BunkBlog

The only website I actually pay to access is Salon. They’ve been posting some great stuff in their premium section, and I am waiting rather impatiently for them to continue the Caedmon Collection of Thomas’s poems. Meanwhile, I’m stuck in a hotel room and I neglected to burn the 3 CDs I have and bring them along. What a perfect missed opportunity to listen to spoken word works without pausing every 20 seconds to tell the boy to be quiet. Ah, well…

Off to read the daily download. TTFN
current_mood: bored

I’m bored. When I’m bored I surf and read. Lately I’ve been reading various sites devoted to amateur authors (prose and verse). People, get over yourselves!

So many of these “writers” claim to be smart and yet they can’t even write complete sentences without misusing basic parts of English grammar. “Its” is a real word folks – it is the possessive of “it.” “It’s” is not a possessive, merely a contraction.

And seriously, if you’re that smart, you wouldn’t need to tell people – it would be self-evident. Tooting one’s own horn is a sign of low class, not a sign of intelligence or wit. Look at those who are considered some of the best minds of our time, whether in science or literature. Few of these bright lights felt any overwhelming desire to brag, in fact the majority would claim to be doing nothing special at all.

And the author photos! You would think every one of these people was Atlas. The world will move along quite well without you, thanks. If you are so deeply saddened by your life (especially at the ripe old age of 20 or so), do the world a favor and leave it sooner rather than later. If you can’t find joy in life, you would be better off not having one.

Finally, Robert Frost kicks ass, no matter what those silly post-modern hacks think!
current_mood: bored

It occurs to me, as I see all the “Father’s Day” signs about, that the day has not meant anything to me since the late 80s. This year is the last Father’s Day before I’m legally a father. Weird, huh?
current_mood: contemplative

Checking my site logs today, I noticed that IE’s share of hits has actually increased, despite the high-profile launches of Opera 6 and Netscape 6, not to mention the attention that Mozilla has been getting.

In May 2002, Internet Explorer (all versions) had 90% of the hits on my site. In July 2001 (earliest stats I have online), they only had 83% of the hits. And this is while more attention in the media is being placed on alternative browsers. It’s inconceivable!

I guess it just goes to show what I’ve said all along – The average person is an idiot.

Thank you, please drive through.

OK, I was inspired by DarkMoon‘s post about this special period in the online evolution.

When I first got online, I was 14, it was 1984, and I was on my second computer, a Commodore 64. My first had been a VIC-20 when I was 10. The C64 had a great modularity to it, so I started with a $200 machine hooked to an old TV and using a cassette deck for its storage medium. I gradually added various $200 components, including a monitor, 270k floppy drive, 300 baud modem (that may have been $100), later a 1200 baud modem, an inkjet printer that sucked, a dotmatrix printer with the unlikely name Gorilla Banana, and so on.

The online world of 1984 was disconnected, and polite. If people were rude, they were banned by the owner of the BBS. Nobody owns the internet, so nobody gets banned anymore. We all typed our messages and waited until the following day to get a response. Constrast that with the folks on IconRequests who insist on a response within minutes sometimes.

I went to a couple BBS parties. They did not in any way resemble the LA LJ Bash, of course. One was in a park, and it was for the biggest C64 pirate warez board in L.A. county, River Conditions. RC had a massive 20 megabyte hard drive to store all those ill-gotten games. Another party I went to was at RoundTable Pizza, and was for a chat/forum BBS. I printed out several months worth of conversations to share with the table. I was sitting next to one woman with whom I’d had great conversations about life and the universe, and she was in her 40s – I was 17. We were peers.

Amazing to think of the liberating power of the online medium, when people don’t know the person on the other end of the line is supposed to be young and stupid.
current_mood: nostalgic

I don’t understand how the CIA can be allowed to have agents working for the FBI on a longterm basis. The CIA is foreign intell, and FBI is domestic. The CIA is not supposed to be allowed to operate in the US. Is that a law or just Atty General rule, though?

Anyone familiar with a supersaturated solution? It’s one in which, by all rights, the suspension should have crystallized, and it’s being held in solution by lack of a catalyst. One example can be sugar water, which will crystallize around a string to make rock candy but otherwise will stay liquid.

I think the air in Tampa is supersaturated. If someone had the right catalyst, the entire atmosphere in this town would turn into a ball of water. Geez, how do people live here?
current_mood: hot

Although stuck in Tampa for 3 weeks to do one day of work, I’ve got one bright spot: there’s a new Concrete Blonde album! I was wandering through Border’s, buying something to read, and saw the new CD. The whole lineup is together for the first time since 1994’s Mexican Moon. Oh, happy day!

