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candy candy candy

Wetter... better?
Happy Halloween!

Wracked with guilt knowing I didn’t have anything but sentence fragments and idea outlines set to auto-post at midnight last night, I actually set my alarm for 40min earlier than normal this morning. All so I could wake up and come back to the familiar web-interface that is the behind-the-scenes of this page. Turns out though, that my host is down, or flaky, or something… and I couldn’t even access the tool. So here I am, drafting this in Thunderbird in hopes of mailing it to myself at work and doing a quick post once I’m back online. Even getting up early, I’ve not left myself much margin to write… so the pressure is high. Will he or won’t he? Likely he will, but it won’t be stellar. Enjoy.

Party was good, cleanup was lighter than years past. Hosed some puke out of the garage, steam-cleaned some beer out of the carpet… but other than that it was just garbage collection and general tidying. Good turnout too, judging from people-counts done on pictures I’d say there were around ~60 folks at the busiest time, pretty much the same as last year I think. The costumes were great, you can check them out over here. There were a few costumes that didn’t get full pictures, but I think most of ’em are here. Expect more snaps of the goings-on as I have time, or don’t… see if I care. Update: check out some candid party shots.

Yeah, I’m sorry, but I’m going to talk about it again. A good friend said something to me recently which I found profoundly brilliant. “Dave,” this good friend said, “If I got some poop on my hand, I wouldn’t just wipe it off with with a dry piece of paper… I’d put some water on that thing.” Man, what a brilliant statement. Who in their right mind would wipe poop off their body with a piece of paper and call it clean? Well then, why is it acceptable for my butt? My friend only offered this revlation to me in response a question I’d asked. The question? “Hey,” I said, “What’s that container of baby wet-wipes for in your bathroom?” A personal question, sure, but a fair one. My curiosity was piqued, so I asked. That’s when he laid it on me: TP first, then finish up with a wet-wipe. Brilliant. So, for weeks now I’ve been meaning to try out his next-best-to-a-bidet methodology. Today, I asked Sharaun to pick me up some wet-wipes at the store. Instead of asking me what for, she just said “OK” and brought them home (yeah, I thought that was odd too). So, if I remember – I’ll let ya know if it’s worth the effort.

Our daughter, who we haven’t officially met yet as she currently resides somewhere inside my wife’s belly, has been quite the active fetus of late. Kicking and spinning and doing all sorts of stuff that blows my mind. Fascinated, I keep asking Sharaun what it’s like. What does it feel like to have something… else… squirming around inside of you? I try to put myself in the situation, and I come to the conclusion that I’d likely be so amazed by it that I’d ignore the world around me in favor of just staring down at my own stomach trying to comprehend it. Sharaun suggests that maybe woman are “tuned” to be more ho-hum about it… it’s in their genes, they can roll with it because their kind have been experiencing it forever. Maybe she’s right, because, as hard as I try to imagine a little thing wriggling around inside me, sandwiched in between my guts somewhere, I still can’t come close. But, it is cool to get those tactile signs that your spawn is alive and well; maybe even reacting to your voice – since all the books tell me she can hear us now. Today, by the by, is the 1st day of her third trimester; the home-stretch if you will. I know, the math doesn’t quite work out to me either – but that’s what the doctors say…

Listening to the new Rogue Wave, which is garnering praise from all corners of indie blogdom. At first, I was a tad surprised how much attention the album was getting, having heard a few tracks leaked here and there and not being overly struck by them. But, as things tend to go, I’ve listened a few more times and am getting more attached with each go-round. Kinda reminds me of the Shins at spots. I dunno, I’m not jumping on the “one of the year’s best” bandwagon with this one just yet, but at least maybe I’ve got something different than the Wolf Parade to listen for a while.

I’m off to work. Good day to you.

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that stupid 9/11 fee

Energize.
Wow, can’t believe I’m actually coming back to this. I gave up on doing an entry tonight, after several longish staring-sessions with no words. And, since I was nodding off to sleep while dicking around the web… I decided to pack it in and call it a night. Turns out I walked around the house, switched off some lights, and got some inspiration. People read this right? Tell me people read this. Somewhere, there must be someone who notices when I miss two days in a row. If it wasn’t for you, you imagined daily readers, I dunno what I’d do. On to the waste of typing.

