Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Erratic Thoughts, Again :-)

What time is it? 4:30, and I still haven't started a "real" post for the day.

There's been something weird about today. Every time I've looked up at the calendar above my desk to figure out the date, I've been surprised that it's Wednesday and not Friday. My body and my brain are pretty well convinced that today is Friday and that tomorrow I should be able to "sleep in" until eight. It's unfortunate that I can't do that, though. I still have to get up and get to work by eight.

I realized this morning that maybe I shouldn't bother trying to leave comments on any blogs anymore. I came to this realization when it occurred to me that on every blog I read that had a new post when I got to work this morning and allows comments, I wrote a comment, typed in the obnoxious security letters, and promptly left the page without posting. I've been doing this sort of a thing, well, for years, but this is the first time I didn't post any of them. I wonder why this is.

Is it okay that I used an emoticon in the title? I don't really like the things, but for some reason it seems to make the title of this post a bit more whimsical. Or maybe it's all the Pep-O-Mint Lifesavers I've eaten this afternoon.

You know that song "Witchy Woman"? I think The Eagles sing it. Yeah? I hate it. I didn't always hate it, but I do now. The guy who sits across from me plays it at least three times a day. Not loudly, but it just loud enough that that I can hear the chorus. And I can't stand it. It sucks. It should be destroyed before it had a chance to be created. It may ruin a good Seinfeld gag, but I can live with that. There were plenty of good episodes before that one.
"I can't stand it!" I like it!
It's like a guarantee.
My new philosophy.
And things are sure to be a whole lot brighter
"Oh, yeah? That's what you think!"
"Why are you telling me?"
And now it's time to go.

Tenth Dimension, A Point?

There's an animation on this site that gives a wonderful explanation of how we get to ten dimensions.

To get to it, you have to click on the "Imagining the Tenth Dimension" in the navigation bar. There's a lot of stuff there, so it may not be great for slow connections, but it was great.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

I've...

...been singing a jumble of RENT songs in my head. I can't complete them, they're all garbled together. Bits from "La Vie Boheme," " Tune Up," "Seasons Of Love," "Tango: Maureen," "Over the Moon," and "One Song Glory"; there are probably others in there that I just don't know the titles of and I don't really want to look them up. It's a mess in there.

...been thinking about the newest Wonder Woman comic series and how disappointing it's been for me. Other than a brief infatuation with the old TV series when it was show on FX, way back in the day, I've never really gotten Wonder Woman. I like the idea of her, I think, but I just don't get the way she's used out there. Maybe it's just me, but I think that the idea or Wonder Woman should be stronger than the woman in the tights and I don't think the latest series is doing that. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's going well and I just don't understand.

...been keeping up with my work, mostly. I have a pile that I need to put back to the proper files. It's not a huge pile like I put back last week, which had stuff in it from the middle of December, but it's getting larger than I'd like it. I got a huge load today because one and a half people were missing and, for some stupid reason, when anyone, who isn't me, is gone for the day they don't get work. They're supposed to here tomorrow (although I'm not expecting one to show up), so why don't they get any work?

...been trying to ignore the subtle racism toward people of Mexican descent I hear around here. There's nothing overtly racist said, but one of the people here likes to hint that certain sterotypes about people of Mexican descent are true for all. Maybe I should be glad that she's not teaching kindergarten, which is what I used to think she should be doing with her life.

...been reading the first Sword of Truth book, Wizard's First Rule, here at work for the past two weeks. It's not great, but there's something hypnotic about it. I'm not sure what it is. One thing, though, I don't think the actual Sword of Truth should be called the Sword of Truth because the sword isn't about Truth, it's about truth or perceived truth. Truth, with the capital "t," should be objective and remain uninfluenced by anyone. The truth the sword deals with in the book, though, is the truth that the bearer of the sword sees. That bugs me. I suppose, though, that calling the series Sword of Perception would limit the sales quite a bit.

The List For 1-24-07

The Lost Books of Eve 1:1
52 #38
True Story Swear To God #3
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #14
Checkmate #10
Connor Hawke: Dragon's Blood #3
The Helmet of Fate: Ibis the Invincible
Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #26

Notes:

I thought it was going to be a really light week. I'm glad I was wrong.

The Helmet of Fate: Ibis the Invincible
That new costume has got to be one of the worst designs, ever. When I turned the page I kept staring at the thing hoping that I was just seeing it wrong, but in all my staring, it didn't change. I'm looking forward to this new Ibis showing up to be a hero and having someone ask him why he has that "S" on his chest if his name is Ibis. I liked the old costume. It was reminiscent of the early Sandman and Zatara.

Connor Hawke: Dragon's Blood #3
He should have gone for the redhead and let the creepy one get killed. And as for the end, what does that have to do with either the archery contest or the dragon? I know I'll be sticking this mini out, but I shouldn't keep asking myself why.

Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #14
Gwen knows Peter's secret. Mary Jane knows Gwen knows, but Mary Jane doesn't know. And that frustrates Liz, who frustrates Flash, who teases Peter. This book is great and I plan on enjoying every issue until it's over, unless it becomes unbearable after Sean McKeever leave.

True Story Swear To God #3
A yapping dog, two (or four if you want to get nitpickish) bald heads, and a lost co-host make this one excellent comic.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Pleeeeeeeease...

On Friday I printed twenty copies of the State Application, which I have to include with each inquiry I send back with the "Yes" box checked. I forgot to take them back to my apartment with me because I stopped taking my bag with me to work and I just don't think of grabbing anything except myPod on my way out. That means I couldn't send them off on Saturday, like I wanted to.

