Messages

Thinking toilet paper too messy, Jeremy's geeky friends dental-floss his room.

Did that hurt your credit standings?  That sucks man.

I shouldn't.. it was only under her name.  Can't say it surprised me much.   :

I was driving a '99 Chrysler Sebring but it was my ex-wife's and she stopped making payments and got the thing re-possessed.  Now, humbly driving an '88 toyota Celica Turbo-all wheel drive.. black.  I also have an '86 Fiero I wouldn't mind fixing up (needs clutch work).

I vote for Darth.  Different than norm interpretation of the theme, nicely done.  of course, only the first sprite ought to count as the second's more of a background blitz sorta thing.

One other item we shouldn't forget that makes the twin towers attack fairly unique:  Aside from being one of the larger attacks, it was also in a place designated as a major meeting place of people of many countries.  It wasn't just the US that was attacked, it was the UN and the whole of the peace-loving people of the world.  I don't want a political debate to ensue but it is important to remember that the US was not the only victim.  

As for me, I was in the US Marine Corps at the time.  I was due to get out in December of the year.  We were hard at work, organizing the projects for the day, grabbing our tools and supplies and preparing to finish the day's tasks.  Then, we got a phone call and a meeting of our workcenter was called to order.  Of course, military personnel being what they are, rumors and gossip flooded us before anything more official was said.  We heard about the first plane and wondered if it was a freak accident.  We also had a few moments to wonder if it was an isolated attack before the second plane struck.  Each new news item shocked us as though we were being bombarded by tidal wave after tidal wave.  It changed the remainder of my military service and changed our perspective on our roles.  We were no longer theoretically the defenders of our country, we would now see our friends and co-workers sent to the middle east.  We knew that some action would come of this but couldn't anticipate exactly what would happen.  We helped our friends locate their loved ones and ensure they were okay, despite frustration caused by continuously busy phone lines.  Private phone lines in a 40 mile radius were unusable due to the high volume of calls.  I, thankfully, lost no one close to me in the aftermath but unfortunately had several co-workers that had lost people in New York and at the Pentagon.  In fact, one Marine I went to boot camp with died in the Pentagon attack.  It was bizarre that so many emotions could flood a person within such a short period of time.  Many of us felt angry, sad, frustrated, bewildered, righteously indignant and vunerable at the same time.  For the following month, none of us had any idea if we might have to leave behind our families and ship off to the middle east.  We took the time to spend extra quality time with our loved ones and put our affairs in order.  Fortunately, I was not one of those sent but I regret not knowing now what became of those I knew that were.  

Despite how you might feel about the war in Iraq (I'm personally against it), Americans should be thankful that there are men and women in the armed services that have sacrificed their lives (some in reality and some merely by a promise on paper that they would) to defend our country.  However, I am in much higher admiration of those who helped - not because they were ordered to or were otherwise obligated, but the firefighters, police, medics and civilians who went above and beyond the call of duty to work to the point of exhaustion to do what they could in the days that followed.  

I'm sorry if I've thrown the possibility of political discussion into this but it's awfully difficult to avoid when one worked for the government.  :

Not meaning to floss a dead horse here but for those interested, we received our ballots recently.  

The list of candidates is 135 names long!  Lotsa choices here.  

And the notice given to Governor Gray Davis listing the reasons for the recall election is as follows:

"Gross mismanagement of California Finances by overspending taxpayers' money, threatening public safety by cutting funds to local governments, failing to account for the exorbitant cost of the energy fiasco, and failing in general to deal with the state's major problems until they get to the crisis stage. California should not have to be known as the state with poor schools, traffic jams, outrageous utility bills, and huge debts....all caused by gross mismanagement."

I have to agree with the poor school system statement as the above quote has a couple grammatical errors.  

anyway, I know this doesn't affect many of you (unless it sets a precident for other US states) but it is an interesting situation and an amusing one at that.

not that women HAVE to shave that is

Leave it to Eric to bring up blatant sexism.    Actually, I encouraged my ex not to shave her legs for a time to see if the hair would be just long enough and soft enough to put up with.  Nope.  Ever tried curling up with a cactus?  It's difficult to sleep with a rose bush as well.  I swear she could've climbed trees merely by digging her calf-hairs into the bark.  No, they don't HAVE to and in recognition of that, I'll pretty much have my facial hair however my significant other would like it.  I suppose you could bring up the fact that some women never shave their legs and thusly don't have coarse hair.  This is true but in a country and era where vanity is of the utmost importance throughout most teenage girls' lives, how likely are you to find a person who merely let it grow?  Wow, I'm babbling about the most mundance subject... sorry.

I've gone from electric shaver to one of those 3-bladed deals.. it's nice & smooth but my face is getting eaten up like crazy.  The razor-burns are almost as rough as the stubble was.  About the best solution I've come across for fairly sensitive skin is to use pre-electric shave lotion and use an electric razor.  It can get fairly close and I've never gotten razor-burn from it.  

In other news, to expand this topic a bit..  my ex wanted me to try some stuff as a sort of payment for the fact that she had to shave her legs constantly.  I've tried shaving part of one leg and have even tried waxing a large strip.  Females, you have my full admiration for this feat.  It's awful.  I suppose you'd get used to it eventually but that's sorta like getting used to having someone kick you in the um...  umm..  shins.