Every day before I leave for lunch, or start thinking about leaving for lunch, I do a quick calendar-check on my afternoon, just to see what lies ahead. Tuesday, I noticed that I had a 3-5pm appointment to switch from DSL to cable internet. Noting that I didn’t have anything from 1-3pm, I decided it was a good day to phone it in and play hooky for the afternoon. I used the extra time to make massive progress on the cleaning out of the eventual nursery room for Lil’ Chino. Stopped by the store, bought several of those big tupperware storage things, and headed home to consolidate and pack away – the 1st phase of transformation from guest/junk room to nursery. Moved most of the stuff into the garage, filling up a new shelf I hung a few weeks ago. As I began to neatly pack things away, I realized that we have a lot more storage here than I normally think we do. I mean, we packed nearly this same amount of material into a little apartment for years – so it stands to reason we’ve got much more room here. And we do; we’re just using the space wastefully right now. As Lil’ Chino pushes the junk out of the junk room, however, we’ll get more optimized. Wow, what on Earth am I writing about?

For the past couple nights I’ve had the strangest dream, two nights in a row now. I’m at home getting ready for work in the morning, and have to take some extra stuff in with me. Rather than pack it up and bring take it in with me though, I instead pull out this little gun-looking device. I then proceed to point the fun thing at whatever it is that I’m wanting to bring along with me. A thin red line, much like what you see on those UPC reader guns, comes out and I move it back and forth over the item. By doing this, I’m able to just think of where I want the item to go and it disappears from in front of me and is magically transported there. In my dream, I go around sending all sorts of stuff to all sorts of places, and showing off my teleportation thingy to everyone I see. As cool as it sounds, no one is really that impressed or surprised by the little gadget – despite my efforts to sell them on it’s coolness. As much as I expect people to be as excited as I am over this miracle gizmo, no one is and I’m frustrated by it. Who knows… what a strange dream.

The brake light on the Ford has taken to turning on randomly again, I have no idea what that’s about. Maybe it’s low on fluid, or maybe it’s part of the great electric haywire that is the Ford. Move the seat too far back, and you blow a 30A fuse rendering all electronic window/door/seat control useless; press play on the stereo and it mysteriously “reboots” (I didn’t even know car radios could reboot). Anyway, it was raining this morning and I was watching that little red light flicker on and off: BRAKE… BRAKE… BRAKE. Then, the low fuel light decided to get in on the dance: “CHECK GAUGE” lighting up when I took any incline. I was hypnotized by them. The rain fell outside and I listened to the new Broken Social Scene as the dashboard came alive. No idea why I wrote about that, but I took a note about it when I got to work this morning – so it was somehow significant to me.

Sharaun and I worked on the music for the Halloween party tonight, lining up folders of illicitly-gained MP3s for the occasion. Oh yeah, I haven’t really mentioned it as yet – but our 3rd annual Halloween party is this Friday (tomorrow, as you read this). Last year’s was such a success that I got a keg and a half for this one. Anyway, I always like assembling playlists. We worked on putting together two different tune-queues, each with different goals. Sharaun’s goal is to encourage dancing in the living room, and of course maintain the dancing once it’s broken out. Her list is heavy with body-moving classics and high energy favorites. My list is for the garage, where the keg is, and where there won’t likely be dancing. My list is full of music that encourages talking, stuff that’s good for the background; enjoyable, recognizable, but ultimately enjoyable white noise. Heavy with my favorite tracks of the year, it’s a more rock-based mix. Anyway, we’re both excited about the party. Keep your eyes peeled for pictures of the event post-weekend.

Bought our tickets to fly back to Florida for Christmas, cost us $20 after taxes and that stupid 9/11 fee. Hooray for skymiles. Looking forward to a travel-crammed December, with India and Florida and back from each as well. I feel like I traveled more this year than ever before, and that’s completely warranted too – because I totally traveled this year more than ever before. I bet, if I went back and did some research, that I was on a plane at least one time each month.

