[8:30 AM]

A Quick Note

Shiny&Flammable is undergoing a redesign. I'm not going to say when cause I'll be jinxing myself, but soon.



p.s. I know I said I was going to stop writing here a couple of months ago. You should never believe anything I say.

[1:40 PM]

my day in the sick chair

Current Song: Screaming Alone - Rachel Gaudry []
Current Mood: stillquitesickthankyouverymuch

The worst part about being sick isn't the actual pain. I don't know why, but after a few hours or so, I'm usually able to mostly shut out the pain, the shivers, the whatever... The worst part, though, I can never do anything about. The worst part is the strange feeling of unreality, combined with an almost unquechable boredom.

I've found a new music site, BeSonic.Com, which seems to be a satisfactory replacement to the mp3.com of old. Ya know, back in the day when they gave a shit about the smaller unsigned artists and didn't focus so much on the b.spears, the simpson sisters, and all those fucking no-talent, "I got signed cause I suck dick and look hot", crap. Back when artists like Silverman still walked their proud digital halls. Those were the days. I missed them when Mp3.com died, only to reborn as the crappy crappiness that it is now. And the worst part, the most insulting part, was their little fucking note pointing people to check out "Thousands of free songs from independent artists." @ download.com.

DOWNLOAD.COM???? It's a joke. It's worse than a joke, cause a least a joke is funny. Downlaod.com's music site is so crappy it hurts. It hurts like a splinter under the fingernail, or a papercut, except many times worse. It hurts like when your first true love tells you to go fuck yourself (or says the equivilent in the nicest most mormony way), except that she's doing it while shoving splinters under your fingernails. It hurts even more than having your stomach tied up in knots so that you can't even walk around. And I should know.

Download.com is an insult to everything that MP3.com was before. MP3.com currently is another insult, and together, they form the double fisted punch that ripped the heart out of one of my favorite pasttimes, and one of the only places I could go to get new music. I can't stand what they did, and if I ever see the fuckers who did it in public, I am going to call them some definitely mean names. Like stinko, and poopfeet, and guy-who-is-going-to-die-because-he-stole-my-mp3.com-away-from-me.

but I digress...
Besonic.com is a nice site, with a nice feature allowing you to search by artist to find other people who may or may not sound like said artist. Because it's totally self-proclaimed (I sound like fiona apple, really), it's often less than fully accurate. Occasionally, however, one can find quite decent music.

Yeah, so that's what I do when I'm sick. I listen to independent music and get all mad at mp3.com all over again...

(fuckers gave ashlie simpson a four star rating...)

yay, sick joe

[6:43 AM]

being sick.

Current Song: nosong
Current Mood: verysickthankyoumuch

So yesterday I was kinda sick. My stomach twisted itself into a couple of knots (wrestling with my spleen, methinks) and was sore and achy and unhappy. I was at work when this happened, and finally got sent home...

...where I slept for two hours and felt much much better.

Well enough, in fact, that later that evening I was able to sit in the basement food-court of Crossroads Mall sucking down a milkshake while carrying on a pleasent "I hate work" conversation with Lissa and Jaia.

I went home, went to bed, and got lots of sleep. That should've been the end of that.

So why is it that, upon waking up this morning, my first priority is to vomit? That's not what I asked for. That's not what I wanted. I wanted to be healthy, not sick. And if I was going to be sick, why do I have to be this sick?

My stomach is curling itself round and round, hating me for doing anything but lying prone on my bed being miserable and moaning patheticly every few minutes. I'm freezing, despite a bathrobe, a hoodie, a button up long sleeve shirt, and a t-shirt. I'm sipping water like it's going to burn the back of my throat and trying very hard not to cry. I hate being sick.

It only makes matters worse that I have a very bad attitude toward sickness. It is my unshakable belief that being sick is a weakness, or an excuse. That I, by admitting I am sick, am also admitting that I am a horrible failure who can't even swallow a little pain and nausea. That by calling off from work, I am, in fact, giving into my natural and amazing laziness. I am, in other words, a bum. Even if I'm unable to stand for five minutes. Even if I've already thrown up once and have almost thrown up twice more (in two hours). Even if I can do little more mentally than rant bitterly on my blog. I should be at work and I'm a bum for not going in.

If I didn't have a wife who's much more level headed than I, I would likely be in the gutter somewhere pulling myself on my hands and knees to work, covered in vomit and blood, crying out about how sorry I am that I'm late. Instead, I'm comfortably at home, letting this sickness suckiness take it's course...

go me.

[9:25 PM]

some thoughts on nov.2nd

Current Song: Flying High - Jem []
Current Mood: Concerned

Election time is coming up. Which means this is a good time for people to give a shit about what's going on in their country (which also means that most won't). Regardless of what you believe, it is vital that you express your opinion formally. Get your ass off your chair, go and spend five minutes helping decide how this country is going to be run. Especially if it seems hopeless. The more your vote is in the minority, the more eagerly you should express it. Don't vote for the winner, vote for what you believe. That's what the system needs to work, and maybe, just maybe, the multitudes of third-party candidates will get some much needed help in the way of votes.

