I usually head to lunch at 12:30. If I opt for Whole Foods and they have a tray for chicken tikka masala, it's always just the sauce.

Today I happened to leave for lunch at 12:15. The chicken tikka masala tray had chicken in it. As I was grabbing my container and lid, this woman reached between my arm to grab one. She circled the bar and stopped in front of the chicken tikka masala, just ahead of me.

I then watched as she proceeded to carefully take every last cube of chicken out of the tray. Like 15-20 pieces.

I wasn't aware that I could have a chicken tikka masala nemesis. Now that I know, though, it is my sole mission in life to get there just before her and take all of it so she can experience the abject loss.

I already said I was coming - in the comment section of the first post you made about it. And, yes, yes, I will make a punch, a punch so good you'll have no control over how much you consume of it.

Next - I don't understand why, Mike, that you'd want to make Insult visible on Facebook. If you wanted everyone on Facebook to see an Insult post, wouldn't you just post on Facebook? Eh, I just need to make all of my posts private.

I am sitting in Schiphol, waiting to get on a flight to come home. As I was sitting on a tall stool in a horrible, fluorescent-lighted airport cafe, listening to Michael Buble covers of recent pop songs, and considering the food and drink choices available (hot cheese roll...or hot sausage roll? Shitty coffee or Heineken?), I thought this would be an appropriate time to list a handful of things I have come to dislike about the Netherlands.

1.) The buildings are ugly and full of bright, fluorescent lights.
2.) The whole country is essentially a massive, drained swamp. I like rain, and I like fog, but it's when it's mixed with fresh, maybe salty sea air - that makes it refreshing. The Netherlands gets a sort of thick, fetid foggy wetness which I find irritating.
3.) The Dutch really don't care about what they eat or drink food. They just don't.
3a.) Lunch, for them, is slices of supermarket bread with stuff on it. The stuff might be salami, it might be egg salad, it might be chocolate sprinkles or crushed up licorice candies, it doesn't really matter - they just butter a slice of bread, grab whatever they have on hand, put it on the bread, and shove it into their mouths. Maybe, if they're feeling fancy, they'll make a Toastie by putting two slices of bread together with stuff in between, and shoving that in a panini press.
3b.) They don't really care about beer, either. They just want to drink Heineken. If they want something different, they will drink Heineken Extra Cold, which is Heineken, but served slightly colder than regular Heineken.
3c.) They drink milk with every meal. This may be a reason for #8.
3d.) Summing up, the place is a torture chamber for my digestive tract.
4.) The accent.
5.) No one uses napkins at meals. They don't even put them out, unless you ask for them. They aren't visibly dirty and covered in grease stains, though - I can't really figure out why, because they eat frequently with their hands.
6.) I'd rather walk or drive than bike - bicycling hurts my balls. The Dutch love biking.
7.) What the fuck is the point of a comforter? Why do people prefer a single comforter over an array of sheets and blankets? Sheets and blankets provide you with the ability to control the temperature in the bed, by stripping something off if you're too hot. Why limit yourself to a single piece of covering that is likely to be either too hot or too cold? This is more of complaint about Europe, than specifically about the Dutch, but, still.
8.) They're all too fucking tall. I'm not tall, but I'm above average height in the US. In the Netherlands, I've been in rooms with 6 other people where I'm the shortest person there, and everyone else is like 6'6. I don't like it.
9.) I've heard the same 15 damn Michael Buble covers of Coldplay and Pharrell's Frontin' in every single building I've walked into in the Netherlands since last Saturday.

St00n

It's been a very long time since I've written a rambling, self-indulgent Insult journal post.

I left Boston Saturday evening, arrived in Amsterdam on Sunday morning, didn't sleep on the plane. Get to the hotel on Sunday morning, the stupid Holiday Inn in Leiden wouldn't let me check in until noon, so my plan to go to sleep for a few hours as soon as I got in was foiled. I change in the bathroom, and decide to go into Amsterdam, deciding that was my best hope for staying up until around 10pm. Amsterdam was bad-to-mediocre, as always, walk around, have a few beers, don't eat anything (because the food in the Netherlands is awful).

Monday, I get into the office in Europe, very productive day, that's good. Go out for drinks with a few guys from the office, end up drinking 6 Belgian beers (egads), and only eat a couple of handfuls of nuts before 10pm. I get back to the Holiday Inn, and eat dinner at the "pirate bar" - this ridiculous nautical/pirate themed bar at the Inn (which, overall, is this strange sort of tropical-themed business hotel). I love the pirate bar - everyone I've worked with here loves the pirate bar. It was an oasis. However, as of three weeks ago, the pirate bar was transformed into what I imagine a Dutch guy who runs a Holiday Inn thinks a cool bar looks like, that is, color-changing neon lighting underneath the liquor at the bar, blond formica wood bartop, loud club music. The staff - sarcastic dutch guys - and the clients - drunk british businessmen - have remained the same, so everyone in there hates it.

