Relics

The site. Ah, yes. My creepy site. It's full of my rantings and ravings and personal creepery. I was browsing over the old rants yesterday and today. While some may have had a few funny moments, I really don't like who I was at that time. Some old jobs took me to some places I never care to revisit.

Recently, I went through quite a mix-up with my hosting site trying to renew my account. I would like to keep this going, altough I don't know where to take it. I have a few ideas- that is very time-consuming ideas. I'll at least give them a try.

What a terrible fit I was for retail. One need read no further than this very page to realize that I was not meant to be there. I think my number one goal each night back at Wal-Mart was to hang out and get paid. Sure this attitude is fine when you're a teenager, but man did I ever let customers get the better of me and I was much older. I used this section of my site as a way to vent my anger relating to the work day's various transactions. Looking back now, I seem more like the jerk than the person I was dealing with.

Time just devours everything. I am older than I've ever been. So many people have come and gone into my life in the past 5 years, it has a dizzying effect when I try to process it. I guess this rant section was always more for me to vent than anything else. That was how I coped at the time. I don't regret how I was back then. Looking back, it just feels good to know that I've changed my attitude.

I'd like to try and write a small blurb on this page and to do it more often. Hopefully, I'll have something more interesting to say and do than pause and reflect. Also, I'd like to apologize for my early attempts with wordy and flowery prose. Reading over old posts, I found so many facetious comments I forgot who I was.

So in closing, I'd like to say, enjoy the old rants for what they are and please don't judge me too harshly as I did to others at the time. I'd like to devote this future space to something a little bit more constructive. I think, like with many things I do, Halo will play a key role.

P. S. The Reach server was down yesterday and I played Halo 3 for a bit. I would not recommend it.

Mr. 4000

Tonight around 7:40, I finally hit Brigadier General on Halo 3, having reached 4000 experience points. I now hang my Halo hat up until the Reach Beta in April.

Cip Trip Round 3

So I was working on the Cip Trip Round 3 rant earlier and had some kind of catastrophe that ultimately resulted in losing the rant 3/4 of the way to completion. Anyway, I went through and resurrected some old rants earlier and I'm wanting to overhaul the site in some places because the fonts seem hard to read with the background.

On to the Cip Trip. Since my earlier rant was lost, I'll give the quick and dirty version. Two weeks ago Smith and I embarked across the midwest tundra to meet Cipollo in Indianapolis for the weekend.

Day 1

- Smith and I got caught in traffic for an hour and a half which doubles the length of the trip
- We pass the time watching Simpson's season 4, which is the best, having been mostly written by Conan O'Brien
- We eventually got moving and call Cip to ask which side of the exit the Days Inn is on. He replies he "got off to the right on the exit". I replied "most exits do work that way". I then asked again to which he said it was on the left. The exit was on the right.
- We get to the hotel and maul Cipollo. The hotel was pretty low on the list of places I've stayed but nothing will ever beat dirty Detroit.
- We catch up at Cracker Barrel
- We drive aimlessly trying to find something to do and eventually end up going to see Avatar in 3D
- According to Cip, he is not a movie person. However, he did manage to pass the time taking off and putting back on his 3D glasses, playing with the plastic bag they came in, and shaking the ice around in his drink. I found this whole experience quite enjoyable.
- Avatar was amazing to behold. The world itself was greater than the overall movie, which was fairly predictable although still enjoyable.
- After the movie, we braved the snow back to a bar we passed, "Ale Imporium". We grabbed a few beers and hung out
- We made one more stop at a nearby liquor store where Cip purchased a crucial Playboy and Justin a six pack. I bought some jerky and Cip talked to the owners about obscure college sports players.
- Not having a bottle opener at the hotel, we had to improvise, using the slot for the door chain as a makeshift bottle opener. The next day Cip revealed he had one the whole time.

Day 2

- We left for the Omni, a hotel I stayed at a marching band trip 13 years ago. It is quite luxurious and glorious.
- For lunch we went to Alcatraz Brewery, a restaurant and micro-brewery I had wanted to go to for quite some time. I had one of the best burgers I've ever had. Justin got a beer sampler. The beers were amazing. The food portions were huge. Cip probably ate only a fourth of his Calzone.
- I think at this point we left to get tickets for the Wright State vs. Butler men's basketball game as Cipollo was in a panic about it selling out.
- Google maps failed us again as just like earlier in the day, we were lost within a mile from our destination.
- We made it to Butler and were jokingly told our tickets would be $50 instead of $25 since we were Wright State alumni. Cip inquired if the game would sell out. The ticket seller replied, "No. It won't sell out, but it will be a big game." Most would think this would end Cip's obsession with the game selling out but I heard him mention it at least once more later.
- At this point we went headed toward the magnificient Circle Centre Mall in search of some swim trunks for the pool hotel and to hang out for a bit.
- At GameWorks, I was pleasantly to surprised to find Mario Kart Arcade, the best arcade of all time (yes even better than any Turtles, Simpson's, or any other Konami great).
- I found my GameWorks card from the arcade in Newport and swiped it only to have an error. I went to the desk to add $5 and was told it might not work since it was from another GW. To my surprise the card had about $25 worth of credits on it! Either this was leftover from last time or there was an error. Either way we played a shitload of Mario Kart. Cip won a few races, even besting me. That jerkface.
- Finding that the only few swim trunks in the mall were $50 or $60, we abandoned our search and headed back to the hotel so Cip and Smith could swim. They decided to wear Omni robes down to the pool:

- I stayed in the room and watched TV until they got back
- I can't remember if we ate dinner or what here but on to the game:
- Upon finding that our seats sucked, we move across to the Wright State student section. Since it was pretty vacant we sat down. We took our seats only to be joined by 100 Wright State kids who along with some douche wearing a Kentucky jersey competed for the coveted title of who could be the most annoying.

- The asshole in the Kentucky jersey literally circled the entire arena heckling Wright State fans including Smith and finally after the 4th time was kicked out. The streak of enormous pukes at sporting events is still intact and this jerk took the crown.
- Wright State ended up losing despite having a good second half. Right around here the douche in the Kentucky jersey made his final appearance.
- After the game we went back to the hotel.

Day 3

- We ate the most expensive breakfast I've ever had at the hotel at a whopping $20. Smith put the buffet to work but I tapped out pretty early. Cip was confused by a lady's comment to him about being from Kansas since he was wearing his Royal's jersy. Apparently someone else asked why he was wearing it and he stated "Oh, it's pretty much just a joke." The person was from somewhere near Kansas City so I'm sure they loved that. After telling Cipollo wearing a Royals jersey isn't a joke. He replied with a firm "Yes it is". Somehow his face was not smacked off.

- We got ready to go; Smith and I bringing his car around front with Cip behind us. We pulled across the street to in front of the hotel just as we had several times already on the trip. If someone could get lost in that short of a distance, it would be Cip. Justin and I went up to the room and were stunned Cip had not come back up yet. After calling him once, Cip called back furious shouting "You guys should've waited for me, man. You guys shouldn't have left." I asked how he could get lost when all he had to do was go across the street like we had 5 or 6 times already on the trip but it was to no avail. Smith and I then began playing the world's coolest new game, "Direct Mike Cipollo from our hotel room window". Finally we spotted his car and with Smith on the phone, he got in front of the hotel. Justin carried his things down to the car and I waited to let Cip in, having turned in our keys.

- Cip finally showed up and I headed down.
- Justin's tire on his car meanwhile looked in desperate need of air. With no Cipollo near and no engineer, Smith became quite upset at the developing situation.
- Cip finally showed up and stood by his car being a Cipollo for too long. "What the hell is he doing?" Smith shouted. "Doing what he does best. Being a Cipollo," I replied.
- Justin and I departed with Cip behind us to get air. Passing all signs for the highway, Cip followed us to the gas station.
- Justin filled his tire with air and we bid farewell to Cip who stated "he needed to get gas"
- After biting his face off once again, we left for Ohio and made it home in good time.

This Cip trip was pretty good. Although, Cip's friend screwed us over pretty well, having said he had bought tickets for the 4 of us. This asshole not only didn't buy the tickets, but never showed up for the entire trip! This kept us from inviting more people. Hopefully, we'll be able to top this trip again soon and bring more people like your Guilds, Kammers, Dorns, and what have you. Until then, Peace yo.

Funny How Time Flies

Hey. What's up? It looks like I'm just a few weeks short of a year since the last update. Apparently I forgot I had a site. I guess it was good to take a long break after I wrote whatever the hell the last post is supposed to be.

Quite a bit has happened in a year. I started working at King Kold back in March on top of Pepsi and for 3 months, worked my ass off. I think the high (low?) point was when I hit 61 hours between both jobs over Memorial Day. Definitely not something I'd ever care to repeat. The payoff however, was substantial.

Not wanting to go through another 4th of July week at Pepsi, let alone working two jobs, I gave my 1 day notice to Old Man Pepsi and never looked back. I remain at King Kold where I have been for the past 5 months. King Kold has that sense of completion at the end of the day unlike Pepsi which never stopped. All the gang is there as well: former Marion's colleagues and a Smith or two.

I've been playing Guitar Hero 5 and am looking forward to Halo 3: ODST to finally set things right. Ghostbusters on 360 was quite the game as well. There are way too many games I need to get this year. Normally, I'll buy 2-3 in any given year, but this years explosion of good games is just too hard to ignore. Good times albeit a bit painful on the ol' wallet.

Right now I've got the Tears for Fears hit "Head Over Heels" stuck in my head. The last line is the title of this rant. Check it out.

Perhaps some updates are in order on this site. We'll see...

2 Nice Work Days in a Row?

A rarity in the Pepsi universe. I was magically whisked away to a world of empty back rooms and slow sales. I couldn’t believe it tonight. It was a Pepsi merchandiser’s dream. In place of hauling palettes full of Pepsi, much like the Egyptians built the pyramids, there were a few cartfulls here and there and that was all she wrote.

Lipton has its Red Tea out now. I’m not a tea drinker, but this was the best damn tea I have ever had. It’s blueberry-pomegranate which sounds weird but don’t let that scare you. It was absolutely delicious. Much unlike a precarious burger I had the other day...