So, on Saturday I checked the "Yes" box and signed my name and filled out envelopes and put on a stamp for all the inquiries I got last week, but I couldn't send them out. I had to do it today. There were nineteen of them.

The twentieth was sent to the prison where my aunt and two uncles work for a temporary position. I didn't get a notice from there because I marked that I only wanted to be notified about permanent positions. This temporary position is 24 months long. I figured that 24 months is pretty damn close to permanent, especially since I haven't even been here for 18 months and I'm ready to move on.

As I sat downstairs in the lobby signing and dating applications and licking envelopes, I figured out that I've use about seventy stamps to respond to these inquiries. I counted the roll that I've been using, there are only fifty-two stamps out of a hundred left on it and only one stamp from it has been used on a non-job inquiry related envelope. I've used on sheet of storybook character stamps, which holds sixteen stamps, and a few more off another sheet.

That is a lot of applications sent out since I started getting them the second week of January. A I still haven't gotten one serious call for an interview. (I did get a call from some place at 4:30 one Thursday afternoon asking me if I could go to Cowcity the next morning for an interview at 8:00 AM, but I would have to clear my entire day because they were going to schedule all the interviews at 8:00 and just go from there, so when I got called would be my turn. I told them no.)

Damn, I'm just so tired.

Test!

I do believe I've found an author to keep a look out for.
I am:
Olaf Stapledon
Standing outside the science fiction "field", he wrote fictional explorations of the futures of whole species and galaxies.


Which science fiction writer are you?

Here's his Wikipedia page.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Today Was Another Day

I have yet to do any work today. I've been here for almost two hours. I really don't want to do anything. I mean, why bother. If I do the work that I have now, I'll be finished by two, at the latest. By then, I'll be given more work that if I start doing I'll get a large portion finished by the time I leave this evening, which means Monday morning, I'll have less to do then and everyone will be here and take it upon themselves to find me work to do that I normally wouldn't have to do, like taking the bag from the shredder that's too full of paper and put half in a new bag, trying not to spill the shredded paper all over the floor, and taking the two bags downstairs and trying to find someone who can tell me where to put the bags and then be told it's not my job to take the bags downstairs and I should have left them up in the office to be picked up by the maintenance guy (although I won't understand why they call him a maintenance guy when all he does is clean stuff up, shouldn't he be called a janitor, that's what he does, after all) and when I ask if I should just take the stuff back upstairs I'll get an eye roll and a huge sigh and the bags taken from me and then as I ride the elevator back up I'll remember that I didn't put a bag into the shredder and I'll get back to the machine I find that some jackass closed the door without checking to see if there was a bag and after I open the door the shreddings go all over the place and I'll sigh and I'll pick up the paper bits and put them in the bag which I'll put in the shredder before going back to my desk to be given more work that I normally wouldn't have to do.

And now it's around 10:30. I've been playing that game I wrote about the other day. Honestly, it's not that great of a game after playing it for a couple of weeks, but it's a good distraction from all the stuff that I'm supposed to be doing right now.

I keep thinking that I should have called in sick today, but what good would that have done me. I'd just be sitting at my apartment in my underwear watching Star Trek. What a waste of a sick day. A sick day should be used when you're actually sick or when you're going to be doing something interesting. Like go to an amusement park or friends are visiting or sex is being had all day long or all three at the same time. Not to sit and watch TV.

About 366 days ago, things looked a little better. I described them as, "Right now my outlook is bright and bleak, sunny and stormy, half-full and half-empty; you choose the metaphor."

And then there's the fog here. I'm one of the few people I know who likes fog, but the fog here is weird. In the morning, as I walk to work, the fog is really high up. Visibility on the ground is nearly perfect. When I get to work and look out the windows on the fourth floor, the visibility is still nearly perfect, this is at 8 AM. By 10AM, the fog, from the fourth floor, is so think I can barely see the parking garage across the street. I don't know what it's like at ground level because I'm, usually, working. Around 11 AM sunlight starts streaming through. At noon, when I go on lunch, it's clear out. I miss the farmland fog that just seeps out of the ground and then sits there all day long.

I got a call last Thursday after four from one of the places I sent off to saying I was interested in an interview. The lady on the other end asked me if I could be in Cowcity for an interview the next morning at eight. I told her that it was too far away and not enough time to ask for the next morning off. She said don't worry about getting the morning off because they may not actually get to the interview until the afternoon. I said I was sorry, but couldn't make it because it was such a long drive and I needed notice to get the time off. She said not to worry because they have plenty of other candidates.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Untitled

I have... well, not much today.

Other people seem to have things on their minds that they put forth, but not me... well, not today, at least.

I just keep thinking about how much I want to get out of here. This job. This city. This state. This country. This ____. I don't really want to move on to the job I'm trying to move on to and I don't know if that city is the right place, either.

Then, as usual, the whole question becomes "What?" doesn't it? Because if I could just answer that "What?" it would, hopefully, give a direction to a where that could define the city, state, and country. And having all that figured out should lead to a ____, which could lead to so many other things.

Today is a day when I don't want to be me. It's a day when I'd like to try being this guy just to be not me for a while. Well, maybe not that guy, but, how did The Great Gonzo put it, "But most of all I wish that I was someone else but me."

Have you ever seen people like that? People who adjust all their mannerisms whenever a new person enters or leaves? People who speak differently at every occasion? Those people astound me. I have three settings: alone, comfortable with the people around me, and uncomfortable with the people around me.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

'Nother Game

To drive my brothers nuts.

Play it!

My high score, so far is 100681!