Me me me… can’t I write about something other than me?

No? OK then, goodnight.

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kicking

Knock knock, I'm here.
This entry jumps in time a bit, since I wrote some Saturday and the rest Monday. Deal with it. Quite a few links today, some good extended reading for those left with an empty feeling over yesterday’s missed post. Enjoy.

Sunday night around midnight, I felt my daughter kick for the first time. And man was she kicking, she was squirming all around in there. Sharaun said it was because she could hear us arguing (we were, she’d gone through my closet as she tends to do every so often and packaged some of my clothes for Goodwill… she always picks my favorites). Anyway, Lil’ Chino heard the bickering and decided to shut us up with a tactile distraction. We were in the middle of a: “You never wear that, and the collar is all stained brown!” “What are you talking about?! I wear this shirt all the time!” When the kicking began. Quieted us right up. And for the record, I don’t think it’s fair that the poor and homeless have to wear my browned-up-collar threadbare shirts anyway.

I’m constantly asking Sharaun what it feels like to have a human growing inside her, as if she could explain it to me in any way I could approximate it. She says that, right now, it’s just like little flutters, almost like gas bubbles. Doesn’t sound quite as exciting as I imagine it feeling. But, I just think it must be an amazing thing to feel a little person moving around inside your belly. For her though, she’s breezing through this pregnancy. For the most part, it’s hard to even realize she’s knocked up. If not for the growing belly and being able to feel the squirmy little girl inside it – her behavior wouldn’t be that much of a tipoff. She doesn’t complain of much, and her routine is largely unchanged. It just seems “easy” for her or something. I guess I shouldn’t say that, she’ll be jinxed with horrible pain and suffering now.

Last week we were supposed to go see Architecture in Helsinki in San Francisco. However, come the morning of the show, folks weren’t feeling too into it – and we made the call to call it a loss and just not go. I was kinda bummed, but also kinda OK with it. I’m just not really into driving all the way to the city to go to shows anymore. Maybe it’s a sign I’m getting old, but it’s gotta be a super compelling show for me to want to drive out there. Now, considering I consider AiH’s album one of the best released this year, I was willing to make the long haul to see them. But, the stars were not aligned, and the $30 seemed a little too write-offable – so we it was a no-go. Also in shows, tomorrow (Sunday as I write this) I will accompany Sharaun to a show of her choosing – Gwen Stefani and the Black Eyed Peas. I’m not that excited about it, I really don’t like the BEP at all, but at least I’m half-interested in seeing Gwen… some of the Ocasek-produced tracks on her latest album are catchy. The one thing the show has going for it over the AiH show though, is that it’s actually right here in town. 20min to and 20min back, you can’t beat that. Dang, I am old.

So, let’s fast-forward to Monday (since I didn’t write enough over the weekend to build an actual entry). The show was surprisingly enjoyable. Still not he world’s biggest fan – but there is something to be said for a show that can motivate people to their feet, rather than have them standing and swaying with the occasional head-bob. Indie concerts can be kinda mopey at times, a whole bunch of thirty-somethings all reveling in their deep pain at being misunderstood by society while they nod along to dirges about self-doubt and ruined romance. But, at this show, thousands of whorishly dressed young women were instead up out of their seats, shaking and bouncing and jiggling… yes my friends, there is something to be said indeed for the virtue of music that makes the ladies dance. Let’s get the picture indie bands, we can learn from the likes of the Go! Team and even Arcade Fire – both of whom inject a good amount of energy into their live shows. Now if we could just pull the same level of talent, I’d be at show after show after show.

This weekend the Halloween decoration efforts paid off in full. With some help from friends, we were able to repair the original ghost motor and get her moving again (only for a few hours though before she broke again, so we now have to re-fix her today). We also managed to setup the coffin in it’s final place. We routed the air hose, and rigged up a motion-trigger mechanism to set it off. Now, when someone walks by, a bright light snaps on spotlighting the corpse as it pops up out of the coffin. The effect is great, and the motion is really good. For non-Halloween or party nights, you can aim the motion sensor toward the road and it will trigger the action when cars go by, drawing their attention as the prop lights up and corpse snaps to attention. It really is gratifying for the project to be working so well. If you want, I put together a little movie so you can take a look at the completed effect in action, enjoy.