Tuesday morning, I wake up at 4am after sleeping for three hours - can't fall back asleep, eventually try to use the swimming pool, for some reason, maybe because I think it will help prevent a hangover. Either that worked, or my tolerance is higher than it ought to be, since I probably should have had a pounding hangover - instead I just felt mildly shitty all day. I realize midday that I also have a cold with a sore throat. In the last two years, I have been genuinely or even mildly sick twice - food poisoning in the Netherlands a year ago, a cold in the Netherlands now. Any time I get a sore throat, I get worried it's strep, also (strep can kill me if untreated)...never actually is strep, though. Work was productive. I had dinner at a coworker's house, one of the guys in the warehouse, which was nice if awkward. I spent most of the dinner trying to make conversation with a 6 year old Dutch girl that knew 20 words in English, and trying to play with barbies and puzzles with a 3 year old Dutch girl (who would grab my hand and shout "PUZZLEM!" after each of the four times she finished her nine-piece Dora the Explorer puzzle). I get home early but end up staying up until 2am answering work e-mails.

Wednesday, still have a cold. Work goes well. Go out for dinner after work with the boss at the office - to the same place I got food poisoning last year. It goes well enough, though the satay sauce seemed weirdly fishy. Still can't really sleep.

Today, still have a cold. Go back to Schiphol, to get on my flight to Vienna. While I'm waiting, I drink a Heineken at Schiphol Sport Bar, and I'm pretty sure I see a guy at the bar that played a bully in some random kid movie from the 90s, like the Wizard...he had a british accident that seemed to fade in and out. Just didn't like the look of the guy. Flight is fine, get into Vienna, walk to my hotel, which is more like a studio apartment in an old traditional european-hotel-style building. It feels like a character's apartment in an old movie - enough decoration to exhibit what would seem like some sort of individual character, but not enough for that character to be definable in any way. Walk around, cold bothering me, foot bothering me, eat some mediocre schnitzel. I buy tickets to an opera on Saturday, because I want to try it, and Vienna seems like a good place to do that. I am reading a good book. It's from a series of books that NY Review of Books publishes - modern classics. I like them because when I buy one, I get a guarantee that I'm reading something 'worthwhile', without having to worry that the book is too obvious of a classic to actually read in public. It's called Boredom, written in the 50s by an Italian, about a shitty Italian painter with money who decides he's really bored, his boredom, and his relationship with this 17 year old girl with the torso of an adolescent, but "magnificent bosoms, full, firm, and round" that have an "adult quality" again noticeable in "her powerful, solid hips". I like it.

I decided to stay in the hotel tonight, to try to get a full night's sleep. I was speaking weirdly quietly all day - I think I do this the first day I'm in a country where people only mostly speak English. On the way home, I buy a cigar. I go to the open air market in Vienna (called the nachtsmarkt) and buy blue cheese, bread, a bottle of wine (Austrian Syrah), and salami. Then, I buy prosciutto and a roast pork cold cut from this friendly older Austrian guy. He asks me where I'm from, and responds to my answer of "Boston, America" (?) by saying "Do you know Anthony Bourdain?", and telling me about how much Bourdain liked his food shop, and showing me the plate that Bourdain signed. I get home. The Austrian Syrah is a kosher wine that is terrible, and when I look the price up, I find out that I got overcharged for by 200%. I fucking hate terrible wine, and I really hate being overcharged for terrible wine. I consider whether the wine-seller might have cheated me on this wine because he's anti-Semitic and thought I was Jewish and would like the wine because it's kosher. I do some work, and then say fuck it and go out again and get a new bottle of wine. I walk about a half-mile to a better wine store, spend a half hour looking at wines, google like 20 of them, and decide on a Ribera Del Duero with good reviews that doesn't seem overpriced (and two bottles of Underberg).

I get home, spread out a pile of food on the table, open the wine, turn on the TV, decide to post about the week so far on Insult, and start eating. The meats and bread are terrific, but the wine is ridiculously good after a bit of air - medium-full body, sort of a toasted bread with caramel smell, intense acidity, tannins, but all balanced, long finish. Ahhh, I love good wine. Holy crap - I unwrap the cheese, and...I like stinky cheese, but this blue cheese is over the hill... it smells like someone spilled a barrel of ammonia in the FIlthhole. May or may not take a walk and smoke the cigar. Either way, going to get a good night's sleep and then kill Vienna tomorrow.

St00n

It would appear that a large number of drivers have begun using those GPS navigation things to get them from point A to point B nowadays. For that other forum I post on, the users were overjoyed to have received their TomTom or whatever and I've been reading articles about them on various news/tech sites.

I hate the damned things.

FIRST: What the hell did these people do before their GPS that made it absolutely necessary for them to purchase one? I really don't recall 'Murricans getting lost en masse prior to the turn-by-turn revolution. My dad is awesome because he can get anywhere with just his physical maps.

Oddly enough, I hear about more people getting lost or not being able to find some place with the GPS than before. "Oh, sorry I'm late, the damn VZ Navigator gave me bad directions."

SECOND: A new pattern of driving has emerged as a result of these things, which I have decided is called, 'Moron Maneuvering.' The GPS device has to do some communication up and down with either a cell-type tower or a satellite, so naturally the directions it gives aren't going to be instantaneous. After you turn on Main Street, it takes a bit of time for it to register that and then give you your next set of directions.