Too Long?

I went to get my hair cut yesterday.

I walked up to the barbershop, after driving across town, and saw an oldish man cutting the hair of another oldish man. Both had gray hair and were probably drafted into a war. I think Korea. I don't think either one was old enough to have been drafted for WWII.

Anyway, I opened the door and said, "Hi." and sat down on a chair.

"What's up?" asked the guy doing the cutting, giving me this nasty look.

"Um," I said, "can I just walk in, or do I need an appointment?"

"I don't cut long hair," said the guy.

"What?" I asked.

"I don't do long hair."

"Really?"

"I pretty much only do regular haircuts here," he said, showing the clippers to me.

"That's all I want," I said. "A regular haircut. Short. It's just gotten a little shaggy."

"Still," he said, "I don't cut long hair. You'll have to leave."

I left.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Car

Tomorrow (or today, for those of you reading this on Tuesday after midnight PST), I will be going to the DMV to register a different car in my name. My car (adventures found here) has hopefully been towed away to be auctioned off at a later date for a price I will be able to take off of my taxes next year.

Have I mentioned anything about changing cars here? I can't remember. I don't think I have.

What happened was that my parents offered to give me one of the cars that they have but rarely (*cough* never *cough*) drive, the Ford Aerostar. Pretty much the car I learned to drive in, which means I'll probably never think of it as mine, but that's okay. It's a stick. It gets okay mileage. It whines a bit in any gear but fourth. I've only driven it twice since I got it, but it doesn't make me think it's going to catch on fire on a trip for groceries.

Looking toward the long run, or at least as long as I ever do, I'm hoping that I'll only keep this car for a yearish and by then I'll have a different job that pays a little more and I'll be living in a different town and I'll have saved enough money to actually buy something nice-ish.

The List For 01-17-07

Powers #22
Girls #21
Wonder Woman #3
Ultimate X-Men #78
Justice League of America #5
Squadron Supreme: Hyperion vs. Nighthawk #1
52 #37
Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Space Between #1
The Helmet of Fate: Detective Chimp
Ultimate Vision #2
Green Arrow #70
Phonogram #4
Ultimate Spider-Man #104
Castle Waiting #4
Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #48
Justice Society of America #2
All Star Superman #6
Jack of Fables #6

Notes:

It seems like everything came in the mail this week, which makes so much stuff out of date, but so much good stuff anyway.

Powers #22
I haven't read this one yet. While I was re-reading the series (and noticing some connections to Marvel's Civil War) I discovered that I'm missing #19. Yeah, it's been a couple of weeks, but I forgot to pick it up last time I was at the shop.

Squadron Supreme: Hyperion vs. Nighthawk #1
I don't understand what's going on here. Is this mini supposed to explain how Nighthawk joins the team? He is on the team in Ultimate Power, right? I wish the powers over at Marvel had just put this in under the regular title. Why do we need it to be a separate mini?

Green Arrow #70
Am I the only person who's enjoying this book? I like how Winick took advantage of the one year jump and really changed the status quo in Star City. I also like that in this book he has a real outlet in both Green Arrow and Ollie to vent left-wing rhetoric. It seems a good fit. I only wish the art didn't grate on me like it does.

Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #48
*sigh* I like Aquaman, I really do, and I really want to like this title. I want it to be great. The problem is that the book isn't focusing on what I want to know about. I've given up on finding out the truth about Arthur/Orin, it doesn't really interest me now that I know he's the Dweller. What I want to know about is how the people of Poseidonis and Tritonis and all the other cities of Atlantis are dealing with the magic being stepped out of existence. And what's going on in Sub Diego? Is Lorena there defending the people?

Wonder Woman #3
I'm grabbing the first arc because I really want to like a Wonder Woman book. I want it to be good. I want it to be interesting. I want it full of great Greek mythology, not comicized mythology, Marvel has done enough of that, thank you. In the three issues here, I haven't seen any of that. I've seen a lot of whining, though. Maybe Nightwing can show up and he and Diana have a whine-a-thon.

Ultimate X-Men #78
Wow. So. Wait. What happened? Was it just me or did this issue seem like, except for the last couple of pages, a huge jumble of images that were thrown up in the air and picked out at random? The end was sort of a shocker, but since I actually read the solicits for a future issue, I knew what was going to happen. 'Course we all know it'll be undone because, as the regular universe titles have shown, you can't really have the X-Men with out the "X" man.

Is It Just Me?

Am I the only one having trouble with Heels's blog?

It's been coming up with a white page since last Thursday.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Manhunter 27

By Andreyko, Pina, and Riggs, according to the cover, for DC.

I'm to blame for Manhunter being cancelled. I never bought an issue before this one. And the only reason I bought this issue was because someone dressed in the Ted Kord Blue Beetle costume was on the cover and this person appeared on the last page of the issue.

For me, this whole issue was absurd. Why was Wonder Woman on trial for the death of Max Lord? Wasn't she exonerated? Why is this trial in the US? Wasn't Max killed in Switzerland? Shouldn't that be where the trial should be held? Why in LA? Wasn't Checkmate a federal agency? Shouldn't that place the venue in Washington? Why did Wonder Woman even decided to put herself through this? To show the world she's a good person?

I don't get it.

And I'm probably not the only one.

Anyway, Kate and Wonder Woman go to court. Everyone sees video of Wonder Woman snapping Max Lord's neck. Kate pulls some shenanigans to sneak her point into to jury's minds. Wonder Woman and Kate go out to eat and Kate tells Wonder Woman that it's all about the razzle dazzle, but with way less singing than Billy Flynn. They go back to court for more exposition. Eventually they exit the courthouse and Kate talks to the press on the steps and Blue Beetle drops down from the Bug.