Coffin Popper for fatty pipes (~3MB)

Coffin Popper for dialuppers (~800KB)

Now that looks nice!

Let’s do a link roundup, apologies if you’ve seen these elsewhere:

Here’s a funny piece about the real marketing gold that is the video iPod; and here’s a good little rant on religion and modern society – although it’s pretty low on respect for said faith… so if you have a less than steel constitution when it comes to what you worship and hold sacred you may want to skip it. Oh man, before I go I had to share this one. Members of several illustrious indie bands (Wolf Parade, Arcade Fire, need I say more?) got together and made this excellent send-up of the “Do They Know It’s Christmas” song called “Do They Know It’s Halloween.” Indie music and Halloween, it’s like peanut butter and jelly y’all. Not only is the song awesome, but the video is super entertaining too, check it out here. I’ve always wanted a fun Halloween anthem, and this could totally be it. You know what suck about linking in blogs? These links will likely be long-dead in a year or so… bummer.

Goodnight my friends.

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wall to wall

Up against it.
A solid week of writing! Break out the bubbly, it’s on again!

This morning kinda blew. After checking the weather forecast, I donned shorts instead of jeans because it was gonna be in the high 70s in the afternoon. I normally don’t care if it’s in the low 50s when I go to work, I’m only exposed to the elements on the short walk from my truck to the building, and being a tad cold for thirty seconds is much better to me than being hot all afternoon. Anyway, I coupled a Hawaiian shirt with the shorts, not because of the high 70s, but just because it was the best my clean shirts had to offer (still haven’t done the post-Shanghai wash). So, when I went outside and passed the morning couples out for a walk and kids at the bus stop all bundled up for winter with coats and long pants, I began to feel pretty stupid about my dress. When something gets a toehold in my self-conscienceness like that, it’s pretty tough to ignore. I seriously considered flipping a U and heading back home to change into jeans and a polo – but didn’t. That, and traffic was crappy, and I forgot to put some lotion on that little patch of dry skin at the bottom of my hairline on the back of my neck.

At work we use Netmeeting a lot to collaborate for “virtual” phone-conference meetings. If you’ve never used it, it’s just a way to share your PC with others – so they can see whatever you see, good for sharing presentations or whatever. But, sharing your entire desktop comes with problems, as everyone viewing your PC sees whatever comes across on your PC. As a prank, sometimes I’ll send random instant messages to my friends just to see if I can catch them while they’re sharing or presenting. Imagine, a little popup window saying “You suck” for all to see as you’re making your big presentation. Today I went Netmeeting fishing with Pat, sending him the rather innocent message “suck it.” I didn’t catch him sharing, but I did start a pretty funny dialog where we each tried to come up with the best one-liners for Netmeeting fishing. Some of the better ones:

“You were so wasted last night.”
“I tested positive for herpes.”
“I can’t believe you’re gay.”
“Missed you at AA.”
“No, I’m not interested in buying GHB.”
“You left your thong.”
“That condom broke!”
“Stop sending me kiddie porn.”
“What’d you do with her body?”
“HR and security are looking for you.”
“How’s the diarrhea?”
“Your mom says ‘hi.'”
“Wow, I’ll bring my spare boxers right over.”

I’ve been listening to the new Wolf Parade record forever now, and am pretty sure of its spot in the eventual “best of” list for 2005 – unless something much sweeter comes along in the month or two left. Lately though, I’ve been rehashing some older gems, cutting the the bumps of bleeding-edge indie with some of the classics I’ve enjoyed for years. Listened to some vintage Stones the other night, some Dark Side of the Moon, y’know – the timeless stuff. But, if these new Strokes cuts keep leaking at the pace they have been, the whole album will be online sooner or later – and maybe then I can use it to wean me off mama Wolf. Man, what a waste of a paragraph – my apologies.