The folly in something that sounds so innocuous lies within what it causes drivers to do. Most people are exceeding the speed limit most of the time. I get the sense that GPS owners are going too fast to really let the thing properly guide them so what happens is that they will just stop as soon as the thing tells them it is recalculating their route. Literally, they will simply stop and fiddle with the thing. Only once have I ever seen someone pull over to mess around with the GPS.

While that is bad enough, there is a different - and more dangerous - behavior, which has probably arisen from these already lousy drivers getting burned too many times in the past by their speed: they are listening to where they need to turn next and then slowing to a dangerous crawl at every street or light they encounter. You can tell this is happening because they crane their necks to look, too. Some will realize they should have turned on a street and are too far, but they'll turn anyway. Others will ride in between lanes on the highway until they are certain of the off-ramp they are supposed to take. In both of those prior examples, the drivers will continue along their paths, irrespective of other drivers.

I've had to modify my own driving as a result of this stuff. I've learned to read "car body language" to see if that person up ahead of me is GPS'ing. Are they going to get into this lane or are they going to get off the highway? The number of jerky movements left or right has zero association with the outcome. Do I go around the person slowing down to see if the "immediate left on Carson street" is the street they've already passed and risk them accelerating into me? Nope - I just wait behind them until they've run through the proper cognitive responses.

Meh.

I dont even feel like i have to say this because im sure we all know it, but mike is not picking up girls every night to then not bring them home......Meh!

my day starts at 6:30am, my alarm goes off, i wake up to the radio such a much more pleasent way to wake up then some sonic ear peircing rattle jolting me out of bed, why i waited this long to start doing this i have no idea but it makes my day start off way less stressful.

i roll out of bed around 6:50 and take a shit and then shower, usually getting out around 7:09, it just works out that way more often then not, even when i think i took a longer shit than normal. after that i get dressed and leave my house around 7:20 i get to the office around 7:50 go get a coffee at the market next door and wait for the kid with a key to get here. i leave here sometime after 5 and get home sometime before 6 i then either go to the gym or out, i never stay home, too stressful.

my weekends lately have been long and taxing, out till 3 or 4 all kinds of fucked up, sleeping untill after 12 saturday and sunday.

i dont talk to girls

i dont get to play music as much as i like

i hate the radio

i dont read as much as i would like, and im not really inspried to read anything at this point, after completely covering the Kerouac catalog i kinda dont know what to read, im thinking about picking up the wheel of time series again, or maybe rereading the Dark Tower..

all the toys i want or too expensive

i really want to get out of my parents house, but i need a roommate, i dont make enough to live alone, but i dont really care to live with anyone in know, and i dont want to live with a stranger.

i do not speak with women

i hate my car

im happy im not as bald as i thought i would be by now

i wanna start buying nicer cloths

i wish blood and i could hang out more

i got a look at 4th ed and it makes me wanna cry and vomit at the same time

haveing hugh in branford for the last year has made my life significantly better

the last few days with stoneman have been awesome

.......and i guess thats it for now.

948 "we all over the world"

Hmm... stories about what we are doing. This could be interesting to see what you guys think of the person I am now.

My days consist of a fairly simple routine, which I've been doing since about May now. Wow, three months went by quickly! Anyway, I tend to wake up around 6:00am. Even if I'm working a later shift, my body usually just sort of stumbles into consciousness around the same time every day. I do approximately thirty push-ups (some days it's more, it really just depends on when my arms tire out) and then approximately 50 crunches. I have breakfast; most days I have a bowl of cereal with soy milk. The cereal is usually either Grape Nuts, Raisin Bran or Cheerios, but sometimes I'll grab one of the childish ones. On some days I make myself some eggs over easy, a couple of strips of turkey bacon and some toast. I have a full glass of orange juice every morning for sure. I then shave, if necessary, and take my shower.

After my shower, I check my e-mail and such. If it's a work day, I make my lunch. Lunch is usually a sandwich - either ham and turkey breast with veggie cheese on wheat bread or tuna on potato bread - then a serving of fruit (I usually have a good stock of grapes, apples, bananas, plums, and peaches) and either some carrots or celery. I drink water exclusively with lunch. If it's a work day, I also assemble what I'll be bringing with me. On my days off, I get changed to ride my bike and go for a two-hour ride around Long Beach.

If I'm going to work, I hop the Metro blue line to Wilmington Station, then catch the Metro green line over to Douglas Street station. If I feel like getting a lot of reading in, I'll take the Metro local 232 instead.

On my days off, once back from my bike ride, I usually work on my story for a bit. I'll wash any dirty dishes and make my bed. I might read a bit. I'll occasionally go pet the neighborhood stray cats. If any laundry needs to be done, I'll do that. I clean my bathroom a lot, too - the shower doors, the toilet, the mirror, the sink, etc. I'll make myself lunch (described above) and then mess around on the internet or watch whatever Netflix has brought me.