I'm betting that this issue wasn't a good representative of the rest of the series, or maybe I really should have bought #26. The book was boring. Plot was advanced, but nothing seemed to happen. (And I'm a big fan of lawyer nonsense usually, but it didn't work well in this issue, or else I haven't spent enough time in front of a Grand Jury to see how accurate this issue was.)

I'll be picking up the next issue, if only to see Blue Beetle again. I may finish off the arc just to say I was there.

I'm interested in why this book has such a strong following. Anyone want to suggest issues that I should pick up to get a real taste of how the series was run?

Alphabet Meme

Like Jazz said, "Because I'm just too lazy to be original."

A=Available--For what? And probably, but I'll make an excuse to not do anything

B=Best Friend--Not at this moment.

C=Cake or Pie--Depends on the kind of cake and the kind of pie because I don't like some of either. And then it depends on whether I want frosting or filling. Unless the cake is an ice cream cake, then I get both!

D=Drink of Choice--Water.

E=Essential Item You Use Everyday--My butt.

F=Favourite Color--Blue, from so light it's practically white to so dark it's almost black.

G=Gummy Bears or Worms--Worms.

H=Hometown--Cowtown is where I grew up, although I do have memories of living places before that.

I=Indulgences--Books, Movies, TV shows on DVDs, and recently CDs.

J=January or February--I'll pick January because it's closer to my actual favorite month.

K=Kids and Names--Have none. Don't really want any right now. However, if I had a boy and a girl who were twins they'd be named Chlora and Phil.

L=Life Is Incomplete Without?--Air? Carbon? Water? Other elements and compounds found in all natural beings and living creatures so far known?

M=Marriage Date--I doubt I'll have one.

N=Number of Siblings--Two brothers. I'm not pointing the way to them, though, because they both seem fixated on MySpace and I don't want to encourage anything about MySpace if I can help it.

P=Phobias or Fears--Sometimes I think I'm agoraphobic or anthropophobic, but mostly I think people are idiots and I just don't want to be near them or places they are. I do have an irrational fear of knives. I can use them, but every time I look at one or pick one up I can feel it slicing into my finger down to the bone. I'm sure there are others, but that's the one I've been fixating on recently.

Q=Favourite Quote--"Never let your schoolin' interfere with your education."~attributed to Mark Twain, but who knows, really.

R=Reason to smile--Schadenfreude.

S=Season--Winter.

T=Tag 3 or 4 people--Thanks, no.

U=Unknown Fact About Me--I prefer mittens to gloves, but own neither.

V=Vegetable You Don't Like--I'm going to say beets, even though they're not.

W=Worst Habit--Apathy.

X=X-rays--Teeth, jaw in the panoramic vision, and lungs.

Y=Your Favorite Food--Whatever I'm eating at that moment.

Z=Zodiac Sign--Aries, but I don't think I fit the profile very well.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Tired

Been boxing files most of the day. Still feeling iffy and now very tired.

I have nothing interesting, right now, that I want to say. Can't think.

Can others out there help?

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Yuch-a

I think I'm getting sick. My stomach is still achy, my head is a bit spinney, and my skin is a bit prickly. I don't really want to be sick, since being sick is never any fun, but better now when I don't have any interviews than during a week that I do. Hope the rest of you are feelin' better than I am.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Mish and Mash, Both General

I'm sitting here, sucking of a fakegrape Life Saver trying hard not to concentrate on my queasy stomach. Have you ever dreamed about having an upset stomach an then had a queasy one when you woke up in the morning? I have. Just this morning, in fact. I think that it was the salad dressing I had last night. Does Zesty Italian dressing go bad? I don't think it's been open that long.
Monday was Martin Luther King, Jr Day, so I had the day off. Holidays like this leave me with mixed emotions. Yes, having a day off from work is nice, but is it the sort of think that Martin Luther King, Jr would have wanted? Would he have wanted us to celebrate his date of birth, after he died, of course, by sitting in our home listening to speeches he gave forty years ago or, even worse, going out just to buy things? It seems to me that the best way to celebrate him would be to actually do something about the rights of humans. Something that promotes an equality among people. Something more than what we normally do.

I don't know, though. I just sit around and thing about these things, I don't actually get up and do anything about it, but what are the chances that the minorities would accept a WASPy guy like me to try and lead the way to something, hopefully, better? Pretty slim, I'd say.

Did anyone else see that episode of Boondocks with Martin Luther King, Jr? In it, he wasn't killed he was just put into a coma for thirty years. He experienced September 11, 2001 and after that day he appeared on a show, much like Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect, and said that he didn't support the US invading Afghanistan or anywhere else. The audience turned on him because he continued to hold on to his pacifist beliefs. It was an unfortunate, but very true moment.
My parents came to visit over the weekend. It was nice. They brought me a car so I can get rid of my car and we had yummy French toast made by yours truly and we went to a movie and I showed them where I was hit by the cop car and took them by the parking garage where a guy was killed a few months ago (but I found that out just before Christmas, I thought he had just be seriously beaten) and other things.

We went to the Charles Schulz Museum. It's really close to where I live, but in the past year I hadn't visited before Sunday. I kept hoping that my brother would come and visit so I could go with him because, even though I know my parents appreciated and enjoyed the museum, my brother would have really been able to grok it.

Still, it was a good visit, with them and to the museum.

The List For 01-10-07

Civil War #6
Manhunter #27
52 #36
Runaways #23

Notes:
I didn't get my stuff in the mail on Friday or Saturday. I'm hoping it comes today, or at least by this Friday.