Sharaun and I went on a nice little “date” tonight, dinner and furniture shopping. We were looking for something to fill out the big empty living room where only the Pac Man machine lives currently. As much as I, for some reason, hate them, we’re looking to get a sleeper-sofa for that room – now that the “spare” room is gonna belong to Lil’ Chino. It’s funny, we’ll only be three people, and one of those just a tiny little thing, but for some reason we’re both already thinking about outgrowing the house. Now, that’s a spoiled American thing if there ever was one… this little house could comfortably accommodate several people. Families of five used to live in one-room cabins no bigger than our garage in the pioneer days, tsk tsk… so spoiled. Hey bearded dude living in that cardboard box, you can have this huge house – we don’t have a dedicated room for guests anymore so we can’t use it. Sometimes I make me sick.

Ignore the entry below this in regards to the actual flow of time, I had to stick the “best of” thing somewhere. Have a good weekend folks, I’m out.

Posted on

compliance

Tracks of testosterone.
Evenin’ folks. Not much going down, not much at all.

This week work is picking up again, and I’m actually liking it. I mentioned that the aimlessness I’ve been experiencing there has contributed to my recent slump, so having some stuff to track down and deadlines to meet is actually making things more enjoyable. I get to a certain point were I’m a well-oiled machine, going through motions I’ve memorized, executing at 100%-plus and not missing a beat – I like that feeling. I guess I can’t really slump forever anyway, it’s not good for a body. A body needs to feel useful, wants to feel needed, enjoys some recognition. It’s time I get back in the game.

They’re building a mall over by my house, and the construction site is right on my way to and from work. Every day I pass that place, and let me tell you this is a major operation. Trenches wide enough and deep enough that dump trucks drive down into them and disappear below the ground; massive earthmoving machinery pushing tons of dirt and rock around with ease, hydraulics in full effect. Let me tell you, I am absolutely fascinated with large machinery and the process of “creating” something where there was nothing before. I nearly crash the truck every day craning my neck to watch the multi-yard buckets scoop up dirt and move it around… I don’t know why I like it so much. I swear I could sit across the street and just watch them do their massive dance all day. I remember when I was a kid watching a show on TV about the biggest earth-moving machine ever (at the time), just the treads were several stories tall. I guess that’s why little boys get yellow dumptrucks with knobby plastic tires and little girls get pink convertibles their Barbies can drive around in. Male vs. female, who knows.

Turns out the motor I got to replace the flying crank ghost’s burned-out one is just too RPMey for the application. I knew when I bought it that it was designed to operate at 160RPM at 12V, but early tests at 3.3V showed a promising reduction in RPM – something that would work for the ghost. I did my best to see if the torque at 3.3V was significantly less, but the “pinch the turny thing and see how hard it is to stop” method isn’t terribly accurate. Turns out that the thing just doesn’t have enough oomph at 3.3V to pull the ghost’s head (her heaviest part) up once it gets down. For kicks, I gave it 5V and it could operate the ghost no problem – although she was now a flying crack ghost, as in crackhead, because she shook and jittered and about pulled herself apart as she was jerked around at breakneck speed. If there’s anything good about redoing the whole thing, it’s that I was able to make significant improvements to the ceiling-mounting system I’ve been using for the past two years… but it’s small consolation since she’s still just hanging there being boring and static.

Did some work adding some links to the header at the top (one currently not implemented), bulked up the “links” thing on the sidebar, and did some general stylesheet cleanup. Stylesheet’s still a mess, but at least it’s better than before. All that work and nothing to show for it but three little color-changing links – not much reward I tell ya.

Gotta take the trash out. Goodnight faithful, see you tomorrow.

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what’s another twenty dollars?

