prescription for it (take them as a 'ooooh I can't stop feeling this way' kind of thing), I came across a cute little chrome pillcase...for your keychain. I bought it, thinking of the sheer damn convienience of it all, not considering the what-feels-like-a-whole-damn-can-of-soda weight it adds.
Now my keys don't fit into my pocket at all, and it's this mass of black, chrome, and blue. I wasn't trying to be coordinated, I swear! But the Leatherman and the Sharpie are both blue, and any keys that aren't covered with a black plastic cover are the same tone of metal as well.
Gah! But it's so damn convinient! It's just like a fat baby: you can't help but love it, but it's just too damn big for its own good. It has everything I could ever want and more! Let's just hope the pockets of my winter jacket will hold'em, or I might have to start trimming the fat...
- Cap'n Kellin
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