All girls have cooties..     there is good news though...  SARS may be a fairly deadly disease but it does have calcium.. and vitamin C!   Yay, SARS!  

Aw... !#%! I'm tired.

[someone]

Certainly, but I'd be willing to wager that this is just as much a reflection of the listener than of the artist.
Yeah, this reply really digressed quite a bit.  Ah, whatever.  I'm always glad of an opportunity to spout off.

Actually, I didn't wanna just quote the whole thing, so the above is somewhat representative.  I was merely playing the devil's advocate.  I often tire of the elitists who scream, "Pop music sucks!"  It couldn't suck in its entirety since it is designated popular-music for a reason.  I mean, someone must like it (Not me, no, but someone).  In the same respect, it's irritating when someone posts, "What? You're just now hearing about this? WTF?"  Such people are too in love with the idea of being in a minority group that was "Here first"  ..  they've lost sight of what it felt like to enjoy a site/band/movie for the first time.  Me, I love introducing people to things they previously didn't know about and seeing if they enjoy it.  By my post, I wasn't disagreeing with everyone in the anti-elitist revolution but was trying to explain that the other side has a point (in some cases).  I'm glad someone brought up South Park.. it's a good "what if?" example.  What if South Park hadn't hit that balance between the people who found it offensive and those who found it hilarious?  If there wasn't enough interest from the non-anal people out there, the show probably would've been toned down a bit for more appeal to the masses and thus compromised its integrity for popularity's sake, estranging the few fans that loved it for what it was.  Of course, this didn't happen but similar things are happening constantly.

As far as "selling-out" goes..  I can understand it.  If a band figures they'll actually make money by tweaking their stuff for mass-appeal (or even just more appeal) then who can blame them for it?  Would we really tell people that they must remain broke just for the sake of unpopularity?  Will a band you like be able to keep playing when they can't afford food, just for the sake of artistic integrity?  I begin to wonder if the politicians, big businesses, and popular artists are merely figureheads and if society is actually run by an underground organization that determines what our way of life should be like and establishes all standards.  We have become a world of critics.

An amusing post
Is worth the ressurection
of a dying thread

Today the rains fall
My ambition is nowhere
Evil ennui

One thought that I don't think has been mentioned.  Sometimes, it sucks to see something become mainstream.  

-Sometimes when stuff becomes popular, people decide they can charge for it. Yes, artists deserve income from work but it sucks to have to pay for something you used to get for free.

-Sometimes all the mainstream people using something makes it turn into a big puddle of suck.  Do you think there'd be as much stink about file-sharing if nobody showed their computer-neophyte friends how to get a song off Napster or Kazaa?  

-And unfortunately sometimes artists change to appeal to the masses.  I've never checked out this Homestar Runner thing so I couldn't say about this personally.  However, how many times have you heard this? "I like their music but I liked their older stuff better.  They used to rock, now they're more like pop-rocks"  Not verbatim, of course, but doesn't each of us feel that way about some group or other?  

Edit: (rather than reply) For instance, I liked Metallica a bit, at least until after the black album.  Load, reload, still loaded, motherlode and wide load all sucked (in my inexpert opinion).  I liked the stuff the foo-fighters were doing before people decided a nirvana without kurt was worth a shit.  I liked Reel Big Fish until they gained popularity, were accused of selling out and then started whining about the accusations on every album.  I dig the barenaked ladies, though.  They don't seem to have changed much.  1-2 pop-ish songs per album for the masses with the real music never seeing radio play.

Of course, the government will eventually enact the Electronic Leashes for Humans law.  The phone system they will institute is this:



Note: Now that I look at it again, it seems like an Inspector Gadget rip-off.  Is that a bad thing?  

Murder and mayhem, it's what any sequel needs so as not to deprive us of our interest.

[Name:]

Name: Michael Hitson
Age: 26-27
E-Mail: mhitson@mail.com
Location: Northern California, US
Travel to: That'll depend on cash at the time.  Within 10 hours, definately.  If cash is available, anywhere.
Preference: San Francisco, CA, US.  It's one of the larger cities near several AGS'ers, a popular tourist city, is probably cheaper for our Australasian AGS'ers.  If I can't get my way even by stamping my feet, then NY would do.  It should probably be decided in a good-for-the-many sort of way, I guess. Of course, Las's idea of New Orleans during Mardi Gras is absofuckinglutely brilliant.
Help with lodging? Sure, but I doubt it'll be here so ...

Off topic but, Darth, Walter rocks.  

Hell...  I've gone one within 30 minutes, then 8 hours, 14 hours, 22 hours and it only gets worse from there.  More US AGSers need to live near SF.

It all plays out how the majority of us thought it would.  I'm from the US and from the onset was disgusted by the use of Bush of September 11th to propogate a war upon Iraq.  Hey! While the American people are looking the other way, pissed off about the terrorist acts and mourning their loved ones, let's use this opportunity to take out the guy my dad failed to take out back when he sucked in office too!  

Really, if you UN-people (It's odd to consider that the US could even still be part of this organization since it thumbed its nose at the UN months ago) want to be helpful... do something about Mini-Bush for us.

I tried that and ranked 768 kbps... I'm frankly surprised since I didn't bother to close my 10 downloads in kazaa first.

Friggin' awesome...  I owe you a debt of gratitude, yea my very soul for bringing this to my attention.