I may have to settle down this online shop binging. I’ve bought about ten t-shirts and a good pair of shoes. Great stuff though. It’s fun to shop from home. 80stees.com doesn’t even charge shipping to Ohio! Noises Alou.

Tomorrow, the Pops and I will deal with my car situation. I need to get a new rim, tire, and some wheel covers. My car has stayed in its ghettoed state for too long. Poor creep.

I watched 2 more episodes of 6 Feet Under and Eberhart’s streak is intact. Damn good show. Now if only Dexter season 3 and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia season 4 would surface. Screw Nip/Tuck. That show fell off a cliff.

Free

Well, I've had a bit of a blast at the ol' hospital the past week. It started out with insanely high fevers and progressed to even higher insanely high fevers. The record stands at 104 degrees Farenheit. Yeah. Try it some time. It's pretty fun.

The ailments of said fevers were extreme headache, muscle pain, and throwing up like it was retro, to name a few. I spent the better part of a week in and out of the hospital much like in November when I succumbed to what is known in the business as "a Chron's flare-up". This most recent instance seemed similar aside from the delusional fevers. During these thresholds of hot, I have fond memories of ranting like a drunk person, quoting movies, and mimicking my dad's voice. Also add to all of this, the feelings of being really drunk without any of the fun parts. So not a whole lot different from my day-to-day activities. Just really, really, really hot.

The doctors could never fully discern whether it was another flare-up or if it was some virus. Either way, I'm glad to be back in the world of flavorful food and restful places. Contrary to popular belief, a hospital is not a restful place. There are endless random hospital noises and people coming in to check vitals, poke you with needles, extract and inject fluids, feed you medicine, and other bothersome nuisances including the idiotically high-pitched screechy heat pipe that kicked in every two hours beginning at 2 AM.

Right now, I'm feeling pretty good. I went back to work for the first time in over a week and it was suspiciously easy. I visited some foreign grocery stores and somewhere in between embarked upon a burger I'll never forget:

I had a Steakhouse Burger from the Burger King while on my route today. I never remember something starting out so delicious and getting so gross so fast. Imagine this burger scenario: burger, cheese?, bacon, scallions, barbecue sauce, southwestern sauce, and get ready... mashed potatoes?! WTF? I didn't see that in the drive-thru picture. Still I recommend this experience so you can regale your feelings about what happens when you shove a plateful of Southwestern cuisine between a bun and some beef. What a weird idea. Well back to the story...

Stocking shelves for Pepsi seems alluring while being cooped up in a hospital bed all week. It's good to be back out. I do however plan to choke on these words tomorrow. I now plan to watch Six Feet Under for the first time, as Eberhart recommends. Let's see if he can keep his good movie/TV show streak alive.

Pepsi, Halo, Life

Damn. Has it been 3 months already? Guess so. Since my last post, I've been working at Pepsi as a merchandiser. This means I get to do all the fun things like stock shelves and "condense" the backroom. Also I get to use the walker-stacker as it is affectionately referred to, to stack up and stack down precariously perched Pepsi palettes. This ranges from being mundane to downright terrifying depending on what the last guy was doing. I've had a few explosions along with plenty of near-misses.

All in all, it's not a bad job, it pays well, although at times it downright sucks. I could do without shifts that began at times in the morning that on other days, I'm nearly still up at. It is by far the most physically demanding job I have had as well, but I'm getting pretty buff pumping all those 2-liter cases and 24 packs. Ultimately I continue to look for work applicable to my degree but we've heard that story here before. With my federal return in the bank today, some changes may actually come to light as I may start taking classes at Sinclair as well as looking into moving out.

In the world of Halo, I hit my 10,000th Halo 2 Xbox Live matchmade game a little while back. I was planning on having a huge bash to celebrate. I need to get that set up now that the weather bears a resemblance of Spring and Ohio is no longer tundra. I'll keep everyone posted on when and where this epic event will go down.

That's the overall problem here. Life needs a little more epicness. I used to hang out every night and have some glorious weekends. Let's get back on that people. I demand daily Jungle Jim's trips and Reds games! Get off your asses!

Redsfest and a Return to Wal-Mart?

That's right, kids. It's that time of year again. It's time to re-enter the world of wage-earning once again. While at Redsfest, I received a call for an interview tomorrow and it finally sounds promising. Thank God. In response to this joyous occasion, here is my going away letter, which will lose some emphasis now, but all in all, makes for a good read.

While at Redsfest we had quite a time. I got autographs from Homer Bailey and Bronson Arroyo, bought some inexpensive hats and a Griffey jersey, and had my picture taken with Marty and Thom Brennaman, Jeff Brantley, and Brandon Phillips. Also, we watched serval Q&A sessions with Valentin, Arroyo, Phillips, Harang, Coffey, Marty, and Dusty Baker. I'm Glad Dusty is the new manager. He seems committed and down to earth. A lot of reds walked past us. Aaron Harang snuck right by me. So did Marcus McBeth and Todd Coffey about 3 times. It was a good trip. Brandon, Krystel, and I stayed at the Hyatt. The hotel was great and had an amazing restaurant and importantly was right across the street from Redsfest. Hope you enjoy the creepery update. I'll keep you posted on things to come. Later on.

Random Creepery:
Now with content on every page!

Well as the headline reads, the site now has content on all of the main pages. I'm glad to be finished with the hefty project and will update a few things here and there. The glossary is finished along with the photo page. Be sure to check 'em out.

I went to Nick's annual Wal-Mart Christmas party last night. This was my first year as an outsider. It was a good time and it was great seeing everyone again. Brandon showed off his newly developed bartending skills and I look forward to many more great alcoholic beverages in the future. Good times were had by all. Creep you later.

I'm Back

Where oh where to begin? My last update was 6 months ago. To say quite a lot has happened since then is an understatement. Obviously, I have shed the site of it's former blog to answer the question to the last post. I think it's much better this way. Why did I do it you ask? Well most of the reason was after a while I really didn't care about anyone's damn comments. Having them left me prone to spam and taunts from Internet enemies. And while some creative works came out of the comments, I just got tired of dealing with them. This isn't to say they'll never return just that for now, it's definitely not something I want to deal with. Also, I've only brought back the blog postings that seem interesting or worthwhile rather than the whole thing. I think this will keep things a little more neat.

Now begins the retelling of the past 6 months of my life. I finally did get out of Wal-Mart. I was a "Web Design Engineer at a small company where Satan himself found time in his busy schedule to spearhead the chain of command. I've got a message for everyone, there are worse places and people than those of Wal-Mart. For all the bitching I did about Wal-Mart, it really isn't that bad. In fact I've spent a good month trying to get my old job back as my asshole of a former boss let me go due to his own ignorance and stupidity. Never in my life have I had so much contempt for one person as I do for him. Unless I get my job back at the photo lab, this human waste of space has cost me not 1 but 2 jobs. But I digress. If I went on I could write a series of books about the job situation there that would rival Encyclopedia Britannica in volume.

Back in June (prior to my start at the company) Justin and I went to San Diego on vacation and to catch the series of baseball games between the Padres and Red Sox. It was a fun 1 1/2 days. I had a great time, the flight was fun, the first game was great. Then came day 2 and the seductive California sun. It'll sneak up on you like a ninja in the night. The sunburn was the worst I have ever experienced and only recent sickness was worse. Don't get me wrong though. I had a fun 1 1/2 days as I said. It was a 3 day trip. I bought some cool Padres gear although in the future, I'll be sure not to drink before I go to the club store.

So upon coming back from the trip, I recovered from the terrible sunburn and began the new job which I mentioned earlier. I was fired back in September and since have been looking for a new job or re-employment at the Mart. Somewhere in there, Justin, Dorn, Dorn's girlfriend, and me went to Detroit to see Mae. This was a good trip. Detroit is dirty as hell but sneaking on to the roof of a skyscraper made up for it. The show was amazing as always and we met the members of the band and got autographs afterward. Dave Elkins, the lead singer even made a reassuring phone call to Shetler to get him motivated and back into the band again. This made for a glorious 2-part cell phone message.

Halo 3 came out and I was fired the next day. At the time it was convenient as I could finish the campaign and bask in its gloriousness. Since the firing, I've been biding my time playing the glorious Halo 3 which is so much better than Halo 2. Additionally, I've applied to almost every company on God's green Earth and even had a few interviews. However, I need some source of income very soon as the ol' bank account is dwindling.

Earlier this month, I had what is know as a "Chron's flare-up" and spent 5 days in Grandview Hospital. This was quite an unpleasant time, but I am much better now. More so than I was before I got sick. Now I'm obsessed with eating, as the steroids I'm on for Chron's just make me want to eat and do nothing else. Yesterday this came in handy as Justin and I demolished some of the best food B Dub's had to offer.

I have a few shows to look forward to, Mae in December and the Toads and Mice CD release tomorrow. With TV shows, I love It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and can't wait for next season. Nip/Tuck seems pretty stale this season. Right now I'm watching Dexter which is as creepy as it is amazing.

I've added a new song, Matt Shetler Went Down to Dayton, which is loosely based on the time I put up my sole in a bet that the Superman Returns trailer would play during X-Men: Last Stand. In reality, it did not and only recently was Matt kind enough to sign my soul back over to me. The song's focus is a Halo challenge of course. I think Kylie said it best when she said "it's not really a song about you battling Matt. It just seems like an excuse to sing about Halo." This comment was even better because we were talking about my abundance of Halo songs right before she came back into the room.

As far as the site is concerned, I've been giving it a major face-lift with the PhotoShop I picked up from the web design job (one of the few good memories I have of that place). You'll notice things look better and I will try to get the content where it needs to be. Be sure to check out the site and watch as I close in on 10,000 games in Halo 2. I'll keep updating and keep you posted on what's going on right here on Random Creepery. God bless.

May 23rd, 2007

Do I still want a blog?

So the month of April saw no entries from yours truly. Most of May has passed until this point without one.  I may do away with the blog format and go back to my random musings about this and that without comments, hence without a blog.

It's not that nothing has been going on with me, believe me it has. I have grown lethargic and apathetic these days.  I've been caught in the dangerous trap that is working full time at Wal-Mart. It doesn't help that the Halo 3 Beta has been released and is available until June 10th. Anyone reading this who hasn't checked it out yet should do so immediately.  Truly the best Halo yet, however not completely without its flaws.