If I get hungry between lunch and dinner, I'll usually snack on some strawberries or blueberries but I may have some chips and salsa. I buy whatever fruit juice is on sale and usually drink that with my snacks.

I work on the updated Insult and a project for work a lot. Dinner varies but I keep it simple. Most of the time, I make some chicken with either rice or vegetables. Sometimes I'll get some beef or pork and make some interesting stuff. Other times, I'll have some pasta (if San Marzano tomatoes are on sale, I'll make my own sauce, too). I have a glass of red wine with dinner and then water otherwise. I don't tend to have dessert... every now and then I'll buy Soy Dream and maybe have some of that. I usually end my day with a cup of rooibos.

If I go out for dinner, I usually pick up a girl. A lot of the time, though, I won't bring her home with me.

At the end of the night, I do approximately 30 more push-ups and 50 more crunches.

Tomorrow is grocery shopping day, though. But first, I have to go to the Torrance courthouse (which will probably take up a good portion of my day).

I haven't written in a while.. basically forgot all about insult. My life is busy. My life is good. My life sucks.

I wake up every day at around 5:55am. My fucking alarm is set for 0620h or 0755h depending on what's going on. But my god damn body will not let me sleep past 0555h undisturbed.

I try to fall back asleep, I should try just getting up at that hour and go for a jog... but no, I lay in bed until 20 minutes before my train departs, take a military shower and get dressed. I catch the 0646h or the 0724h train. It takes under a minute to get to the station. Still not fully awake, I stand at the platform waiting for the never-on-time train. The train is pretty full when I board, so I have to sit in the retarded third chair with a low back... when we get to New Haven most of the shitheads get off the train, so I get myself a window seat.

Sometimes I'm on the laptop, but lately I've been listening to tunes on my iPod (or now, iPhone) to Stamford. A lot of fuckers get on the train in Bridgeport, sometimes they smell bad. It sucks when it rains.

The arrival in Stamford is always a clusterfuck. Half the passengers are rushing to get to shuttle buses and they're all pretty rude New York types. I am going the opposite direction to them, so it's fighting through the mob to get to the empty street to the office.

Work is fine.. stressful deadlines, lots of meetings, annoying recruiters calling all day trying to recommend morons for the openings on my team.. I leave at 1750h (5:50pm if you're lazy) for the 1801h train. The station is pretty packed with folks going home, and half the time I don't get a seat until Bridgeport (the first stop on the express). So I stand near the doorway with the rest of the folks who don't want to sit between two fucks on the hot train. Most of the people reek of beer and booze. After so many months, I still can't get over how fucking drunk people can be so early.

But it's starting to make sense. I should be going to bed at 2100h or so to be up so early. I am not ready to call my life quits and go to bed so soon after arriving home, which is around 1920h. By then I'm starving, not surprising considering the unsatisfying lunch I get each day at 1300h.

Exhausted, I rarely feel like making myself food. So I go out. On a good night I get to spend time with the girlfriend. Other nights I become a step closer to being one of the alcoholics on the evening train.

So, as Caniprokis pointed out last night, I've got it good... but I'm fucking stressed out all the time, I can't figure out how to unwind. I've had a headache for over a week now. I feel better bitching about it here... school was like this, which is why I fucking created this site in the first place 9 years ago.

I don't have any outlets to vent. I'm angry. So I hope I keep ranting, I feel better venting the above already... it's all stupid shit, and you probably don't give a fuck, but it'll probably keep me from kicking the dog tonight.

I am sitting in a Paris airport (Orly Sud) on my laptop using wifi, about to fly to Munich. I'm going to be there for the weekend...and by the time I'm done with it, Munich isn't going to have any sausage or beer left. There are a lot of Germans that are going to be very sad and thirsty on Tuesday.

I saw Iron Man on Wednesday (yes, that's right, it came out in France before America, I got to see it before anyone in the US did, that's how dedicated I am). It was awesome. It kind of lost something because the dialogue was all in French, but I just made up cool shit for Robert Downey Jr to say in my head, and it was still good. Movie theaters in France are very comfortable (the seats are like big recliners), but they don't serve beer in the theaters. Also, everyone gets there very early (at least they did for Iron Man), and the previews go on forever, like a half-hour.

All I can say is: go see Iron Man. Aaron, check Insult and tell me what you thought of it, goddamnit.

STOOOOON vs Ze Germans

Well, a cold fucking weekend in Connecticut sure picks up my spirits. I left California less than three months ago, and haven't been here even two and a half months yet. I shouldn't blame this prudish state.

Last night was actually sort of fun. I got some much needed energy from some family friends at dinner, and went out with Stone to New Haven and met up with a few pockets of people. The Playwright in New Haven was sort of an eye opener. I hadn't been there on a Saturday before, typically because I'm against paying a cover to go to a bar/club. But you get a lot for only $5. We got in quite late, and everyone was a lot more spirited than I, but it was still worth going in to see that there are still girls out showing off the goods. I don't know how they do it... going around in thirty degree weather with no jackets... but I'm glad they do.

Anyway, I had something else to write about when I started this and I forgot what... bleh.

