September 2004 Archives

It's been a longstanding rule of mine to not play a racing game and then immediately go driving in real life. I broke that rule a couple of nights ago with Burnout 3. Burnout's premise is that while you're racing it's generally a good idea to try and knock your competitors into guardrails and then drive on the wrong side of the road at 150 miles per hour so you can go that much faster. It's actually pretty good. But when you start plotting paths through traffic that are suicidal at best it's not such a good thing. I did get to the baseball game on time though.

The game appears to have left a lasting impression on me as well. One of the ansilary side goals is to take out a big rig or two, maybe a bus, and if you're lucky you can hit a tanker truck and make it explode. Nevermind that your car is totalled in the process. Driving home this morning I saw a double tanker truck half hanging out of a 76 station and for the briefest of moments my mind flashed on how I might yank the wheel, mash the brakes and hit the curb in such a way as to send my truck pinwheeling through the air and slam into the rear trailer.

Unlike the urge to bungie drive, this urge I managed to resist.

I appear to have pissed of the technology fates of late. I'm not certain when I did it really, I'm only now becoming aware. Their cruel machinations only now coming to fruition. Wow, got to use both machinations and fruition in a sentance. Anyway.

I had two identical digital cameras. One bought as a replacement because the other was broken only to find out later the first could be fixed. So I sold the replacement on ebay. Just shipped it out two days ago. Now I can't find my original camera. I go from two to zero in, well I don't know. I only became aware of it yesterday.

That's not really bad. I mean it sucks, yeah, but that's just cruel irony. No, the real technological pisser comes when I try and archive my existing digital pictures. Get the DVD ready to burn and what's this? dvd burner doesn't work. But it doesn't work in such a way that its not working could lie dormant until just the moment I need it. Open "my computer" and there it is, happy, ready to go. Plop in a cd or something and nothing. opens and closes just fine. windows and the bios all say everything is just happy. It just doesn't seem to notice when it has any kind of disc in it. Bah.

Those are just the two most recent. Combined with my work computers subtle cruelty to me (what do you mean you don't have a network card?), my phone's distaste for being rechanged, and the ever reliable indicator lights in my truck. Well yeah. So fates, I'm sorry. Please accept this offering of fresh solder and ceramic capacitors, later I'll sacrifice some transistors.

Bill Bryson is one of my favorite authors - in his genre at least. Granted the travel writing genre isn't exactly packed, but I still enjoy his work. I try and emulate his writing style a little since I find it so enjoyable. I appear to have picked up one of his habits. Often in his books he'll set out to some pub for dinner and then the next day not be able to read his own notes. My inability to read my own chicken scratch has less to do with alcohol and more to do with the fact that I seem to have forgotten how to write. Unless, that is, I really DID mean to write "superhero filters" in relation to bumbershoot. Anyway

Bumbershoot was interesting as always. Musically I saw seal, left hand smoke, the pixies and a few other nameless but good bands. Also got to see Greg Berehndt - a commedian I like - and whoever was acompanying him for the day. Huge props to the electric snowflakes for superb slow led zeplin and ozzy covers.

More interesting, as always, were the people. I got a henna tattoo and a half naked man with scarves around his waist and bright purple eye shadow decided it would be fun to sit and stare at me while I got the inking. Not at the inking process mind you, just me. I'm sexy like that. A different, more clothed and more scarved, man decided to stump for John Kerry by doing his best macarena impression why stoned out of his gourd.

If we weren't a lock democratic state I'd worry.

Hippies inflating the tires on their off road baby stroller. The japanese man so excited to have his picture taken in front of a pine tree. The broken condoms on Memorial Stadium's astroturf floor. Kristin as cousin IT. Mike addicted to cloves. Fat reggae white guy. These little notes aren't really helpful for me in terms of writing, but at least they conjur up amusing images :)