Thankfully, I will take a break from the rut I'm in and take a trip to San Diego over my birthday which is only a month away now. Damn 2007 you are rolling along like the little Red wagon (a phrase we don't hear much these days since the Reds are the proud owners of the worst record in the national league, but hey some of us love 'em anyway).  Griffey's doing awesome. Freel is making idiotically great plays and getting some clutch hits.  I've been to 2 games this year, both of which were good albeit one a loss.

I'm looking forward to my vacation.  It's bizarre to think I will be paid for it.  I've never had any paid vacation anywhere else I've worked at.  The Padres playing the Red Sox will be the glorious.  I've never seen an entire series, let alone 3 games in a row.  It'll be nice to see 2 teams face each other without a bias like when I watch the Reds.  Good times.

Also work continues apace on my resume.  Once I get the whole Wright State user ID debacle cleared up, I'll have it posted on Wright Search where I should get some hits from prospective employers.  Gotta leave the W. For God sake. Tonight was beautifully smooth. However I was dashed against some seriously sharp rocks last night. I don't choose to elaborate in my rants anymore about said experiences.  I thinks it's best to not relive it and in the words of the great but not-so-great David Crockett, "You gotta keep work at work.  Once I go home, I'm not thinking about work anymore."

Well gang that about wraps things up but there's just one more thing: who really was the werewolf? (Gasp!) Why it was old man Caruthers! I never would have guessed that!

Is Something the Ladder?

For God's sake.  I thought I swore off rants about work-related incidents.  However, today I was presented with something that could not go unchecked and not reiterated.

Today at work I noticed I was assigned the menial chore of dusting off the signing for the photo lab.  Basically this consisted of going back to get a ladder and using the duster to clean the signs which are suspened about twelve feet off the ground and list some of our photo services and their respective prices in a 500 point font. 

So I'm dusting away humming some Phil Collins song that was stuck in my head at the time and Brandon's on the floor doing pretty much the same thing.  Roughly five minutes pass by as I dust the double-sided land mass.  Then, the barrage of idiots started shouting things in every direction.  I cringed as I heard the obligitory "You can come to my house and clean when you're done" eminate from some batty old woman who was accompanied by her husband, the battery aficionado.  (A side note I don't what the hell it is with old men and batteries recently, but holy crap has it become annoying, but that's another story.)

There was some incomprehensible dialogue among the couple and Brandon and I think I said something stupid like "Understood" to the housecleaning comment.  Later I discovered that the conversation was:

Old man or woman: "Let's ask him about it." (points to Brandon)
Whichever of the two didn't make the first statement: "No.  He looks busy."

So what do they do? Proceed to shout battery-related questions at me from a story below.  I think at that point I was trying to get some loose signing back in place as the melvins continued shouting about how much the clearly labeled batteries were.  Irritated, I shouted for Brandon to do a price check while I tried to finish the remaining 15 seconds of dusting I had left to do.

Apparently I had the "Leave me the hell alone" sign around my neck flipped backwards to "Anyone and everyone:  please direct all questions and concerns to me for the next 3 minutes". 

"Where are bedsheets?"
"Down the aisle straight and on your right," I replied pointing to illustrate my point. (an unintentional pun.  Glorious.)

Same exact question.  Different person.
Same answer.

And the of course, your standard, tried and true, I-should-invent-a-drinking-game-to-take-a-shot- whenever-anyone-says-this:

"Which aisle is the printer ink on?"

Finally not to be outdone, a co-worker chimed in.

"You having fun up there Bill?"

This just happens to be my absolute favorite question in the world anyway.  I'm glad someone was there to nail that one home in a time of great annoyance.

Finally the smoke had cleared and I hopped off my mount back onto solid ground.  I wasn't off the hook yet though, as Captain Battery Man and Incredibly Annoying Old Bag were back on the scene.  They fired away again as I awkwardly tried to position the ladder against something after being stopped midflight.

"Which of these batteries is better?"
"They'll last about the same amount of time.  There's nothing special about either one."
"Oh yes there is!" shouted Captain Battery as he triumphantly unfolded a cut-out newspaper article.
"These are only available at Wal-Mart!" he beamed.

I wondered in my head if he loved said batteries so, then why did he need affirmation from someone who clearly seemed less informed on the subject? I mean I did attend that battery course at the illustrious UC campus under the suggestion of a previous weirdo customer, but that didn't last after I flunked the final, thinking a "single A" battery existed.  What a fool I was for putting down that answer.

New Year. Same Old Creep.

So it's a new year, I'm a little wiser, I'm a little creepier.  Let me give you a rundown on what's new in the world of creepery:

I went to full time at the Werm-ert.  Work has an odd feel to it now.  The rush of the holidays has come and gone.  It is different to work 5 days straight then have actual weekends off! I've worked just about every weekend since the dawn of time.  Days with Jason and Nick are also less frequent which is equally new just like having weekends off.  Andrew and I will become best pals as we work all the same days and Brandon and Krystel will make part-time cameos here and there.  Moreover, I've finally settled back into my photo lab grove and washed of any remaining connection center residue.

The job hunt continues.  I still have yet to hear back from Reynolds and Reynolds. I will keep you posted on that and if any other leads develop.

This past weekend, I went to two Simply Waiting shows. One was in Dayton in some ghettoed out burg.  The show went well and the two new members seem to be doing pretty well.  However on the way out I was accosted by a roaming band of creeps.  After recruiting the boys of SW to aid me in thwarting their panhandling/robbing/murderous intentions, I was free to recollect the incident to people who weren't there.  Not much to list though, basically something about being out of gas, an "eight-year-old" baby girl, and a solemn swear that they "weren't no robber or anything".  I guess I cheated death that night.

The next day, I slept quite a bit then got ready to meet up with them ol' SW boys and go round 2, this time in Carmel, Indiana.  This was a much better and safer venue (a youth gathering type place) and the show had better sound to it.  Afterward, we went to Applebee's for some much needed bashing that unfortunately was a little disappointing after we became full too quickly.  On the way home, I talked to Guild (who was driving the band van) for a solid two hours, catching up and blathering on about anything and everything to keep him up and keep me from being bored.  Everyone else had fallen asleep.

Then came New Year's:  another epic blow out.  The party was at the Shetler's.  It started out innocently enough, a little remote-controlled blimp piloting here, the ocassional drink there.  Then everyone seemed to be hammered.  Matt, I believe was for the first time.  His bottomless stomach was finally defeated.  Others however had much, much more to drink resulting in a literal pile of puke on the floor (now more than just a phrase to call a creep).  The sight was truly apalling to say the least.  I however, remained right on the verge.  It's good to be drunk enough to remember last night's adventures the next day and not get sick.  You gotta find the perfect balance. 

All in all though, a good party.  I bit Smith, creeped out with Andrea, and got the biggest bruise I have ever received on my shoulder from Justin.  Apparently kicking him in the balls was not a good idea, regardless of how it sounded at the time.

Today I got my new monitor right after I got off work.  The beast measures in at 19" and replaced the old dinosaur I had growling around the desk.  I am looking at words being generated by my fingers on it right now.  Glorious.

Very soon, I will get the TV repaired and begin work on my next Mario Paint piece, which I must keep under wraps for the moment.  Until next time keep on creepin' on in 2007.

Wii came. Wii saw. Wii conquered.

So granted this post is a several days overdue, but I'm a sloth.  After 9 hours of work, I opted to get in line for 6 more hours at Wal-Mart to get the Wii.  I sent Brandon to spot for me in line until I got off and then could take over.  As expected, some of the area's biggest creeps were there.  Most everyone was ok but had that 12-year-old "holy shit, the Wii's out!" spazz feel to them (some of them were 12 after all).  I tried to restrain myself.

I actually saw someone I used to hang out with back in junior high strangely enough and talked to him for a bit.  Krystel was there also waiting to get a Wii for Brandon.  At one point someone had Domino's delivered and there was plently of food at our disposal.  Being in Wal-Mart waiting for a system is probably about the best place you could wait.  There was plenty of room in lawn and garden and if you needed a snack, you had the whole store to find it in.

I've never seen so many Nintendo DS's in one place.  We were actually able to get 8-player Mario Kart going so that there were no computer opponents.  It was really fun to play with 8 people and I can only hope that the eventual Mario Kart Wii (which had better be the arcade version) will support that as well.

Most of the time spent waiting was uneventful save a near-fight between some damned wiiener kid and someone's mom after the little jerk dropped the n-bomb.  Later on the same prick kept razzing some kid about some Sponge Bob thing he had, calling him a faggot in front of his own mom and the kid's mom.  Three minutes into this, said mom actually remembered she had some puke pile resembling a son and finally told him to shut up.  Way to pay attention and raise a complete ass.

Otherwise, everything else was ok.  Krystel and I finally put our Wii's in layaway and met Brandon and Dwayne to go back to my house and play Dwayne's on my TV.  Playing games on the Wii is very different than any other console.  The controller can do just about anything including making you a sandwich.  Wii sports is fun, since motions like swinging a bat and boxing seem pretty much the same in the game as in real life.  The new Zelda looks phenomenal as well.  I will soon be reunited with both sometime before the 8th.

I highly recommend getting a Wii, or at least play it at a friend's house.  I don't think anyone out there could not like it.

Stupidity Rears its Ugly Head

So once again, my comments on various sites have been dissected by the comment grader that is Nate Valentine.  Now I could rant on here or I could make a rap about it with Clark Griswold.  Yeah that should work. Nate Valentine's Day Massacre

Halo-ween

WRG Up

The Hunt for Mike Cipollo

Justin, Kammer, and myself returned from the Cipollo trip about an hour ago.  The trip was quite epic in nature and involved an assload of driving (especially on my part, having volunteered). 

The trip began on Friday at 4.  I picked up the two aforementioned creeps and we headed out to eventually meet the man, himself, Cipollo.  The drive down had its moments and as soon as I remember one I'll throw it in here.  Once we filled up on gas, nothing but Cipollo's shift at Target stood in the way of us and the eventual bloodbath that would ensue upon his arrival.