Meaningless to rich folk like me.
Hey y’all, how’s it going? Sharaun said I was mumbling about Halloween props in my sleep last night, which kinda freaks me out…

What? The crank ghost’s motor burned out. I’ll just buy this wiper-motor. What’s another twenty dollars? Oh, I don’t have any leftover foam from last year to fill out the corpse’s body? I’ll swing by and pick up a couple at the Wal Marts. What’s another twenty dollars? Oh man, I forgot I’ll need a yellow light for the witch and a pack of eyehooks and screws. Big deal; another twenty dollars. I’m tired of another twenty dollars. I have a feeling I could’ve purchased a pre-built pneumatic coffin-popper and had it shipped to me in time for Halloween for about the same as I’ve spent so far on this year’s setup. Really, it’s shameful. I read online about all these folks doing their super-impressive projects on the cheap – but mine are always incrementally cost-insane. $20 here, $20 there… it adds up. Stupid Halloween – there’s no way I should be wasting money on this crap. But dang, do I love it or what?

I saw this list the other day: top 10 blog design mistakes; and was happy because sounds familiar actually passed on most of them. Sure, it’s some dude’s arbitrary list – but it’s a neat thing to talk about, right? I’ve got: an author bio (#1) (although it’s somewhat buried under a possibly misleading heading on the sidebar) and it’s got pictures of me (#2). I think my posting titles are pretty descriptive (#3), and creative to boot. And, while I do often use a hyperlinked “here” to point readers to more info, it’s usually prefaced by what and where the “here” is (#4). I completely violate #5, and I actually really like the idea. I think I’ll add a “Best Of” link to the sidebar with 5-10 of my favorite posts. I have category and calendar navigation (#6), post what I consider to be more often than most (#7), and write about all sorts of crap (#8). Now, #9 is tricky… because, for the most part, I completely pretend no one will ever judge me by what I’ve written here. Stupid, naive, whatever… I guess I break #9. And finally, I’ve had my domain for years now (#10). So, eight out of ten ain’t that bad, and after I get a “Best Of” implemented I’ll be at 90%. W00t.

Mike over at The View from Taiwan has an interesting, and super-long, post about the Formosa-bent blog-collective’s speculation about a pre-2008-Olympics invasion of Taiwan by China. If you enjoy military conjecture or the intricate dynamic that is China-Taiwan relations, it’s a good read. These kind of “what if” scenarios are really interesting to me, since, in my line of work, I work closely with folks in both China and Taiwan. It gets me thinking, the tech industry alone relies so much on the economies and employees in each of those countries – that a China-Taiwan conflict would be a catastrophic disruption to businesses all over the world. Yes, I’m putting aside the of-course-more-important humanitarian impacts of war right now, we all know human life is the #1 concern; it’s just that the economic implications are interesting to speculate on as well. Say for instance that Taipei fell to China, and the whole workforce I deal with there was suddenly displaced – the size of the wrench that would throw into the works is almost incomprehensible. Not to mention the whole grey area of US involvement in such a conflict – and the implications of business during/after.

I’m done, bored with writing. Goodnight.

Posted on

where the grass is greener

Sister Ima Hypocrite
I love the USA, and I love my USA friends. From the moment I got home, I was able to hang out with my friends. All of my friends are good people who I enjoy spending time with. Remember when I mentioned that Sharaun and I broke down and finally put some color on our walls? We never quite finished – and we’ve been living in a half-painted room for months. Well… Saturday morning, Pat and Cynthia showed up for the regular watching-football-all-Saturday regiment – but this time they brought along the tools for painting. Cynthia immediately set about prepping for painting and motivating Sharaun to do the same. Then Erik and Kristi came over to help with the Halloween setup. How awesome is that?

I think I’ve ID’d at least part of the cause of my recent work-slump. It seems I’ve just lost interest in what’s going on, lost that “fire” that was driving me a few months back. Part of it is due to the big worker-bee-to-manager transition, I know that. The model of my tasks has changed so much that I can’t help but feel somewhat “lost” or aimless with respect to how I’m doing things now. But, that’s not really it. What’s really got me dragging at work is how extremely great things are going at not-work.