I had a good time in the city yesterday. I'm totally exhausted today. I didn't sleep a whole lot or all that well last night, but it's worth a little pain to go out there for a change. The weather was good too, tho it did get cold during the night.

A friend from school is part owner of a new bar in the lower east side called Revolver NYC. It was their official grand opening last night, and I think they have a few kinks to work out still even though they've been open 3 weeks already. I'm testing writing on my blackberry, so I'll write more another time.

I'm writing to bitch about spilling sauce onto my pants. I didn't mess at all yesterday, but gd does it drive me nuts. I guess I'll never grow out of being messy.

L8

New Years is the next holiday coming up that I enjoy. I haven't spent a New Years in Connecticut since 1999 and I don't want to be here for that. I don't know when I last was around for Halloween, probably ten years ago.

I dressed up on Wednesday night as a South African rugby team player from 1999. Fortunately I didn't feel too cold outside, despite the excessively short shorts.

The first stop of the night was a house party in town. The thought was to pregame there before heading into New Haven for some bar hopping. The folks were dressed up there, but it wasn't really good times. The crowd was way young, they were all around twenty one years old. Anyway, we didn't stay long.

So now we were in New Haven earlier than planned. I realised when I saw the first hot she-devil of the night that this is probably the last time I'll see sluttily dressed girls out and about until I get back to Los Angeles or until Spring comes. Halloween is a great holiday.

I saw a bunch of the same costumes everywhere I went. Little Bo Peep, stripper girls, she-devils, and way more hot referees than I've ever seen before. Now I know what happens to these girls after they work one night as a "Miller Girl". I wonder who makes these referee outfits, they had different liquor brands on them (some had no brands) but they all were well formed and tight. Fewer guys were dressed up, and I only saw a couple of common outfits. Besides the ever common dress wearing dudes, dressing up as folks from Life Aquatic and Royal Tenenbaums seemed to be the thing this year. And also the ever lame generic "Fed" getup. Secret service mostly, but a few FBI lookin' schmucks too.

I love the psychology behind costume wearing. Really though I love how girls get to act as slutty as they want on Halloween without any flack from it. That's what Las Vegas is like year 'round, and the Sunset Strip in Hollywood too. Any good tourist getaway has that sorta freedom, and that's where I want to live.

All in all though, CT people are quite prudish. The grindin' action on club dance floors here is very different to what I'm used to from college, LA, and Vegas. New Haven is a college town, but the Yale crowd isn't all that fun really. A lot of the same type of folks around, it's weird.

Anyway, I'm heading into Manhattan this afternoon which should be fun.

I think when caught getting a blow job, the only thing you can do is give a thumbs up. It sorta diffuses the situation, which is necessary.

I went to Dunkin Donuts this morning. When I was on antibiotics (for three weeks), I was going pretty much every morning to get breakfast. Now that I'm off the antibiotics, I don't go as often and I only want coffee. Typically a double espresso. I've made the mistake of not specifying 'black' already (who the fuck puts milk and sugar in shots of espresso?). But they are typically so baffled by the fact I'm just ordering espresso... no donuts or other coffee drinks, and just black. I get comments like "Are you sure?", for fucks sake.

Anyway, this is at the drive-thru, a concept I'd rather go back to ignoring. This morning I told them I was very sure and drove up to the window and heard them yelling around for espresso. I paid my $2.10 (overpriced at that) and waited. I fire up my blackberry and read some emails. I had fifteen new messages, and deleted the four spams. The dude at the window (he happens to also be the manager) came back and asked for $4.27 from me a minute later, then realised that I was the same customer as before. He freaks out, yells for a black double espresso. A few more minutes pass, and he asks me to pull into the parking lot and someone will bring out my coffee.

So I back into a spot, and go through the rest of my emails. I fiddle with the radio, trying to find a station playing music in the morning. God, the radio sucks in Connecticut. I get more annoyed by the radio than anything, but eventually I notice a lot of time has passed. So I turn off the car and get out to walk in and find out what the hell is going on. Good timing I guess because the girl is coming out to hand off my coffee just then.

This whole process took more than fifteen minutes. Bleh.

I don't get the northeastern attitude. I guess it can only be the weather that makes everyone so unpleasant. all the time. I'm tired of being here, I miss the west coast.

I had to take my car in this morning for some additional coolant as it is reporting the level being too low when I start the car in colder weather. Also, out of the blue, my car stopped communicating with my cell phones via bluetooth. Anyway, so off I go to one of the worst dealerships I've ever been to. I've known this for years, but since I can't go to Pacific BMW in Glendale when I'm on the east coast, I have no other options. I had an appointment made, but of course when I arrive they couldn't find a note of it and I get randomly assigned to a very typically unpleasant mother fucker. Every other visit to a service department in California, everyone is super pleasant, and the hot girls that work at the dealership come around offering coffee, tea, water, etc. In Connecticut, all you have is a drinking fountain and bad coffee.

I need to get some rubber floor mats for the upcoming foul weather this autumn, so I'm going to order them from Cali and have them shipped to me in CT rather than just picking them up in North Haven.