Our initial reuniting with Cip didn't go exactly according to plan, but was somewhat close to what I had envisioned.  Cipollo got out of his car completely unnoticed by everyone save Kammer and casually strolled his Cipollo stroll on the way into BW3's, the agreed upon meeting place.  I was preoccupied with my phone and Justin was asleep, but as soon as the words "There's Cipollo. Right there!" had escaped Kammer's mouth, I bolted out to maul Cipollo as Justin struggled to get his shoes on and join the rest of us in the violent greeting we had stored up for Cipollo.

Us Daytonians had already ate, but we went back in after meeting up with Cipollo.  Once back inside, Cipollo bought us a round of B 52 bombers and we partook in some additional drinking.  Finally, we all paid once again and were ready to head to the luxurious Cipollo Estate.

At Cipollo's house, his parents were already asleep, so aside from Justin, we had to wait until tomorrow to meet them.  Our minds turned to the topic at hand, building this creep a myspace page.  Cip already had an existing page, but now, he has something to be proud of thanks to my handiwork along with some assistance from Justin.

Somewhere in the course of building Cipollo's myspace, I believe I heard him say one of the funniest things I had ever heard him (or anyone) say.  It wouldn't have been funny if taken out of context, but for the situation, it was absolute gold. 

The scenario:

Justin, Cipollo, and I are working on his page in Mr. Cipollo's office and Kammer is trying to sleep on the floor.  I was taking a few creative liberties with some of the content on Cipollo's page.  Now several minutes earlier, we had been a little loud, but nothing to be concerned about as far as waking anyone up and currently we were maintaining a very low roar.  I had probably said something like "Cipollo, just let us keep this in your profile," and Justin had agreed, when Cipollo replied "You guys are being kinda loud". 

I completely lost it.  That's the best Cipollo statement: the one that doesn't really have any application to what's just been stated by someone else.  I was in tears laughing along with Justin, just because it didn't pertain to anything that had just happened. 

So we wrapped up the myspace event and headed up to the top floor of Cipollo's castle to the bedrooms.  Unfortunately two of us would have to share a bed unless someone were to sleep on the floor.  After driving for about 6 straight hours, that was not an option for me.  So Justin and I took one room and Kammer the other, with Cip in his own room.  When we discovered that Kammer's room had a bigger bed, Justin and I switched with Kammer, much to his dismay.  Why he was mad, I'll never know, but as he left the room I asked, "Isn't this your hat over here?". He replied, "I don't give a fuck.  I'll get it tomorrow," and slammed the door.

The next day, Saturday, was the big day.  This day would see the four of us pay a visit to the Anheuser-Busch plant, attend a Kansas City Royals game at Kauffman Stadium, and visit the Glaser house my family lived in for a year (excluding myself, having just been born at the tail end of our stay). 

The day began with Justin waking me up unintentionally by getting ready.  Then Kammer Kamm in (came in) and annoyed the shit out of me for what seemed like a good half hour like a jackass while I tried to steal some more sleep that I did not get during the night.

After I got ready, I made my way downstairs to join everyone else and meet Mr. and Mrs. Cipollo.  The Cipollos were very hospitable and friendly.  They had purchased us donuts and we had a nice breakfast, while Mike talked to his parents about what we were doing for the day.

After saying good-bye to his parents just as soon as we had met, we headed for the Anheuser-Busch plant, which was only about 10 minutes away.  I would have to say the brewery tour is the best guided tour I have ever been on.  The tour itself was fun, filled with the guides spilling out facts almost faster than they could speak over top of your own individual experience.  We saw different stages of production in the plant as well as the Budweiser Clydesdales.  The tallest one stood 6'7" and weighed 2300 pounds (a little fun fact).  Additionally, Anheuser's first name was the same as Nate's last name of Eberhart which brought a smile to our faces. 

The best part of the tour came at the end when everyone over the age of 21 got to partake in two samples of any of the Anheuser-Busch line.  Needless to say, we all had our share.  After that we finished up in the amazing gift shop and got ready to leave for Kansas City and another really long car ride.

The path to Kansas City from St. Louis (basically the entire middle of Missouri) is a bleak and barren one across I-70.  We were able to pass the time playing a cow spotting game Justin had heard of and also marveling in the fact that every exit for a solid 50 miles had both a porn store and a fireworks store.

After what seemed like forever in the car after the previous day's almost equally long  journey, we made it to Kauffman Stadium.  The stadium is one of the most beautiful ballparks I have ever seen.  Water fountains adorn the wall behind the outfield and an enormous KC logo looms over center field, which also encases the scoreboard. 

The scoreboard operator had his work cut out for him in the top of the first as the Tigers scored 10 times.  The starting pitcher went 1/3 of an inning before being replaced by a reliever.  As far as the game was concerned, the final score was 15-4 Tigers despite two late-inning home runs by John Buck of the Royals.  We had a fun time though.

Earlier, near the start of the first inning bloodbath, the four of us went to the pro shop and bought the same $40 blue Royals alternate home jersey.  Everything was marked down for the end of the season and we were informed our jerseys were originally $120!  We got quite a deal there.   However, they were out of the hat I needed to get for Brandon and myself, carnsarndit. 

After climbing to the top of the stadium to check out the terrifying view down, some fireworks shot off and the crowd was informed by the announcer that tonight at Kauffman Stadium was "Fan Appreciation Night".  In addition to seeing an amazing fireworks display, everyone in attendance received a free ticket to a Royals game of their choice in April!  Truly amazing.  It'll be a good while before I feel like driving that far again anyway.

After we left the breathtaking ballpark in the quickest I've ever been able to leave a sporting event, we trekked the 20 miles to Shawnee Mission, Kansas:  the city I was born in.  After taking a creative detour around a closed route and taking a guess on the turn (thanks a lot, MapQuest), we finally found the original dwelling of Bill Glaser. 

The house looked extremely different from the picture I have.  The neighborhood itself seemed a little shaky.  Justin and I got out and feebly attempted to take a cell phone video in the dark.  All I really got on the video was the address which had moved from its original location on the porch to a shoddy mailbox on the curb.  After inadvertently setting off the unseen motion detector lights, I quickly snapped a very dark picture and we left to stay the night at the Comfort Inn we had passed moments before.

The closure to the night was uneventful aside from a shouting Cipollo having to be told to quiet down on his cell phone while I tried to hear the manager during check-in.  Other than that I caught part of an amazing Mega Structures on National Geographic about a man-made island currently in progress in the Persian Gulf.  Interesting stuff, but that is a whole story in itself.

Today (Sunday), we began the insanely long drive home.  After once again passing through pressed-for-entertainment middle Missouri, we stopped at a mall we had passed on the way up for food and to once again come up empty handed in the hat department.  The four of us shared one last meal together at Max and Erma's and it was absolutely delicious.  I recommend the key lime pie.

Thankfully, the Cipollos came up to the mall to get Mike and take him home, shaving precious time off of our return voyage.  We bade the Cipollo family farewell and got back on the only road you really need to traverse the continental US, I-70. 

After reminiscing about the past few days and passing through a few states and major cities, the day of infinite travel along with the trip was over.  I definitely had a fun time and I know everyone else did too.  I do enjoy an occasional excursion now and then.  I think we may go back to see our free Royals game in April, but I seriously hope we do not receive any more free tickets.

I didn't feel like hauling my old-timey digital camera around the trip, so any pictures/videos taken were done using my cell phone.  I will probably put a few up tomorrow or Tuesday for your viewing pleasure. 

This concludes one of the longest rants I've ever written and I hope anyone reading this got at least a snide chuckle somewhere along the way.  Until next time... good day.

Cat Scat, Cat Scan

Corollin' Down the River

No Solid Foods

The Inevitable Return of the
Great White Creep

Long Day

Most of today was spent in the car traveling toward semi-major cities.  First, I was off to a job interview in Cincinnati.  Everything was going smoothly the first ten minutes of travel until I hit a snag on I-75.  Traffic crawled for about 5 miles for roughly 15 or 20 minutes as some accident had the left and center lanes blocked off.  Not good since I wasn't running late, but should have left a hell of a lot earlier.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity, I got over and was traveling at speeds that actually registered on the speedometer once again.

The remainder of the travel time was spent liberally exceding the speed limit.  This was the only way to be on time.  After some more highway shenanigans including dodging a cardboard box the size of a recliner that somehow found its way onto the interstate, I was within striking distance of the job interview. 

Fortunately, I found the site after getting confused about the odd little business park that the building stood among.  I made it with 2 minutes to spare.  Gloriously epic, yet stressful nonetheless. 

I think the interview went well and I will hear back from someone in the next few days.  Hopefully this will be it.  Software testing may not be first choice in a job, but they train on site and that was music to my ears. 

After I had wrapped up at the interview I came home for about half an hour before once again heading to a metropolitan area.  Krystel, Brandon, and I went to Indianapolis to shop at the Circle Centre Mall.  I hadn't been there in about a grip, grip and a half.

While there, as earlier stated in another post, there were many nice things to look at, but very few that required an actual purchase.  After roaming every corner of the mall trying to find a restaurant, we finally found said establishment, P.F. Chang's. 

I have not been able to eat well recently, so I decided to go with some soup.  However, to my dismay, ordering soup in a bowl was in actuality ordering soup in a piping hot gigantic cauldron.  I was very 'larmed and ate very little, but managed to get in some crucial chopstick experience with some other food related items. 

En route forward and back on this little excursion, I finished Choke, which is a truly well-crafted novel.  I highly recommend it.

Finally, we went back to my house and watched another Mystery Science Theater 3000 which was very enjoyable.  Quite a day indeed. 

After not hearing from anyone for a solid year, it's nice to finally get a few nibbles in the job pool.  Hopefully, they'll turn into fish.

Random Creepery Celebrates 1 Year of Ridiculousness

So, it's been a year.  I'm a little older, a little wiser.  This site has really taken off.  Creepery abounds in my daily life.  A chorus of "indeeds" and "are you sure about thats?" blare into the night sky.  Cavernous coves of creeps purchase Moxie and Tango colas, jelly bellies and the like.  Incoherent rants are posted and conversations are held that consist entirely of gibberish.  The gentle, soothing sounds of "Meowriffic" can be heard over a Wal-Mart PA near you.  A simple explanation is drawn out into as many words as possible to further convey a thought or idea easily summarized into two words. 