Please, for the sake of everyone, don't cry foul at the election process. Accept the results of the election, investigate charges of fraud afterwards, and go after those who are trying to cheat the system. Don't blame the parties for the actions of their fanatics. We need unity more than we need either major party to win. We need unity more than anything. We need to trust our system, play fair with each other, and work for a better future.

I'm not saying this out of misguided patriotism, because there is nothing misguided about it. We live in a great country, that can only remain great if the people who live here give their greatness to the whole. You should be more noble during the election year, more honest, more introspective, more constructive, more postive. You should not be snippy, partisan, biased, underhanded, or dismissive. You should believe what you belive, and accept that others may disagree, and support everyone who has an opinion to express.

If you have anything to do with the election process, you should be as honest as possible about performing your duties without fraud and bias. You should not be looking to cry foul, nor should you be seeking to defraud our system. When the system is defrauded, it breaks down. When the system doesn't work, then democracy has failed. It's as simple as that.

Please post this if you have a blog, or write something similar, or link to this post, or something. Help get the word out. Thanks

[12:05 AM]

Singing In Da Rain

Current Song: Um...Singing In The Rain - Gene Kelly
Current Mood: I'm happy again.

My day was good.
My day was better than good.
My day was amazing, stupendous, wonderful, special, and neat.

Why? Because, my friends in cyberland, this little man is in love.

Ok, I know, I'm married. Duh, I'm in love. But...I am. I walked over three miles today with my love in the rain, chatting, drinking tea and pumpkin-spice chais, jumping in puddles, twirling umbrellas, and just enjoying the cold rain and the quiet ambiance. I'm exhausted. I ache. I'm tired and I have to get up tomarrow and walk to work, and yet I'm happy. Exceedingly happy. It's been a wonderful good day.

Oh yeah, and we went to see Bourne Supremacy at the Dollar-Theatre, and before that we had a very pleasent dinner together at the local A&W/KFC hybrid, even though they don't seem to have a very clear idea of what a "plain cheeseburger" means.

And before that I did some miniature wargaming with my brother and some friends. For six hours my team of space-ninjas with jetpacks snuck, danced, and diced up enemies, while my heavily modified Klingon Bird-of-Prey got into a two-round game of cat and mouse with a rogue Klingon Bird-of-Prey. I made a few friends, made a few enemies, and met a mysterious man who talked down to me and offered to pay me crap wages for a crappy assignment.

But the best part was the walk home with my love. It's a memory I will cherish for a very very long time.

G'night All

[5:19 PM]

New Site Update?

Jaia's changing her Site around. Giving it a "fall" theme. Shiny&Flammable, meanwhile, hasn't changed since we started it back in january, except for the fact that I'm the only one writing in it (Kidding...kinda). Maybe a new site design is in order. Something to great the coming winter months, or to show that this site is not nearly as stagnent and dull as it was, or maybe just to highlight some delicious CSS coding. I could do up a new background, fresh graphics, some trick effects...I could do that...

Except, as we should all know by now: I'M LAZY!

Maybe I should just get Jaia to do it for me.

It's a thought, anyways

[6:54 PM]

Blogsnob. Analysis: NOT SNOBBY ENOUGH!

Current Song: 10 year old (lullabye dub)- McChris (E.Gibby & Slackmaster remix)
Current Mood: I've got a kink in my back and it won't come out...but that's got nothing to do with anything :)

I'll admit, I'm vain. I wanted people to come here, read my sarcasm and think to themselves, "Gee, that joe." and hopefully in a good way. So yeah, I registered with blogsnob, a free ad-exchange site that would, in theory, give me some more hits.

In reality, I find myself reading the blogs of some funny people who happen to have left catchy clever ads and haven't been writing anything resembling a post, much less checking to see if I'm getting those desperately sought after visitors.

Still, every forth of fifth ad that passes through my little random link section has to be a spam ad for refinancing a car, buying a home, reducing my debt, enlarging my penis, or some other web-based triviality. It makes me wonder about the blog snobs. I mean, certainly me, with my grounded views on life and laid back attitudes, would not be eligible for blogsnob status. Geeksnob status, now that I have in spades (don't you ever tell me that doom was a good game, that quake was a worthy successor, or that doom3 is worth buying a new computer for. Id can suck my balls), but blogsnobbiness? I don't have it. At least I don't think I do.

And yet I'm offended by the stupid spam-ad that this service now is putting on my site. This is an outrage and must be corrected. I am, in fact, so offended, that I will do nothing more than this post. That'll teach those bastards.

In other news (which is a funny way of saying, I'm changing the subject now), Jaimee and I went out to get a pair of cats to replace our dear departed Brodie, who got sick and died within a month of adopting him (R.I.P. Brodie-cat). We now have a more or less fully grown Calico cat who's adoption-store name was "Scarlet", but whom we are calling "The white cat" while we decide on a better name. Joining her is a tortise-shell kitten from a litter of three who's siblings were called dia and de, and who's name was dea. We're temporarily calling her "Spaz", cause she runs her freaking head off.

The cat formerly known as Scarlet is hiding under our bed, being upset, and it's our hope that she'll eventually come out and be sociable. Meanwhile Spaz loves to wrestle, has cute little yellow eyes, and is currently sitting on our bed, staring down at the ever exciting carpet. Go Spaz, you little monster, destroy the place.

tata