Runaways #23
I don't want to go all entitlement on this, but I wish that Joss Whedon would leave Runaways set in LA or some other city in the Marvel U. I like that they're the only super team around, it makes their work as superheroes and as people that much harder and more interesting. Also, it adds to there character that they can't just go out and wave down a hero on the street so they can learn a lesson by listening, rather than doing. Still, I'm going to be there reading the adventures of my favorite teen super team when the change happens. I just hope for a logical reason and not having Nico just say "We should move to New York because that's where all the other superheroes are and I bet we can learn a lot from them." If she does, I hope Molly hits her.

52 #36
So, I guess my hope of having Ray Terril being Supernova is gone. It must be the Atom, Ray Palmer. Although I'm sort of surprised that if it is Palmer he hasn't taken more interest in a kid using his technology. Ah, well, here's hoping Ralph Dibney isn't already dead and comes out of this book mostly intact and kicking ass in Opal City, since Infinite Crisis took out that city's main superhero.

Friday, January 12, 2007

Powers via Civil War

Way back in September, The Fortress of Soliloquy had this great post about how Marvel could have, and probably should have, set up Civil War to show reason for shifts in character personalities and the change in public opinion toward superheroes. He's absolutely right that to really show these changes things needed to be different. There needed to be something over time to show the major change in the public's opinion from cheering at television during the deadly antics of the X-Statix around the world to the loss of life caused by the New Warriors and that group of villains in Stamford. Maybe it did happen and I just missed it.

During the past eight months, I've had the nagging feeling that I've already read something that could have been the lead-up to Civil War, but just wasn't published by Marvel. Yes, people have compared the idea behind Civil War to Watchmen, but that's not where I found my lead-up. I found it in the first 37 issues of Powers.

Powers establishes a world where super humans have been around for at least as long as humanity. (For all I know, Bendis plans on revealing that there were super powered dinosaurs who have survived, hidden, for millions of years.) It was a world that loved its heroes. It cheered them. Lots of people wanted to have powers.

And slowly, everything changed.

Heroes started to get murdered. People associated with heroes started to get murdered. Heroes started going mad and killing people. And there was nothing that the police could do about it. Until it got so bad, so unbelievably violent that the only choice the people thought they had was to outlaw powers.

Specifics: Retro Girl was killed, shattering the illusion of invulnerability.
Kids pretending to be superheroes are killed, showing how dangerous wanting powers can be.
That whole Olympia debacle spreads from the shattering of illusions to a reason not to trust them.
Schizophrenic Boogie Girl goes on a rampage through the city and Walker tells the world that the government was behind everything.
And then comes the moment when the most powerful superhero in the world loses faith in the other heroes and in humanity and decided to take action by killing other heroes, killing the Pope, and pretty much destroying all of the West Bank.

Now that's the way to change a society from one that trust super-powered beings to one that doesn't. That, in my opinion, is how the lead-up to Civil War should have been done, could have been done. Of course, it takes time and planning, which would have been hard to do. (And delayed the series for a while so it never could have started just as Infinite Crisis ended and 52 started.)

Wasn't World War Hulk supposed to be the event of last year, but they delayed it to do the "Planet Hulk" and set up the company-wide cross over better? Wouldn't Civil War have made more sense if it had taken place after World War Hulk?

Who knows?

Earthquake Advertisement

See the earthquake that woke me up at 3:30 this morning!
Marvel at the colors on the map!
Wonder when the next will occur!
Believe that you can feel the earth under your feet!

Thursday, January 11, 2007

A Prayer

Oh Great Celery God, whose colossal leafy stalks leave all the other gods green with envy, but not as Green as You are, for You are the greener than the greenest of giants, be they jolly or surly.

Great Celery God, in the past week I have sacrificed many unbelieving stalk in Your name, Your Greatness:
For each of the sacrificed, I have performed the rite of the rinse and the removal of leaves and blemishes with the utmost care.
I doused many in the Butter of Peanuts, but with and without chunks, before sacrificing them between the enamel covered dentin, as is the ways You require.
A few of the unbelievers I covered with the white Cream of Cheese for variety because, as You have decreed, the Butter of Peanuts, while better than the Cream of Cheese, sticks to the roof of ones mouth and ones back teeth and much time has to be taken to produce enough saliva to remove the Butter of Peanuts from the roof and sometimes one must use ones finger to remove the Butter of Peanuts from ones back teeth because ones tongue is occasionally not firm enough, the Cream of Cheese does not require such effort.
The last of the unbelievers I chopped into bits and boiled in the broth of chicken, with chicken chunks and carrots and noodles in the shapes of spirals, to create a soup that may be worthy of Your stupendous flavor.

In doing all of this, Oh Leafy One, I ask that, in Your low calorie, high fiber wisdom, one of the many agencies that I have sent a response to call me soon to offer me a job interview which will lead to me getting out of this place where what little, compared to Your Glory, I am is slowly getting crushed.

In Your name, I go in peace and await Your answer.

Amen.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Puberty is Frightening

Especially if you're thrown into an isolation chamber and go through it all in a few minutes, as this animation shows.

via Table of Malcontents

The List For 01-04-07

Stan Lee Meets Silver Surfer
52 #35
newuniversal #2
Superman Confidential #3
Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #25
The Boys #7

Notes:
Nothing in the mail last week, so it was a small load.