Soon on this very site, a rabbit will teach a lecture at a local university in regards to carrots, easter eggs, and everyday life... and it will be glorious.  The creeping possibilities are limitless and this site will continue to evolve and represent said creepery.  So please, sit back, bite a Cipollo or two and enjoy the never-ending roller coaster ride that is... Random Creepery.

Well, it seems my tenure at Wright State may finally draw to a close.  I was just informed last night by my father that my insurance coverage through his work will end on my birthday.

What does this mean? One of several things: I need to get benefits through big W, he can check out other options available through his job, or I can get off my ass and send out my resume again (after revising it).  None of these sound pleasant, but as I have discovered the hard way, health insurance is a necessary evil, especially in my case.

Otherwise I don't have a whole lot to report.  While on the topic of Wright State however, this Saturday, Brandon, Krystel, Dan, and me played hide and seek in the Millett building.  The activity was fairly uneventful for the majority of the time aside from thousands of text messages floating back and forth among those who were not it (aside from Dan who was it). 

I stayed in a 1st floor stairwell for most of the duration until I decided to move.  No sooner than I had set foot outside, I saw Brandon down the long main hall on the other side of the building.  I pointed at him like a creep, and mistaking me for Dan, he took off down the side hall out of sight.  I interpreted this as Brandon already being caught and running to tell Dan where I was. 

Neither of our suspicions were correct though, as I ran upstairs quickly yet silently.  I made it to the central atrium before I saw Dan wandering at a slow pace.  Then like in every action movie with a foot chase, our eyes locked for a moment and I bolted off.  How I thought I could get away, I cannot answer.  A base was never established, so I found myself sprinting back toward the stairs I had just came down only to give up and agree to look for everyone else.

Krystel and Brandon had amazing hiding spots, hers being behind some odd ROTC bulletin board and Brandon's inside a couch, and in retrospect I should have stayed in mine.  However, fun times were had by all and we continued to creep across campus and trekked to the Creative Arts building which was all but abandoned, yet made out to be the setting of some horror movie. 

Paranoia abounded at this point as Brandon and Dan kept claiming to hear people or expected to at every turn.  I guess they did hear someone eventually.  Now the time was about 2 AM and we decided to depart.  For something thought up on the spur of the moment, it actually was a fun activity and I was surprised by the amount of people we still saw on campus so early in the morning.  Good times indeed.

Why I Eyes Ya...

I had the honor today of participating in 2 glorious kickball games.  Many a creep showed up and was there to kick my team's ass.  Despite stellar offense and defense by Jason (who in my opinion should be all-time batter as he punted home run after home run) we failed to get a W twice.

I was on the ball today.  Do not pardon the pun.  I did much better than my last outting in the sense that I made some catches and got quite a few hits for a pleasant change of pace. 

However my personal kickball theme drew hints to the earlier epic game of 23 people where I kept flying out to the same person.  History repeated itself in the second game as I flew out several times in my at-bats to the same douchebag.  Oh well.  Life goes on.  The kickball spirit was magnanimous.  Apparently we will try and make this a regular Tuesday event and along with Justin's upcoming kickball myspace page, should be the glorious.

Not much going on otherwise.  I got an 87 on my accounting exam which is probably the apex of scores ever in any accounting class I have taken.  Good times there.  Not really sure of my relationship with Wright State.  I'm getting benefits from going now, but in the long run, I'm going to have to break up with her.

I have recently come across a vast supply of mp3s and videos, so demand for an iPod increases every day.  Again, I must hop on the bandwagon as iPods may just be the most adroit creation by man.

Until next time...

Random Creepery???

As usual, I have worked my 3 days in a row.  This particular weekend lent itself to some peculiar creeps. 

For example, yesterday I had the most baffling "conversation" with a customer I think I ever had. My exact memories of it are a little blotchy but here goes:

Creep: "Do you have the battery for this phone?"
Me: "I'm not sure.  Let me check.  Yes, we actually do.  Here it is."
Creep: "Do you have a way of checking if my battery is bad or if it's my cell phone that is broken?"
Me: "No, we don't have a charger or anything like that to check it."
Creep: (Proceeds to stare at me and continues to mumble something similar to the previous statement)
Me: "Um, I don't know what you want me to do here..."
Creep: (taken back by my statement and offended)
"Now I know you're an intelligent man. You see... (completely incoherent)
Me: "Okay..."
Creep: "Aren't you the guy that went to UC?"
Me: "No..."
Creep: "Well, where did you go then?"
Me: "Uh, Wright State."
Creep: "Oh, well you should have went to UC."
Me: "I guess..."
Creep: (with heavy sarcasm and still offended for some reason) "Well sorry to have wasted your time." (Creep walks away ranting)

I was completely taken back by the whole scenario.  I was as baffled as I was angry by his random, half-assed, insulting statements.  What the hell did he want? I brought the battery.  We had no charger.  End of story.  How in the name of the Almighty God himself did the University of Cincinnati or my alma mater play any part in the situation at all? All very good questions I'll never get the answers to.

Additionally today, which was slower than a tech support building employed entirely of Cipollos, some more creeps decided to venture into my life.  And when did they decide to do this? Oh, 15 minutes before I was to close, of course. Nary a soul all day, then 3 back to back to back creeps within 15 minutes. Ridiculous.

A man and a woman, presumably involved with one another were talking to each other while I finished up with creepy beard man with the phone speaker problem.  When I was free, they began tearing into each other about how she wanted a contract phone and he did not, stating she should get a prepaid phone.  After a few run of the mill questions to me, the argument became pretty heated and they were shouting at each other in front of me no further away than you are to your computer right now.

She begged and pleaded, while he shot back reasons not to get a contract stating that she'd go over the minutes. While this wasn't quite an unfamiliar sight, one thing the man said stuck in my mind.  Somewhere in the verbal battle, he stated something like "Hey! What did I talk about?  This is the sixth reason!"

Excuse me? The sixth reason for what? Possibly ending the relationship or that he was going to kill her? Terrifying regardless of how you interpreted it.

After much chagrin, they both left and I was concerned somewhat to the outcome of this encounter but simultaneously relieved that they were gone and I could call it quits for this creepy weekend.

Ryan, your turning 21 is the best thing that ever happened to me.

As the title states last night was Ryan and Laura's 21st birthday.
We celebrated by going to Sloopy's and I believe I eventually became hammered, shitfaced, and wasted all at once.

Some portions I cannot recall. Apparently I left 10 text messages in as many minutes to Brandon.  I also called Josh Guild of which I have no recollection.  But in both cases, the cell phone doesn't lie.

From what I hear, my comment "Y'all got that Mead building?" went over well, though I barely remembered it.  Last night was probably second place in the most drunk ever games for me.  I paid for it dearly in a seemingly endless montage of violent vomit (as well as a phantom withdrawal from the ATM I do not recall).

I once again bit Josh's arm, which will probably be a recurring theme when he's around and we're both drinking.  However, after last night I think I'm hanging up my hat for good.  Apparently excessive drinking, while not the best idea to begin with when you think about it, is especially harmful to people with Chron's. 

After last night's escapade of illness, which spilled over to today as I only started to feel healthy again in the past several hours (it's 11:51 now if you don't feel like looking), I think that as the kids say "It's time" to not drink like this anymore.

I did hear that much of what I said and did was entertaining from several sources which is good as long as I wasn't too annoying.  I believe it was the Rumple Mint that solidified my drunkenness.  I wish I would have known it was 150 proof prior to purchasing it.

Just thought I'd briefly regale everyone about last night's festivities and once again Happy 21st to Ryan and Laura and to Brandon and Krystel: thanks for seeing that I got home and being the DD.  Now I'm off to bed as I'm as tired as so many Eberharts it's off the scale.

A Farewell to Biting Cipollo's Arms

Last night, Mr. Michael Steven Cipollo exited our lives to return to St. Louis.  The mood was bittersweet.  While part of us were sad to see him go, the other half just didn't know, man.

Smith, Kammer, Cipollo, and I all met up at the Beavercreek "B Dubs" for the last time.  We were joined by one of Cipollo's friends who may have also been a creep but viewed Cipollo in the same light that we do.

Many of you may have only met him once, but that was more than enough to get Cip's mannerisms down to a tee.  What with his "I don't know, man." catch phrase, his legendary rap, (featured on the page with the link below in video form in a very dark Smith's car), and the stolen telphone conversations later transformed into a rap battle.

Smith and I christened the event with a final biting.  I got him really well on the hand (the bite mark is on the page with the link below) and Smith unconventionally got him on the ear. Cipollo shouted "Hey! Whoa! Hey!" then immediately clutched both of the afflicted areas.

Peace, yo.

Creepy Capers from Cleveland

This Tuesday and Wednesday, I went to Cleveland along with Ryan, Brandon, Krystel, and Dwayne.  I would have to say I enjoyed the trip.

We went to the Hard Rock Cafe and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  At the Hard Rock, I got a $12 drink that came in a souvenir glass.  Not bad though; it was called a Rock Lobster so I hadta to get it.

We also went to the Avenue City Center (I think that's what it was called).  It was a downtown mall much like Circle City Centre in downtown Indianapolis for those of you that have been there in that it was downtown, huge, connected to hotels and businesses, and that other than a few shops, didn't have many stores that held your interest or that you could afford to shop in without dropping assloads of money.

It was nice inside and fun to look around in.  The Hard Rock was inside and I stopped at Border's and bought Weird Ohio, which I had been looking for for quite some time.  There is even a Weird Ohio locale not far from the Hall of Fame, a giant rubber stamp that says free on it.

After having an amazing meal at the Hard Rock and then going to Mall, we headed back to the hotel for some R&R (or so we thought).  We watched adult swim and ordered a pizza from Fabio's Pizza.  The man himself delivered it... Actually he didn't, but we're probably all better off that way.

After watching some History channel show on how Mastadons and the Hubble telescope are vaguely linked we tried to get some sleep: emphasis on tried.  After a long raport of gibberish, Dwayne started snoring like an idling tractor and  a snarling walrus combined.

Despite repeated jostlings, pillow hits (despite me doing it, Dwayne attacked Ryan), kicks, and punches Dwayne would wake up and yell "Hey, assholes" or "Leave me alone" and the ever popular "I hate you guys".  This must have went on for 5 solid hours.  Every time we woke him up, he'd fall asleep in 2 seconds.  One time he even argued he was awake when he was snoring only 1 second prior.