I mean… In comparison to my personal life right now, work is bland and stupid-boring. I thought about it this morning while talking to Wes at work – I feel like, right now, things in my life are arguably the best they’ve ever been. Sharaun and I are enjoying the pregnancy so much, the excitement over Lil Chino’s February arrival cresting so that at times it makes some nights like a near-sleepless Christmas Eve; we’re safe and happy and comfortable all-around, even working on getting nagging little “nesting” type tasks taken care of before she arrives: painting and furnishing rooms long stark and empty, finishing the backyard, shopping for cribs – things I never thought could be so fulfilling. Just looking at the miniature pink one-piece outfits in the baby-store makes me a bit giddy – you’re gonna be able to fit in that? Nothing’s broke, nothing’s wrong, nothing’s pressing, nothing’s weighing on my mind.

And that, my friends, is my theory regarding why I currently care a little less about work than I used to. Sure, somewhere in me I realize that the means work provide me enables a lot of that happiness – and I’m not eschewing that – it’s just, I can get along at work without making it an 18hr/day thing like it was back in the last peak. Right now, I’ve got down time and I’m gonna enjoy it. Call me slacker, if the shoe fits.

Now, fate will probably make me get hit by a bus or go bankrupt for saying all that – just to show me that life can’t be all ups with no downs, but I’m not too worried about jinxing the whole deal. That’s right, I flaunt my happiness in fate’s face… right were he can smell it but not grab it, like that dog on a rope from the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons – I know right where that line is. I’m not afraid to say things are going good, because I know for certain that there’ll be times where they are once again not so rosy – it’s just the way things go. So, why not relish a little in the sunny spots? Linger, hang out and enjoy it without reservation – I know I will. That’s just how I roll.

Yay God! Let’s go.

I don’t know what it is, and this may sound silly… but more and more lately the concept of religion being practiced in a way that would most closely relate to modern Catholicism has been appealing to me. I feel like where I am, spiritually, is beginning to align less with the charismatic Reformation-based practices, and more with the interesting mix of longstanding tradition and somewhat more liberal interpretation that comes with modern Catholicism. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not really looking to “convert;” my heart’s not really signed-up anywhere anyway. I could honestly care less where I choose to go, maybe even if I go… I haven’t fully fleshed that out yet. I guess what I’m saying is, by non-denominational loosely Protestant standards, I’m guess I’m becoming a “watered-down” Christian. Or, I’ve always been one – and I’m just now OK with saying it.

I’m believing less and less by the letter, and more and more by what’s in my chest. I want to acknowledge something, but I don’t know what it is – and I’m OK with leaving it at that. Maybe it’s nothing; a yen for spirit that’s hard-coded into human DNA, who knows. But whatever it is, and however you get it – be it climbing mountains or handling serpents, there’s no denying it’s there. Plus, I enjoy acknowledging it. Maybe it’s the kindred feeling I get to the whole history of humanity acknowledging something similar – an entire race searching for something greater than themselves. I don’t want to say I believe things I know I don’t believe anymore – there’s no point. Oh sure, I can still go to a church that believes those things, but I’m not gonna front anymore. You can deal with this “faith issue” however you’d like – I’m comfortable with it and that’s all that matters.

So what, become a Unitarian – get the best off all worlds. Sure, whatever, like I said I don’t think I really care. I like the virtues that religion attempts to uphold. Yeah, I know, you can be super-virtuous without religion, don’t forget I was once the antagonistic agnostic as well so I have all the secular arguments before I put down the outlandish non-secular ones.

Oh crap, got interrupted while writing and lost all drive to continue with this same-old-same-old. It’s OK, my God-talk is largely circular anyway, so I’m sure I’ll come back to it eventually. Heathens, you may resume reading now.

So… to close out today’s entry I’ll leave you with some pictures of Halloween progress (credit due to the More’s for all their upholstery and corpse-stuffing help!).

the coffin, painted brown, with red satin lining

 

bendin’ benton, in his final resting place

benton, rising from the dead to scare kids

 

the witch at night, with broom

Woulda been the best Halloween night ever if the crank ghost’s motor hadn’t finally given out. It gave a valiant effort over the last two Halloweens, but it sounded sicker than ever when I fired it up this year. Time to get a new motor, and maybe redesign the mount… not looking forward to it.

Love ya all, g’nite.