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #25
Couldn't find #24 last week, I'll probably have to look elsewhere for it. Still, I saw how Mon-El returned, that was pretty nifty. And the "introduction" of Ranzz as a man with a mission who thinks he's doing good for the galaxy is nice. I wonder how he's going to screw it up. I mean he's Ranzz, he has to.

52 #35
Best week yet.

Superman Confidential #3
Art's nice, but the story's boring. The breathing in the lava thing in #2 was cool, but when are we going to get to the Kryptonite vs Superman? I don't care for the history of the Kryptonite on Earth. Does it really matter where it's been since it crashed? And is that a moutian with a giant key hole in it on page 12? At the north pole? I thought that Superman's fortress was in Antartica, where there are no polar bears.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Useless

Trying hard not to think about bad things. Thinking about the guy in the city smiling at people as they passed by who was masturbating through his pants. If he can be happy, can't anyone?

Friday, January 05, 2007

Avoiding Things

I've been avoiding work and thinking about my... *sigh* ...car by doing two things:
1) I visited craigslist.org and looked at apartment prices in Cowcity because, due to the overwhelming amount of mail I've received from that area, it's probably where I'll end up working. I've sent back six or seven forms saying that I'm interested in an interview and I hope that they come back soon. Even with The Supervisor leaving (And now, not only are they having a pizza luncheon two days before her last day, they're passing around a collection so we can buy her something. The collection was started TMSV who doesn't seem to realize that she no longer has to kiss The Supervisor's ass.) I'm ready to move on. There's no mobility here. None at all.

I bookmarked some sites of places that, online at least, seem desirable and fairly close to where I'll most likely be working, downtown. Rent there, even downtown, seems to be comparable or better than here. I saw a lot of 1 bedroom places going for between $600-$700 a month and I saw lots of 2 bedrooms up to $800. Right now I'm paying $750 for my lone bedroom, so it looks like the move may save me some money.

2) I ordered a whole lot of music. There goes a healthy chunk of the money I got for Christmas. Ah, well, it'll be nice having more music to listen to.

I honestly can't say that doing either thing was helpful, but I now have some things to look forward to.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #23

By Waid, Kitson, and Gray, according to the cover, for DC Comics

I've been, well, iffy about this whole new Legion of Super-Heroes since the beginning. I wasn't a huge Legion fan before the reboot, true, but I had recently become of fan of the Abnett and Lanning books. I missed out on Legion Lost (still don't have it) but I started with Legion Worlds because M'Onel (which is how he was known in that series) was on the cover. I knew him as the first person to be taken over by Eclipso in the Darkness Within cross-over, which I happen to like, and from the first issues of Valor, which I eventually had to drop due to being a poor kid and wanting the Justice League books more than anything else.

Anyway, Legion Worlds was my gateway into the Legion universe (Although, now that I think about it, my first real Legion exposure was in the Secret Origins issue about headquarters. It show the origin of the JLA cave the Titan Tower and the Legion clubhouse.) and I was hooked on DnA's Legion once that started. When it was gone I was sad and angry, but since I wasn't a long time Legionnaire I thought I could survive.

When the most recent reboot came I picked up the first issue with mixed emotions. To me, this was too much silver age Legion. Sure, there were some new things in there, but it was mostly trying to be about how much better people think the old stuff was. I was there through issue 12 or 13, I'm not sure which, and it was fun, but when I started reading rumors about Supergirl showing up and my favorite Legionnaire had sort of dropped out of the book and my second favorite hadn't made an appearance and knowing the the chances ever seeing Ras al Ghul were slim, I stopped picking it up.

Then came #23. (Yes, it came out a couple of months ago and I tried to ignore it because I don't want to support this new Supergirl, even if she is just a possible creation from Dream Girl's mind.) Here was the first appearance of my second favorite Legionnaire in this new continuity. I resisted and was just going to buy his first full appearance, but when it wasn't at my LCS last week, I had to buy it the first one I saw, which was this issue.

So, the issue: Supergirl wakes up under a red sun on what she thinks is on Krypton and all the Legion stuff was a dream. She's not, though, she's on some planet around a red sun in the formerly bottled city of Kandor and she's sad because she's still in a very lucid dream. On Earth there's some rooting through broken robots. (Did Robotica show up in this continuity?) Umbra clobbers her brother in a shadow so Kitson didn't have do draw the pounding on her home world, Talok III. There's a break in at a museum in Kandor and the Legion is blamed for it, even though they weren't there when the alarms went off and they got they're asses handed to them by the people who actually did the breaking in. And finally, on the last page, Mon-El (or M'Onel or Valor or whatever he's going by in this book, probably Mon-El, though, it fits in with the silver age themes better) shows up all ghostly, like he's trapped in the Phantom Zone, again. That boy just has to learn to stay away from lead and things that open doorways to the Phantom Zone.

Overall the issue was alright. I don't really understand what's going on with Supergirl and I'm not sure if I want to. (Although the completist in me wants to rush out and buy the issues I'm missing.) Once her name was put into the title, the focus was taken away from the Legion and put on her, as seen by how many pages she appears on compared to how many she doesn't. I would have rather had more Umbra story to learn more about her world. She has shadow powers, but the place she was fighting looked like a bright desert, did she take the shadow from her world? (And then there's the whole question about how Mikaal Tomas fits into this revamp, if he does at all.) That's what I want to know. Well, that and when Supergirl's going to leave so the focus will be on the Legion and not on her.

Still, when I stop off to buy my comics today, I'll be looking for #25 and #24 so I can get all of Mon-El's return.