Sometime after Brandon sat up and yelled "Hey! Motherf***ers!", Krystel kicked Dwayne out of the room and everyone got roughly 3 hours of sleep that they probably hadn't had yet.

Yesterday, we went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I was glad I had the chance to go.  The musuem is very open inside and has quite a lot of goods from various people.  We watched several of the films that were screened and looked around at all the swag from clothes, to instruments, to a creepy bust of Steve Tyler's head. 

On the 4th floor was my favorite part, being a Pink Floyd fan.  They had the Wall set piece from one of their old tours and a small living room set similar to the one featured in the incomprehensible movie "The Wall". Also, my favorite item of the whole musuem were the two identical creepy metal heads from the cover of their album, "The Division Bell" atop the entrance to the spiral room where every inductee had signed their name on the wall.

After the Hall, we had our picture taken with the stamp then got someting to eat at Quizno's.  Shortly thereafter, we invested several hours trying to find places from the Weird Ohio book, only to unfortunately come up empty handed.  We first tried looking for the cemetery that president James Garfield and J.D. Rockefeller were buried in.  Additionally, the cemetery has some type of monument with an angel that appears to be weeping, which has its photo in the book.

After giving up on the cemetery since it was closed and we couldn't find it, we started home.  However, in Mansfield, we got off and tried to find the prison featured in the Shawshank Redemption only to once again agree that it was getting too late and we couldn't find it. 

However, it was fun enough to try and track these places down and someday we'll probably go back and find them when we can plan it out.  We did see the legendary send-out lab for Fuji who handles Wal-Mart's 2 day film services.

Overall, I really enjoyed the trip minus the lack of sleep acredited to wheezing ogres.  I got a few souvenirs including a sweet Pink Floyd poster and actually left town for spring break for once.  A good time indeed.

Post-Game Carnage Report

Well, the Halo party was a success.  While we did not get the full 16, we came damn near close with 14 of my closest creeps (at its highest) and others I did not recognize along with myself participating in 5 and a half hours of ridiculousness. 

While Dorn, Christian, and most importantly Nate didn't make it, I think everyone had a good time (Some more than others in the case of Douglas).  I was pleased with the turnout and the grumbling about games and overall playing ability or lack thereof was minimal.  Inversely, profanity and loudness were at an all-time high, which along with gibberish contributed to pure insanity all around.  Good Times.

Speaking of all-time highs, I drank 3 red bulls and while this sounds like not a whole lot, I didn't eat much the entire day.  When I finally came down off some kind of high, (I had some various colas as well) I thought I was about to slip into some kind of coma.  It was almost scary.  Additionaly, the fu man chu made its scary appearance but will be gone in about 5 minutes.

Thanks to everyone that did show up: Brandon, Ryan, Dwayne, Justin, Brian, Douglas, Mikey and his 2 friends, Jason H, Josh, Jason M, Greg, Dustin, Aaron, and Nick. Sorry if I forgot anyone but thanks for coming. I'm as tired as 79 Eberharts and I expelled the last of my mental energy into this rant.  Happy Halo-ween.

And Then I Knew

A funny thing happened to me the other day. While working away in the connection center, I happened to have a chance encounter with a legendary icon: Mr. Samuel P. Walton himself.

The night had run its course per usual with no contracts. I was very upset as it was the end of the month and I could feel that $20 gift card barely slipping out of my grasp. A customer strolled up to me and began the usual routine of who's better, this carrier or that. I picked up the store phone and called the carrier the customer had selected only to find that I was dealing with a grade A moron.

"Yes I have the sim card number: it's 354..." I began.
"543?"
"354"
"569?"
"354!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

Agitated as I was, I felt a slight twinge at the base of my neck, as if help was on the way. Suddenly the phone was viciously swiped from my hand. My back turned, I nearly fainted as a figure pounced up from the ground.

There he stood, in all his glory: Mr. Sam himself at 7 foot 5 inches tall, gleaming like several hundred thousand radiant Christmas tree lights.

"Boy, it seems you don't know your own head from a turlet plunger!" the heroic person in question screamed at the tech.

"Son, 'f you wanna sell cell phones, you hafta cell sell phones. You got me boy?"

His logic was baffling, yet so true.  He then leapt over the counter and barked off the sim card number to the tech at an alarmingly rapid rate.

"Now that's how it's done if'n you wanna please the customer, you pile of cat crap!"

I could hear the tech sobbing loudly at this point as I leaned in to listen.  Mr. Sam then tossed the store phone's handset up into the air and karate chopped it back onto the base.  He spun around to the customer, contract in hand, then bent down on one knee with the shiny new phone on a pillow for the whole world to see.

The customer's eyes began to well up with tears and I heard him murmur softly in profound awe as a single teardrop rolled down his cheek;
"Sir, you are a god."

Mr. Sam then looked me straight in the eye, his nostrils flaring, growling intensely. "Boy!" he shouted. "Give me seven thousand Slvr phones!"

I shouted with glee as he pulled a $20 gift card out from behind my ear. And it was then I knew that he had made not only a customer, but an associate for life.

Dwayne vs. Cipollo:
A study in rap battles

Last night, I went and saw Simply Waiting at Elbo's with the new crew, that is Brandon, Ryan, Dwayne, and Krystel. The event focused around the meeting between Dwayne and Cipollo. I really wanted some amazing situation to occur from the get-go, but what should have been fireworks ended up being a grill lighter that finally lit after the seventeenth attempt.

At one point I told Dwayne that Cipollo wanted to rap battle. Dwayne lit into Cipollo like an unleashed Doberman. What did Cipollo do? He just stood there doing the Cipollo smile and didn't retaliate at all. Per usual, Cipollo Cipolloed when he had a chance to become a legendary rap icon.

The show itself was decent as far as their shows go. The last song brought the house down with severe headbanging, jumping, aggression, and chants of "its getting real rowdy here" from myself immediately afterward.

Good times were had all around more or less. Halo was even nice to me. Party on.

Will this be the last rant using Dreamweaver?

That's right, it just may. Josh and I are going to try and get a blog started through his site so I can read all your wonderful comments about whatever asinine rambling I post here. I am looking forward to some feedback.

Not too much going on these days. I have 4 days in a row off from Wal-Mart starting with today. During this time I want to work on the site as much as possible. From adding new content to changing some backgrounds and other aesthetic concerns, I will have a lot to work on. Finally, on Thursday, we just may see the future of the rants page come to fruition.

On the work front, not a whole lot to report save one ass customer who beared a striking resemblance to a college professor I equally loathed.

Act I: Scene I

Enter customer. Customer stares directly at Bill for 5 seconds with a demented smirk on her creepy, old face.

Bill: ... Can I help you???
Customer: Uh, yeah. (with unecessary valley-girl-like rudeness)
You can ring this up for me.
(Bill proceeds to ring up the merchandise)
Customer: No. Just open it up for me.
(Bill opens up box which contains a retro-style Atari video game console pre-loaded with forty games)
Customer: Where are the cartridges? Can't you play other games on it?
Bill: (dumfounded by customer's idiocy) No. It has the games stored on it.
Customer: Well that's stupid. You should be able to play the old games on it. (trails off into various bitchings)
Bill: Yeah...
Customer: Well should I put this back?
Bill: No. Just leave it here. I'll take care of it.
(insert "Sorry it's not 1983 anymore" here)

So many customers act like the sales associate they went to for help is directly responsible for issues with merchandise. Am I the public relations rep for Atari? and Why would an extinct console suddenly reappear in its original form decades after its inception? Both good questions this customer didn't even pause for a second to ponder. Half the time if they spent a second to glance at what they are considering to buy, all the questions would be answered, which brings us to our next story:

Another incident occured where customers asked about some computers. Even though not my department, I figured I could handle any basics since I am somewhat savvy in that area. I realized that before I even got there that the information on the box would already answer the questions they needed answers to. However:

"This one is 3200 speed and this is 3100 speed. Is this one better?"
(The features on both otherwise were identical)
"What's this Semphron (actually Sempron) do? Is it the same as a Pentium?"
"It's AMD's processor."
"Well if you don't know, you can just say so. Is it like a Celuron?"
"I don't think so. I think Celurons tend to be a bit slower."
"But what about the processors? Which one is better?"
"They're the same. One is just a little faster than the other."
"Well that's fine anyway. We could always upgrade and by a 50 or 75 dollar kit,
(blah blah blah)"
"Which computer would you buy if you were getting one?"
"I wouldn't get either. I'd have one custom-built."
"No. Say you're at Wal-Mart, between the Compaq and the emachine?"
"Well I have the emachine at home so I guess I would go with that again"
"Ok. You can go now."

So the mentality of these folks is "I'm going to act like I know everything there is to know about PCs when in reality I don't and my sole basis for purchasing a new one is what some stranger's personal preference is." Like it matters which one I would get. Who cares? Would this apply to other products as well?

"Oh, that Manson guy drank Pepsi. Better get it from now on instead of Coke. If he likes it then we should too."

There were just a little too many weirdos for me that particular shift. However, recently I have been selling a ton of phones (3 in one day Wednesday and 1 yesterday) when I had only sold 2 in about a week and a half prior to this. Selling phones isn't too bad a gig, but I often find myself wishing I were in the photo lab developing film with the guys. I do get to go over there fairly often so it's not all bad. And I have some days coming up when I'll actually be working in the lab again. That takes me back...

I Can't Get No Customer Satisfaction

Well, the other day at work I think I had what I will refer to as a "Trotwood relapse". You see, a customer came in and eventually created a scenario identical to how a Trotwood customer would behave. It seems there was a miscommunication between Ryan and myself over certain minute plans involving TracFones. From what I understood I thought they had a promotion stating that all TracFone minutes were double minutes (that is buy a 100 minute card, it's in actuality a 200 minute card). This was not the case however. In order for cards to become double minutes, you have to buy a seperate double minute card first at about $130. Then all the cards purchased after that point become double minute cards.

Well, once this was discovered, the lady became upset. Then she started ranting about some fictitious brochere that stated what I had mistakingly told her earlier. She was angry that Ryan had never seen it, but we didn't even have it. Then she lashed out at Ryan stating that he insulted her in front of her 11-year-old son who "gets straight A's". She kept repeating how rude and insulting he was and eventually got to the point where she said he called her an idiot. None of this was true of course. Ryan was only informative and courteous:  better condemn him for that.