Of course, I’ll have to listen to nothing but air handlers and boring old men tomorrow in the tent, but at least the CD player in the hotel is getting a workout now.
current_music: Default – Deny
current_mood: happy

I’ll try not to make fun of the “but it’s a dry heat” nonsense in Arizona ever again.

Today in Tampa – 85 F, 78% humidity, and no wind at all. Like a steam bath…

Good thing this tent is air conditioned. Never had A/C in my tents when I was in the army…

Why does “Taps” bring a tear to my eye every time I hear it? Is it because I associate it too closely with the funerals I had to assist with during my time in the Army? Or is it just a sad song?

It’s becoming harder to find the Keirsey temperament profile for free. Apparently Dr. Keirsey has been requesting people to remove it from their sites, but there are still a few out there. Anyway, here’s my latest results. I seem to waffle between INFP and INTP from year to year. This year, I’m INFP, the Healer. The INTP character is the Architect, so I apparently am idealistic and arrogant. I’ve been INFP more frequently through the years, so I’m gonna stick with that one. It sounds better anyhow. 🙂

Carpe Mamma!
current_mood: silly

Somehow I’ve ended up defining the word dystopian twice in the past month. I’m sure I’ve not used it in conversation more than a half-dozen times in my entire life, so this is odd. Although, it is nice to be able to have conversations that use words like dystopian and sylvan, proves I’m not dealing with complete morons for a change. Ah, well, back to work next week. 🙂

Hold me now
I’m six feet from the edge and I’m thinking
That maybe six feet
Ain’t so far down

Sad eyes follow me
But I still believe there’s something left for me
So please come stay with me
‘Cause I still believe there’s something left for you and me
For you and me
For you and me

The sun fades into the sea
The fire on the water
Weaker than that in my heart

The depth of the sea
Contrasts poorly with my love

I drink of your lips
No wine can compare

We fade together

Yes, it’s an original work, no matter how derivative and simple it is, complete free verse…
current_mood: artistic

Say not the struggle naught availeth,
The labor and the wounds are vain,
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
And as things have been they remain.

If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;
It may be, in yon smoke concealed,
Your comrades chase e’en now the fliers,
And, but for you, possess the field.

For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
Seem here, no painful inch to gain,
Far back, through creeks and inlets making,
Comes silent, flooding in, the main.

And not by eastern windows only,
When daylight comes, comes in the light,
In front, the sun climbs slow, how slowly,
But westward, look, the land is bright.
current_mood: devious

This page is truly bizarre. I’ve really got to stop picking up weird magazines when I’m on business trips. WYWS had this company listed, so don’t blame me for it. Who wants a bronze replica of the Oklahoma City Federal building, post-bombing? WTF?
current_mood: amused

At the age of 25, Salvador Dali met Gala Eluard. She left her husband and 3-year old child for Dali, and became his muse, lover, and chief inspiration.

Damn, art makes people crazy.

Just got back from the Dali Museum a little while ago. You would think, considering how famous it is, that the Persistence of Memory would be a large canvas, but it’s only about 10 inches wide. On the other hand, the Hallucinogenic Toreador, a painting I’d never heard of before, was 15 feet tall and absolutely gorgeous. My new favorite Dali, far outstripping the Disintegration of Persistence of Memory even. Wow, what a great gallery. Anyone who hits Tampa or St. Petersburg needs to go there, it’s fantastic. And, I got me a new t-shirt there too. 🙂
current_mood: awed

Last Tuesday, they told me to head to Florida on Sunday. On Friday, they told me that my part of this trip wasn’t actually scheduled until the middle of the second week of the test, but I had to go for the first day anyhow. On Monday, between joking about the broken equipment, they told me that I was the only one who knew what I was doing, and I barely know myself. On Tuesday, while watching the green suiters gibber at the broken satellite dish, they told me that my part of the test may not happen at all, but nobody can actually make the call that will allow me to go home now rather than after a long weekend alone in Florida.

Anyone in Tampa? Anyone? Beuller?
current_mood: cranky

Talking with a social worker, preparing for my eventual adoption of the adorable Alex, the woman asks us to describe our personalities. I have always hated being put on the spot by such off-the-wall questions, much like Barbara Walters asking what kind of tree one might be. Here’s how I wanted to answer, but figured would freak her out:

I’m an artist, author, poet, music aficionado, literati, intellectual, sarcastic and cynical observer of the human condition. I’m a lover, a husband, a father. I’m a liberal libertarian who questions everything and believes nothing. I think the worst of the deadly sins is sloth.

Never say what you want to say, instead stick with the simple and safe statements they want to hear. 🙂

Quote of the night: Love is not kind or honest, and does not contribute to happiness in any reliable way. – Alice Munro
current_music: Barenaked Ladies – Falling for the First Time
current_mood: pensive