Good News Tuesday

At about nine AM on Tuesday The Supervisor, with tears in her eyes, told the three of us who were here that January 12th would be her last day. My first thought was ding dong the witch is dead, but I didn't think that was the right time to say those words. I don't know if working here will get a lot more bearable, but I know I won't miss her hovering around our desks and rooting through our stuff. Starting on the 16th, SUSM will be handing out our work. I'm pretty sure she'll be more hands off.

Next Wednesday, apparently, were' having a "pizza party" for The Supervisor's good-bye. So, it looks like I'll be continuing my fight against SFS.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Why I Am Now Much More Afraid of My Car

Monday, New Year's Day, for those who care, I woke up, eightish again, with three things on my mind: 1) haircut 2) brownies and 3) pee. They weren't necessarily in that order. I think I thought of the brownies first, actually.

I rid myself of the thought of pee in the usual way, with a sigh of relief.

After washing my hands, I went to the tray of brownies to rid myself of that thought as well, but it branched off into another though: What if I scooped some ice cream on top of the brownies and ate the two things together? Somewhere deep in the dark pit that is occasionally my mind something screamed that it wasn't a good idea to eat the combined power of pure vanilla ice cream and moist brownies for breakfast. All of my taste buds and my stomach cheering for the sweets drown out that small voice, but I think there may have been the echo of a gunshot in there somewhere.

Brownies were quickly placed into a bowl and ice cream was carefully placed on top. (It was Breyers ice cream, for those who may be jealous. It was on sale last week.) I sat in front of the TV, turned on another episode of TNG and began to eat. At first I started out trying to eat the brownies and the ice cream in a way that brought them together, but still kept them separate, I didn't want my brownies to get soggy. Eventually, I got tired of that game (and my hand holding the bowl got cold) and I chopped and I mixed the two things together. It was wonderful. The only thing that could have made it better would have been some chocolate syrup, but I didn't have any of that.

Eventually, the bowl was empty and the episode had run its course and the only thought left in my brain was haircut.

As I showered, I considered the possible places I could have my tresses chopped. SuperCuts is obvious and easy and close by, but I don't like the place. They always try to sell me "product" (whatever that means) for my hair. I just want my damn hair cut. And no, I do not want to spend twenty dollars on a five ounce container of hair gel. Did I come in with gel in my hair? Do I look like to sort of guy who gives a damn about how his hair is "styled"? You don't need to try to make me feel bad because I don't have "in" hair. Does it make you feel better to make me feel worse so I'll buy some gel from this store? You don't even get a commission, do you? What do you want from me? You already have my DNA being swept up and processed so you can crack my personal genome so you can better market things to me. Why can't you leave me alone? I gave you my fifteen dollars and a tip for an only so-so haircut because you only know how to do the cuts from the posters and ripped magazine pages that are on the walls, but not a simple cut-it-pretty-short-but-leave-enough-on-top-for-me-to-play-with cut. Just stop it. Please, just take my money and leave me alone.

I thought a real barber would be a good idea, this time. There isn’t any downtown that I know of. Lots of places with "stylists," but no plain, simple barbers. Where to go, though? There are a couple over that way, but that's a lot of driving, and one by a laundromat, which is much closer. I choose the closer one, got dressed, and headed out the door.

I turned left instead of the usual right and decided instead of turning around I'd use the highways. It's about the same distance and I got to drive faster. After a few minutes of driving I pulled into the parking lot near the barbershop and pulled up in front of it. There was a clock that said they'd be back at 9:30. The clock in my car said 9:35. Then I saw a sign on the window. I parked my car and went to investigate. The barber wouldn't be back until Wednesday, as in today. I turned around to my car and saw smoke rising from under the hood.

I've known about the oil leak in my car since I bought it from my uncle and aunt. It's always been there just slowly dripping. It's the reason I check the oil in my car every time I drive more that 100 miles in a day, even if I just changed the oil the day before. I don't remember, though, the engine ever smoking. Even when I burned one up entirely (not because of the lack of oil, but because a water hose melted). I don't ever remember smelling burning oil before the last time my car died. After I got it back from the place and drove it from Cowtown to here, I noticed a burning oil smell when I'd come to a stop and I'd especially notice it when I'd stop and the heater was on. The more I drove it, the worse the smell got.

The Sunday before Christmas, after I met with a friend for coffee (she says Hi to those who she knows and she'd probably say Hi to those she doesn't since she's that kind of a person), I drove the windy road back to my parents. When I got there, I noticed smoke coming out from under the hood of my car and that the stink of burning oil was stronger. I popped the hood and looked. I grabbed my dad so he could look. We took of the spare tire (you'll remember where the damned spare tire is located from this post) and looked some more. All I saw was a dirty, dirty engine. We poked around a little. He got greasier than I did, but I figure why grab things in there if I don't know what they're for. We filled fluids. (It looked like the oil was empty so three (I think) quarts went in, but when we backed the car up to a more level position (the car was leaning forward, toward the dip-stick (not me this time)) it was over flowing, go figure.) We tightened hoses. My dad couldn't think of anything else to do.

After letting the car sit for a while, I took my mom up the hill so she could get bacon for broccoli salad for Christmas. (Mom, I forgot to tell you at Christmas and since I'm thinking of it now I'll put it here: some feta in the broccoli salad would be really good.) I could smell the burning oil. My mom could smell the burning oil. When we got back to their house, the engine was smoking, again. Dad's only suggestion was to clean the engine at the self-serve car wash place on Tuesday so we could get a better look at what's going on in there on a clean engine. So we did.

All it looked like, to me, was a wet, clean engine.