She kept ranting and shouting "NO!" much like my 2-year-old nephew would if you took his toy, demanding that she get this non-existent promotion and berating all those within a 25-foot radius. After yelling at David and another manager, she finally left. Ryan had activated the phone card she had purchased since she was too busy bitching at her son and us to go through the correct steps to activate it.

The whole situation was actually pretty hilarious to me. During her half-assed excuse for a rant, I had to kind of turn and look the other way just so she wouldn't see me laughing at some of the ridiculous things she spouted off. Once when she was raving for about 15 minutes and a manager showed up, I just interjected to him that I was new, trying to quickly fill him in. She gave me the classic "Hey, I'm talking here. Can I finish?" Trotwood routine. God forbid I interrupt for 3 seconds with some actual relevant information.

This kind of complaint was definitely handled a lot smoother than any I had ever experienced at Trotwood. Not only was I not by myself, two managers came within a reasonable time and dealt with the situation. They couldn't do much for her since the card was purchased and you can't return it. At the end she shouted "Well, I guess I got what I paid for!". Ryan replied that she certainly did.

Halo was a bit bizarre last night. I started out doing fairly well. However, every time I had a chance to move up a level on team slayer, my team would lose that game. This series repeated itself about 5 times: win 2, lose 1, don't advance. Finally, I moved up 2 levels and a little closer to my former glory. Who knows how long this will stay that way as I am thinking about playing again right now.

Toward the end I erupted in a violent tantrum as all the potential anger was released after 2 back-to-back bullshit games on Lockout. Like I'm really going to die every time I respawn without getting a chance to even move for 2 sraight games. Screw that. One time I spawned right in the sniper's line of sight only to be killed again instantly. What garbage. I try not to place too much emphasis on levels and just have fun, but Halo continues to find innovative ways to irritate and infuriate me. Well, I'm off to play!

Workin' and Creepin'

Now this is a first. And I mean a major first. I've just worked 3 straight days at Wal-Mart without a single complaint about how awful the customers or managers have been. Why, may you ask? Well, if last rant's title is any indication, I'm living the sweet life at the Englewood store. God, I love it. The work load has definitely plummeted as I have only sold one contract phone in 3 days and a few pay as you go phones here and there. I certainly could stand to do more here and there, but this line of thinking has hurt me in the past, as hordes of people pour in the instant after this thought has been processed. The store has been eerily quiet during this time, but the days have been pretty amazing.

It's definitely strange to be in a working environment where everyone cares about what they are doing and how their work area looks. Trotwood's motto was basically "I don't care. Just throw that shit anywhere." Englewood on the other hand has a specific spot for everything and still has that new-store feel to it as it is roughly a year old. All in all, the future's so bright I gotta where shades.

Last night I went and saw Simply Waiting at Canal Street. The show was pretty good and Justin and I partook in our obscure drinks at the bar for awhile before and after they played. The band has definitely come a long way in the few years that I've heard them. The overall sound is better and the songs seem more heavy and intense: both which I enjoy. I know they have some new mp3s to download through their site and myspace which you should check out.

Well, unfortunately I think I hear Halo 2 calling my name from the basement so I'm going to have to cut this rant short. Until next time, suckas...

From E-Wood to T-Wood

Well, it finally happened. That's right. I'm out of the hellhole that was Trotwood to the newer, super efficient Englewood store. It only took 11 months, but hey it's great to be outta there. So far, not much going on at the new store. Everyone I work with though is amazing, not just the old crew of Josh, Jason, and Nick. I've actually hung out with pretty much everyone outside of work already, so I know what to expect.

There's already a significantly lower amount of stress in general. However, I'm still very unfamiliar with a lot of the aspects of cell phones. I know the basics, but it's something you just have to do to get it down. I have a feeling that once I know what I'm doing and have everything down, I'll like it way more than the photo lab. However, that won't stop me from going over there to help/hang out any chance I get.

On the school front, I'd been bitching about how the girl in my group never e-mailed me with the group member names and contact info. However once I found out that we never really need to meet outside of class, I didn't care anymore. Still you'd think anyone could manage such a menial task. So far, grad school is just like its undergrad little brother: it's a fucking joke. The class is interesting and the book holds your attention, but I'm still not any closer to a career yet. Only insurance benefits me from going to school at this point. I still continue to recognize people in my major from class to class. Getting a job in MIS is even harder than I thought.

Halo has been a big, ugly, smelly, fat kid recently. I mean, what can you do? It's like the really, really, hot girlfriend who treats her boyfriend like total shit: you're lured in by how fun it could be only to find out that you're getting your ass kicked and you're constantly getting berated and screamed at in an overflowing toilet of bullshit.

Halo at its pure core has the potential to be an extremely fun game. However, when played on Xbox live the shit hits the fan. It all comes down to teammates in most games. What can you do when you're stuck with assholes, people who just plain suck, or people who are both? Not a damn thing.

I had an encounter with the most brainless, stupid prick I have ever come in contact with tonight. The asshole starts bitching about how the rest of us suck and starts whining like a little girl about how someone stole his triple kill or something dumb like that and then melees me and betrays me. So, I booted the son of a bitch. Good riddance. We had the lead though. The freaking lead. Why would anyone act like that? Who cares about his damn killing spree or whatever it was? Like berating your teammates is really going to rally them into some sort of amazing comeback. People like this sorry sack of shit should suffer the same fate of their character in the game, but I digress. People just ruin Halo, that's all. There are just too many losses due to teammates and really unless you have a full team of four friends, unfortunately there's nothing you can do but cross your fingers and hope for the best.

On a much brighter note, my mom bought a new cat. Most of us are calling it Peeker (2) and pictures of it can be found on the creepin' cats page. She definitely is worthy of the title of Peeker and is up there with the greatest cat that ever lived.

That's about all for this update. I should probably work on another movie rant and get those vacation pictures up soon. We'll see what I actually do next time. Peace. And sorry about the excessive profanity in this update. I just finished playing Halo right before I wrote this so all the angry emotions are still fresh in my mind. Until next time...

Blue Skies Ahead

Well, for once I begin a rant without extreme feelings of anger and frustration. Yes, I did work today believe it or not. It wasn't the best day. It wasn't the worst day. It was just a day. That's all I really want sometimes. I did still leave early so I could watch the series finale of Nip/Tuck which was ok but not what I had been hoping for.

I finally got word that my unofficial transfer date to the new store will be on January 7th. While my rants clearly indicate that I both despise and loathe my current store, it does have its perks believe it or not. If you can come to terms that your work environment is a festering hellhole that is. When I have to close, I have no direct supervisor. They're all gone by 5 everyday and on either Saturday or Sunday no manager is there the entire day. So that has its pros and cons. The cons being that if a belligerent customer shows up and I don't want to put up with any more of their crap I can't ask that magic question I love "Would you like to talk to the manager?". And then poof they're gone. Not my problem anymore. I couldn't give a rat's ass what their issue is once its passed out of my hands and into someone else's. Whatever hurtful thing they said or misguided judgement they had passed is no longer any concern of mine.

That's why I couldn't ever be a member of management (one of many reasons). There's very little room to look around and go "Well would you like to speak to my manager". You're kind of the highest guy on the totem pole in this scenario. Managers at any Wal-Mart store sure have to put up with a lot of abuse. I don't think I could handle that. Give me a computer desk and I'll be another corporate drone so long as I don't have to deal with the general public all day.

This news about the transfer finally having a semi-tangible date is music to my ears. The light at the end of the tunnel is finally shining a bit brighter. Now I just need to get some kind of confirmation about my GMAT scores. It'll be nice to give some meaning to this crazy time in my life.

All I wanted when I was a kid was to just get out of school. I couldn't wait until I graduated so I could just sit around all day and do nothing. I really believed this back then. No one ever told me that when you get to be a certain age you have to start taking responsibility for your life and begin finding some means of supporting yourself. I just figured hell, it's only 12 years of school. It will be over soon enough, then the fun begins. And it was and that's somewhat true. It goes by faster than you think.

I'm very pleased with a lot of aspects of my life. I have more friends now than I ever did in high school. The future is still ripe with possibilities. I have one hell of a movie collection and a huge TV I shouldn't even own. Despite all my complaints about Wal-Mart and Halo, these are small potatoes compared to what some people have to experience. I really am quite fortunate to be where I am now. The future looms with possibilities. It's great to turn to another new chapter of my life: especially getting the chance to work again with old freinds.

Indiana Bill and the Kodak Picture Maker of Doom

Every now and again I get a little angry

That's right, because every now and then I get a little angry: more so recently than ever. I've been accused of having a bad temper/attitude by my parents. What really is an attitude? I think it’s nothing more than a trump card to declare war on another person. Example:
Party A: “I don’t like your attitude.”
Party B: (slightly raises voice) “I don’t have an attitude.”
A: “See! There you go. That’s what I’m talking about.”

Essentially when you say someone has an attitude or a bad attitude it’s like getting hit with the bitch combo in Halo 2. That is, there’s no counter for it and it’s extremely unfair. There is no response to this statement that won’t result in a further argument. I doubt anyone reacted to Party A’s statement with something like “Gee, aren’t the clouds pretty today”.

To the whole, the concept of calling someone out to have an attitude seems childish and only leads to conflict. I guess you could say I have an attitude about attitudes. This whole little sub-rant aside, I’m not particularly angry at my parents. This is more of a complaint about the whole negative connotation that attitudes have in our society. However, risking beating a dead horse, let me move on to why I chose the title of tonight’s little topic of discussion. On Thursday, a sign was posted in the good ol’ photo lab stating that there would be a meeting on Sunday (the night I am writing this) at 7:30. Sounds innocent enough now doesn’t it? Not quite. You see, what our horrible excuse for an assistant manager failed to tell us at the time was that the meeting would be an hour and a half. Now granted even that doesn’t sound too bad save for the fact that I was scheduled to be off at 8:00. Notice a conflict there? Therefore, in addition to myself, Adam and another associate had to stay well past our scheduled time, having only found this out several hours prior. In Adam’s case, the result was a 12 hour shift, since he opened and then had to stick around for one of the biggest wastes of time I have ever experienced.