Anyway, over two hours later I was on my way, after watching the service agent (not the mechanic/technician) nearly crash my car backing out of the service bay and mumbling curses at other folks in the lot.

Then I stop at Starbucks, a place normally filled with overly chirpy folks. Not today. The customers weren't typical.. no laptops in use, and a lot of cell phone usage. I don't go into Starbucks much outside of NYC and Los Angeles and other tourist spots, so this was fairly shocking to me to see.

People avoid eye contact when walking around here. My brother is probably going to South Korea to teach English for a year, and Koreans are hardcore about avoiding eye contact, so it won't be a shock to him when he gets there.

If your car breaks down on the side of the road, people slow down to gawk at you here. In Cali, you won't necessarily have folks stopping to help you out like the midwest, but at least you'll get some folks yelling offering to help if you need it. Unless you're blocking the road, then you'll get plenty of help and yelling in Cali. In CT, it's slow down and gawk only.

If you get into an accident in CT, even if you're blocking two thirds of the freeway, you get out of your car and call the police and star back at the traffic that is slowly moving around you, gawking. If you get into an accident in CA, it's the law that you must move your car onto the shoulder unless the car is absolutely unable (even then, you'll find someone with a truck willing to push your wreck).

Anyway, good to vent.

I was just thinking about a few things, and while there is a lot going in my life that I love and I am very fortunate regarding many things.. there are always things missing. Part of my complaining is probably rooted in the fact that I am single. Now, it happens to be Valentines Day (or Valentines Weekend I'm told it was this year), and so assume what you want there, but it really is coincidental because it's definitely not in the front of my mind at the moment since it's something I am not seeking just yet since there are a few things I want to straighten out with myself first. Increasing my financial stability being the biggest priority, and getting in better shape physically is another. For the latter, I definitely feel a crunch there because part of me feels that if I don't get my body in better shape before my late 20s or early 30s I will never be able to. Not because I fear my health is in jeopardy due to my lack of exercise yet, but as people age it's harder to improve your body and you have less drive to do it too.

Anyway, regarding what I originally came to rant about. Stone actually sparked the following thought, which he can explain himself if he likes.

I went to school and got my bachelors degree. I attended from fall 1998 until graduation in spring 2002. I don't exactly feel proud about it, mainly because when it comes down to it, I really put in very little effort. I had a few hard classes that kept me up through the night a bunch of times, and pretty much always did what was necessary. But that is where I stopped. I did just what was necessary. I gave far less than 100%, and in some classes I don't think I gave much above 0% and still managed to not fail a single course (although I nearly managed to fail the HTML class I took senior year because I did zero homework during the semester and did every assignment for the semester in one night including the final project and handed it in all at once, fortunately they let me by with a C or a CD or maybe even a D.. I can't remember).

Anyway, I have been out of school for nearly 3 years.. and in many respects more than that. See, my final semester I usually took 6 day weekends. The only thing I never skipped was my physics lab which was big on attendance and required for graduation.

Being out, there are things I miss about school. The student life and being in the mix with so many other people that I automatically had things in common with being at the same school. I even miss some of the class work. See, a lot of what I did take was somewhat interesting.. but the presentation of the material caused me to shut down. Being a lowly undergrad means you are learning subjects from the ground up, and within the CS program I already had much real world experience (not that I already knew the theories and real info behind a lot of it) so that caused me to lose some interest too.

At some point I do want to go back to school and actually learn things to actually learn them. Not just to pass the next test, but to actually gain real knowledge. I can do that on my own to some extent by simply reading, but it lacks the feedback system in schools... you get to bounce ideas around at a school.

I guess my point is that it sucks to actually feel the desire to learn now that I've completed all the schooling I really need to have taken in my life. I don't think I wasted my time, and if I went back in time I probably couldnt talk myself into doing it any differently. It's also one of those things that you hear about freshman year.. parents and other older folks saying similar things that most people just brush off because it's a total buzzkill attitude to try to force on a kid.

Anyway, I'll stop here since this post is fairly pointless and is starting to sound preachy like I want people to put their heads into their book. I am not trying to say that since like I said, I don't believe I could convince myself if given the chance. It's just ironic I guess.

Well, again I am starting a post by pointing out it's been a while.. yadda yadda. I do miss putting my thoughts online, which is why I still intend on doing it more.... eventually. Probably not until summer, which is a likely target at this point for a site re-launch. I still haven't really told anyone what the new features are. My reason is somewhat dumb - someone else might take the ideas and implement them first. Now, that really should be fine considering it's been three years or something since the ideas came up. Some of the features have already appeared elsewhere, but I still feel my set of ideas is still fairly unique (for now) as a whole. Call me selfish, but I want to do it myself.

Stone has mentioned this being the year of the big two five for him, and it's also true for a number of us including myself. Yay for the insurance break and all that.

The number also sort of hits you in other ways. I turn 25 this month (on the 25th) and it's not something I'm exactly fretting over. I can't say I particularly enjoy any birthday, except 18 and 21. It's an excuse to break out sweet treats (cake) and liquor, but that brings me to my point. I don't need an excuse. I will sometimes celebrate a sunny Tuesday, and in California that happens practically 52 times a year (give or take). Don't get me wrong, I don't celebrate every tuesday.