I drove my car back from Cowtown that Tuesday night. The whole time I was wondering how quickly I could get out of my car and grab the fire extinguisher if I needed to. I made it back safely and the car only smelled a little like burning oil. It probably didn't help that I had the window cracked almost the entire time, though.

That Wednesday, before I went to work, I popped the hood to take a look. All I saw was a dirty, dirty engine.

On Monday, I popped the hood and the car was smoking like it had that first time I noticed it happening before Christmas. The engine looked just as black. I have no idea where the leak is coming from. The whole time I drove my stinky car back to my apartment, by SuperCuts, which was closed for the day, I thought it was going to go up in flames for sure.

Will I be driving to the laundromat this weekend so I have clean underwear next week? Yeah, but I won't like it.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

What Did You Do For New Year's?

Woke up on Sunday some time after eight. But not too much after eight. That would have been too much like sleeping in and since when is Sunday a day a person who wants to sleep in can actually sleep in. At least when that person is me.

Ate some left over pot roast for breakfast, watched part of an episode from the final season (also the last I needed to complete my collection) of TNG, showered, and considered getting a haircut. What would it take? Where should I go? Why not just let it grow really long?

Instead of walking to the SuperCuts I played Zelda. (Not the new one. The one for the last Nintendo. I'm not even considering buying the new one until a) it goes on sale for a pretty reasonable price or b) there's a new Mario Cart released.) I played for a long time. If I actually told you how long, it would turn into an embarrassingly long time. That time was interspersed with me pacing around my apartment and reading comics (Powers, for those who may be interested. I finished all the issues of the first series I have/can find in my apartment and I'm ready to start on the second series.)

Made brownies as I watched the rest of the TNG episode. Played Zelda as the brownies baked and cooled. Ate some brownies after the cooling and started a new TNG. Saw the time and decided that I should make dinner. While watching the episode I grilled some cheese sandwiches. (I like the processed, fatty, salty, pre-sliced singles for my grilled cheese sandwiches. Can they still be called "grilled" if I don't use a grill to make them? It's more of a fried sandwich with cheese, isn't it?) Along with the cheese, the sandwiches also had tomato and ham.

By the time the sandwiches were ready, and I had covered the brownies in a thin plastic film to keep them from drying out, a new episode had started and I ate and watched and then wandered to the fridge for some root beer and then plopped back in front of the TV to eat and watch and drink.

When the episode was over, I shuffled my dishes off to the sink for a rinse and then set them on the counter (where they still sit) and headed off for my toothbrush, which I promptly used along with a healthy portion of toothpaste. As I brushed, I wandered around the apartment and thought about flossing and how I should have done it, but figured that missing one night out of the week wasn't so bad and besides I had flossed that morning because no matter how I cook it post roast is a bit stringy and gets caught between my teeth and isn't being expected to floss twice a day a bit overkill since, in the future, I'll be able to have bionic teeth that can bite through steel? As I spit and rinsed, I figured my teeth were safe for the time being.

I headed to my bed, climbed in and started reading comics. Around ten-thirty, I yawned a big yawn that made my eyes water so much I couldn't read the print anymore and decided that it was time to sleep. Lights off, I pulled the covers to under my chin and fell asleep a lot quicker than I normally do.

Sometime after midnight, I'm sure, I heard firecrackers going off. I didn't look at the time though, I didn't care. I rolled over, put my pillow on top of my head, and fell back to sleep.

It was pretty close to what I think of as the perfect New Year's.

Tomorrow, probably: I am now much more afraid of my car.

They'd Probably Say Rand, But I'd Rather Be Perrin

What Fantasy Archetype Are you?



The Unlikely Hero
You are the Unlikely Hero! Others like you are Frodo (Lord of The Rings), Young Aurthur (arthurian Legend), Luke Skywalker (Star Wars), Peter/Susan/Edmund/Lucy (Narnia), Richard Mayhew (Neverwhere), Harry Potter (Harry Potter) and Richard Cypher (Wizard's first Rule). You were happy to just live out your life as a peaceful schoolboy/farmer/wood's guide. But alas, greatness was thrust upon you. Don't let the hordes of The Totally Wicked Villain get you down, you have your Seasoned Veteran Friend to protect you and you almost always end up with the Pillar-of-Strength Love interest. Heed you Mentor well and keep your chin up, hero! You are simple, humble and kind but possess great potential for truly inspirational heroism, bravery and strength in dark times.
Take The Quiz Now!Quizzes by myYearbook.com

The List For 12-28-06

52 #34
Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #23
Connor Hawke: Dragon's Blood #2
Astonishing X-Men #19
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #13
1st Issue Special #12
Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #47
Ultimate Fantasic Four #37
Ultimate Spider-Man #103
Fables #56
Justice #9

Quick Notes:
A pretty good week. I didn't pick up much new stuff at the LCS, so I grabbed the first appearance of phantom Mon'El or M'Onel or Valor or whatever he's being called in this post crisis.

The 1st Issue Special was a Christmas gift from my brother. It's the first appearance (and last until Starman #4) or Mikaal Tomas in his v-neck tights and groovey sonic jewel on a gold chain. Awesome.

The Ultimate Spider-Man "revelation" about Peter's father I saw coming from the beginning of the arch. The Doc Ock stuff was great, though.

My hopes for Connor Hawke: Dragon's Blood have been high. The two issues have been okay, but not enough to meet my expectation. Although, I have been wondering if sex with a ghost is really sex?

The newest issue of 52 had the best ending yet.

I didn't get my copy of Justice League of America #5 in the mail with Justice, which also came out last week. I didn't see it at the LCS when I went there on Thursday. What happened? Am I the only person who didn't get it?