When it comes down to it, in many ways I prefer the random celebration. Perhaps a good steak dinner, some nice belgian ale (Chimay) and friends.

Now, turning 25 really means little (besides car rentals and insurance) except you're half way through your twenties. Half way to 30, which to someone in their early 20s could look like the end of the world (settled down, family, whatever). I'm not at all woried about my body continuing to age (not yet at least.. incontinence is a long way away). Really it becomes about expectations. Acting your age.

Now, for years I've acted older than my age in many ways, and now I feel things reversing. I type this at nearly 2am on a Wednesday night. I'm out of school, I'm in the "real world". People in the real world go to bed early and go to work quite early. At least most working stiffs do. It's the responsible thing to do, right?. I just can't seem to get myself to do that just yet.

I'm sure eventually I'll slow down, it's only natural. I think my plan is to fight it off as best as I can. Does that then make me afraid of getting old? Some might see it that way, but I don't. When I see older people (even as young as 30) who have just given up on living a good life... well, I don't know, it sucks.

Well, every time I post I realise how much time goes by between posts. I keep saying I am going to post more, but I don't. A lot of the time I have little to say really. I waste my time more on TV these days than computing pleasures. I actually don't hav really any computing pleasures anymore. I want to build a gaming box, but that's probably going to be next fall... I have other plans for my income.

I took the plunge and finally purchased a 7" widescreen touchscreen LCD. When it arrives, I am going to build a double-din frame for it (fibre glass + bondo + time = goodness). I haven't worked out the rest of the details for my automobile workings, but it's going to involve a retail license to buy wholesale. I am probably going to have to get a new amp, rewire all of my speakers with passive crossovers (or replace the speakers too), and a few other more minor things to get this project off the ground. $$$

I keep wanting to go out and buy a motorcycle using my credit card. My 8 mile commute takes 40-80 minutes in the evenings, and with a bike I can split lanes and stop driving at Old-Lady-Walking pace. In the last two years that I've lived in Los Angeles, I have watched the traffic get steadily worse. I have also moved out of downtown, which makes it more noticible because I used to drive against traffic.

Traffic is bad going both directions though. It's crazy. Everybody needs to rethink their living situation and swap around. Too many people commute too far (Calliander is one of these fools).

On my drive home last night, I drove under a couple of bridges going under 5mph. There were tourists up on the bridges taking photos of the freeway. It's fucking crazy.

I went to brookstone last night to get a new alarm clock (I want one with 24-hour time). The closest Brookstone to me is up in Hollywood&Highland, near Mann's Chinese Theatre. It's a 10 minute walk there from my apartment, and all I wanted was an alarm clock. But it took me a while to wade through the sea of people trying to catch a glimpse of Brad Pitt and the rest of the cast of Oceans Twelve. It's amusing to me... living in this place where thousands and thousands of people come to visit. For many of the people last night, that was a true highlight of their trip, whether or not they saw an actual celebrity.

I went shopping this morning. I bought a few things I had been putting off buying (sneakers) and bought something I didn't think I'd be buying in Cali - a winter coat. Specifically a ski parka/jacket. I bought the whole ski kit basically... the jacket, the pants (not exactly a matched pair), hat, goggles, gloves, and a headband for my ears. Hopefully this will be the last jacket I buy for a while.. at least until it feels too out of style. It is snazzy with all of the pockets and stuff.

I also had a haircut this morning. Since summer I've been going to the same particular hairdresser chick. It's the first time I've actually not dreaded getting a haircut. She washes my hair after she cuts it, which I definitely enjoy. Nothing like a good scalp rub. We have a bit of a connection going too... she's cute for sure. Not without baggage, and in some ways it's the worst kind (single mom). Ah well.

So, FlyingTim got married today. Wilson, Stone, Caniprokis, Erin/Rudegirl/whatever-she's-called-here, and myself were in attendance.

We pregamed behind Caniprokis' old house, sans Caniprokis. The wedding was catholic, and required a lot of kneeling, standing, and sitting without much direction. I had no idea what I was doing, and everyone seemed to know all of these responses to things the priest/whoever said. I would not find that odd at a regular catholic service, but a wedding is going to include a lot of denominations, no? It lasted a little longer than I would have personally liked (like I matter), and there ceremony was surprisingly political. I feel like an anarchist when politics come up.

The weather here is about as foul as you can get, but today the skies were clear. Snow was on the ground though. And it's COLD. Last night it was raining lightly and freezing, which is the most uncomfortable form of weather I can think of. Cold and damp. Later on, it started sleeting and eventually turned into all out snow. I can't say how surprised I was to see snow in southern Connecticut on November 13th. Fucking crazy.

Oh, and did I mention that FlyingTim is going north for his honeymoon? I can't imagine what Vermont is like right now (that's his destination).

The reception was good. Canadians know how to party. I like Canada.

That tagline belongs to the Mets.

Honestly, I don't hate the Yankees. However, having them continually win is sort of boring to me. I'm not going to root for them to lose unless they play the Mets, but I'm not going to get upset if they do. And I don't think Yankee fans should really be bothered by it - I mean, 26 World Series wins. That's a lot. They can afford a loss, unlike the Astros, or the Cubbies or others.

One thing I care a lot about is the misconception of a curse upon the Red Sox. Every time they choke and mess up, people start ragging about the Curse of the Bambino. So, I guess I have a vested interest in seeing them win just to be able to say to stupid people who believe in things that aren't real, like curses or magic or God, to shut their stupid mouths.

That being said, they won't win this year. I'm rooting for the Astros, but St. Louis is taking it in 5 no matter who they face in the World Series.

Calliander, keepin' it fresh since '94.

I like Philadelphia. The people are pretty friendly. A lot of things that remind me of Ithaca.

I enjoy the presence of seasons. I can feel summer turning, and I'm excited to know that fall is coming. It seems like a cheap excuse to me, but I thought that the consistency of Los Angeles' weather at times lulled me into a sort of stasis. I connect seasons changing with time passing, and with my own mortality, and there's something fulfilling about having that reminder. I liked Los Angeles a lot, but I'm very glad that I left.

The smells here are strange. There are unexplainable clouds of stench that dot the city - you can be driving or walking around, and without notice stumble into the smell of a subway bathroom that hasn't been cleaned in a year. It's more prevalent in the crap areas of town, but you'll catch it downtown, too. There are good odors too - you can smell the major cheesesteak places from a block away.

I think I'll be up in Branford before the end of the month.

The drivers here are insane. A lot of drivers here accelerate away from red lights before they turn green. Quite often someone ahead of me is halfway through the intersection before a light turns red. I've seen a lot of people simply run through red lights late at night, if it looks like no one is around. Very few people actually stop at stop signs.

This is a Mercedes S65. It's a regular top-end Mercedes S-Class with, get this, a twin-turbocharged V12 that makes 604hp and 737 ft-lbs of torque. It costs something like $200k. Maybe $125k of that is the engine. Remember when I talked about getting a car that I could run over poor people in? This is it. I need to get one.

Stone

Stone

I'm sitting on the floor of Arjie's old bedroom, my new place in Philadelphia, eating rotisserie chicken, herb, and drinking fine Yuengling ("*traditional*") lager. I got in last night.

My new place is cool. It's big, and there's always parking at the apartment's doorsteps. I had to park 5-10 minutes' walk away from my old apartment, which cost twice as much. The neighborhood is kind of rundown, but it feels safe. I live next door to people who sit on the street in lawn chairs, wearing bathing suits, but it's cool, I'm open minded. It's near a 24 hour well-known cheesesteak place called Tony Luke's, all of Philly's major stadiums, and stuff like Target, Ikea, Walmart, which I'm actually using.

As far as I can see (24 hours of experience), Philly seems like it's basically an oversized New Haven, with a bunch of South Philadelphians added in, and all of the New Englanders taken out. South Philadelphians are like people from East Haven, with a capital-eye. They call tomato sauce "red gravy". I bet the Italian food around here kicks ass. They're surly and a lot of them don't seem to use deodorant. The Eagles fans are pretty die-hard - they're like Yankees fans, but for football. I feel bad that the Patriots have to beat the hell out of the Eagles every year just because the Eagles suck so much.

The central areas of Philadelphia are great. Again, like an oversized version of that area around Yale's campus in New Haven. Some good stores, good areas to walk around, attractive architecture, and a lot of good-looking girls wearing dresses. I don't know anything about the bars yet.

The liquor laws here are retarded and are the worst thing about Philadelphia, so far. Look, first, no package stores. No beer in grocery stores. You can only buy 6-packs from delicatessens and, I think, restaurants, and I think the only place to buy a case of beer is at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. avenue at 2am in the morning. The wine and liquor stores are run by the fucking state! The state! Like communist russia! The prices are ass. I blame the Dutch. I'll be able to buy alcohol in New Jersey, where's it's cheaper, although I think it's illegal to bring the liquor across state lines. Gas prices are about 10c cheaper than Los Angeles. Philadelphia has something called a wage tax, where the city expects 4% of your income - I plan on trying to dodge it.

The drive across the country. The women who work in Starbucks in the middle of the country are approximately 1/20th as attractive as the girls in California Starbucks. I listened to the same 5 CDs about 10 times each. I saw my grandparents for the first time in about 6 years. A lot of people in the far midwest seem kind of sad and useless - Iowa, Nebraska. Good looking areas, not somewhere where I would live. I liked western Colorado, near Aspen, very cool. I went to a Waffle House for the first time and I thought it sucked. I ate at Cracker Barrel twice and I thought that was good given how inexpensive it was. White Castle once. You only find Starbucks locations in higher income areas of the country. People in California are friendlier than midwesterners. The entire country between the Rockies and about 50 miles west of the Atlantic looks almost identical.

HERE ARE SOME PICTURES:

Keeping my eye on the game.

"El bro de la coca?!"

This is a rock I saw somewhere in Utah. It was big and red.

I think this was called Devil's Canyon:

Overall, it was the best cross-country trip ever.

Stone