The mood during the meeting was that of sarcasm mixed with good old fashioned rage. The photo lab and the associates who work with the cell phones had to watch a 1 hour and 25 minute video that was exactly 1 hour and 25 minutes too long. Just as I expected, the information was not only dull but also extremely redundant. So we come to the focal point of this story, the cause of my anger: our assistant manager. First, why schedule a meeting on a Sunday at 7:30 when the fewest amount of associates are working? Second, if you are going to have a meeting, let people know further in advance and plan around it. Third, fucking tell them what the meeting is about and for God’s sake let them know how long it will be. I mean just because this soulless drone doesn’t have a life outside of the store doesn’t mean that the rest of us should suffer for it. What evil creature perverts someone’s soul into this type of mentality? A mandatory meeting at the end of a 9 hour shift (and in the two cases, even longer). Clearly, if it rained brains not only would he be holding an umbrella, he’d be inside the car with all the windows rolled up. I tried explaining my points to him prior to the meeting only to no avail; just yelling back and forth.

I have encountered very few “cool” managers. I know one right now and unfortunately he may be transferring to another department. I can’t blame him. I’ve been trying to transfer for 9 freaking months to another store. We all know how that story goes.

As if this little misadventure about the meeting wasn’t enough, I relayed the story to my dad who while I was heated and letting off steam, he told me I had a bad attitude. Well as the opening of this rant indicated, this is definitely one of my hot buttons. I ended that battle before it began, retreating to the basement. Only my mom can cool me down from my angry tantrums and she did a hell of a job, no sarcasm. So maybe I do have a bad attitude. Can you blame me? All I want is a career doing something I love and right now the wheels aren’t turning. I need a full-time job or alternatively, I need to go back to school full-time and possibly get my master’s degree, the reason being a need for health insurance of my own instead of my dad’s insurance plan which will drop me like a bad habit since I’m no longer a student. A very convoluted circle.

Therefore to summarize, I need a career/to go back to school to get health insurance but I don’t want to go back to school but don’t have a good job so I probably will anyway just so I can get health insurance again until I do find a job. Health insurance itself may not be necessary if I didn’t have Chron’s disease, a medical condition that requires expensive treatments every 8 weeks as well as a daily medication.

Oh, and it didn't help that last night was weird. Brandon came over being an enormous creep, trying to get us to "clown" some get-together some kids he knew were having. I didn't even want him to come over and told Justin at one point to call him and tell him not to come over. The result though was us forgetting and Brandon just straight walking into the house at about 11 at night without calling a cell phone or knocking and then trying to get us to do this. Then the fucker has the nerve to be annoying and call me a nerd to Justin just because I began a sentence with "In retrospect". Screw his dumb ass. I didn't want him in my house and I'm not about to dumb down the way I talk just so his reptilian brain can comprehend it. If I never saw him again, it wouldn't be soon enough. Time to close the book on Brandon once and for all. Thank God for Andrea being there. She really wanted no part in it and was the major reason he couldn't cajole us into going.

Anyway, this is the story of my life. I have poured out my heart and soul into this rant. I only hope that next time I post my rant I’ll have something cheerful to report on and the laughs are not due to the exaggeration of events and my anger. Until then folks, keep on creepin’ on.

A lot to discuss... Back to School?

Quite a bit to discuss since my last post. I'll start from the present and recollect anything that seems pertinent to discuss. Most recently (today) Justin and I rode up to our old college stomping ground to a graduate open house for the Wright State masters program. What this means is that basically I'd be going back to school for another year and a half to earn a degree in a different study. Oh, does this sound alluring.

For the most part I'm interested because I've been looking for a job for the past several months and have not had the good fortune of finding one yet. I had a chance, though back in July or August when I got an interview. I think we all know the end result without me mentioning it.

Mostly, in participating in the master's program, I'm complying to Pappy's request so that I can have medical insurance (since apparently, I am no longer guaranteed it on his plan since I am not a full-time student). So his scheme is to take a few classes and in the meantime if I get a job, that is a real job, not just working at the photo lab which I dearly love so much (That hurt my brain to type that) then to drop the classes like a bad habit. If a job does not appear on the horizon then the plan is to continue the masters program and as Justin and I discussed once the degree is attained, be in the same situation we're in now only with a higher degree, still playing video games most of the week and the rest working in our shitty hack jobs. So that's my rant about the masters program.

Oh, and we saw Cipollo there and were slighty inebriated, which made the time go by a bit better. Apparently I have to take the GMAT entry test which you must score so high on and in conjuction with your GPA multiplied by 200 determines whether you get into the program in the first place. Justin described it as "the hardest test I've ever taken in my entire life". Sounds promising. So that's the end of this rant. More on the college front later.

As for everything else, on the 29th of last month I went to a wedding. Yesterday, I went to a viewing for Adam Johnson, whom I knew through Justin and Sucher. He was killed in Iraq serving our country. From what I knew of him, he seemed to be a friendly guy and definitely will be remembered by many.

On the flip side, I went to Adam and Danielle's wedding. It was pretty fun. I had a good time. The wedding itself was short, but the pictures. God, the pictures. They went on forever. So many more than Karen's wedding. But other than being annoying and superfulous, they weren't that bad. The whole wedding process was lavish with the reception at the Dayton Art Institute. I think I should have drank more, but ultimately I had to drive later at some point.

The only negative part of the whole experience were the comments I got from people about how I walk when I escort people down the aisle. They reiterated what was said at Karen's wedding. That is, that I'm too stiff, marching, need to relax certain muscles, etc. My response to all these statements now... shut the fuck up. Seriously. Do you think the guests care about what one usher looks like walking down the aisle with a relative or friend of the bride for 30 seconds? No. I think they're just a little more concerned with the whole beauty of the bride, vows, the whole joining of two people as one, holiness, those kind of things. So what if I'm a stiff-legged Frankenstien's monster? Big deal. You see me once in your entire life then never again. Get over it. Boy did it feel good to let that out. Those comments aside, everything else was beautiful. I enjoyed seeing Adam, Jason, and Josh since we hardly hang out anymore due to geographical constraints, conflicting schedules, and general laziness and apathy (I fall into this category). I hadn't seen Danielle in about 2 years probably. I had a good time and hope they did too and I know they will have a continued happy life together. (End wedding rant here).

As far as what else I've been doing, I've been playing a lot of Dance Dance Revolution Extreme which I borrowed from Adam C. I love it. I hope to become addicted. Also, I got the entire Ghostbusters cartoon series on DVD. I've pretty much been alternating between these two activities during my free time, watching the occasional TV show here and there. The Ghostbusters episodes are for the most part amazing even though they become pretty formulaic and predictable after about the 3rd DVD. Example episode: Slimer does something stupid and ghosts are released who tear up Egon's equipment; Peter gets pissed; the guys all think he overreacts; Slimer runs away; Slimer comes back and redeems himself (barely) by helping trap the ghost that he released in the first place; they all share a laugh; end credits. Actually, that's only a few episodes, but I don't care for any of those following this plotline.

It's great to see the episodes I remember as a kid: The Boogeyman; Samhein; the baseball game; the stuff of legends. The music and voices are phenomenal as well as the characters. With the DVDs under my belt, now all I have to do is get the action figures to put an end to the recurring dream I have. Seriously, I've dreamt about them about 10 times now. I'm in a store and somehow find most of the figures and state that "this is the greatest day of my life and it's not a dream". Then I wake up, figureless and disappointed. I've never had a dream so many times. It's completely ridiculous. Well I think I've ranted enough to hold everyone for the next 3 years. Later and Happy 1st Birthday, Halo 2. May you continue to taunt me and control my life for many more years to come.

A Helluva Day

Well yesterday proved to be quite a day indeed. It was Adam's bachelor party and we played paintball. Paintball turned out to be really fun despite being pelted a few times. I faired way better than anyone else I was with. I was shot a total of about 7 times I would guess. (3 of those being fire from the same person who was in violation of the 20 foot rule and no more than 3 shots fired on a person rule).

However, it's not like anyone caught the guy and I'm sure he was caught up in the moment. Everyone there had a really good attitude. Although, picking teams seemed like junior high gym class with people in fatigues, then the pro paintball shirts going first, then whoever had their own fancy gun (if they weren't picked already) followed by whoever looked the meanest. A few times I was picked quickly and others not so much.

There were some really great moments among the games we played. Holding a position one round with Adam's dad was quite fun, as we took out three people after seeing no one the entire game. However, at the very end as everyone started shooting wildly during the countdown, we were ambushed from the back by someone in the woods. Adam's dad was out, but somehow during the barrage of fire, the guy missed me and my 4 game no-hit streak was preserved.

Immediately after the game ended, the guy that took him out shook our hands and told us good game and made small talk. Now if only every Halo player was as cordial and good-sported. However, that rant will be on this page. Another highlight was when I shot a kid in the arm with a no-doubter 2 seconds before our last game ended. I'm pretty sure I got some hits in earlier, but I could tell this shot couldn't have come from any of my teammates like some of the earlier hits. All in all paintball was a fun experience. I even saw 3 people I know outside of our group which I found strange.

After paintball, we all left and showered at our respective houses and met up at Jason's. Adam still hadn't figured out where he wanted to eat yet, so Kyle, Josh, Mike, and I made a beer run. When we got back he gave us the option of Outback or O'Charley's. I wanted O'Charley's but we ended up going to Outback. Outback had a 1 hour wait and by this time we were all starving to death so we sent 2 people each to check out O'Charley's up the road and Don Pablo's which was next door. Don Pablo's only had a 15 minute wait, so with some help from me we ended up going there. They actually have burgers now which was great since that was what I wanted anyway.

After hanging out and knocking back a few, we went to a bar called Wings. It was a nice place and I had a drink, but really wanted to just kinda go back to Jason's and hang out and drink. After the world's longest game of darts, we went back and did just that. Josh (who had quite a few at the bar) and I drank the most out of anyone else and battled back and forth for the title of most annoying drunken idiot. I think I safely won since I didn't pass out on the bathroom floor, although I did get sick and leave at 4 in the morning. I guess I asked Adam to take me home (which was about 500 feet).

It was a great day. I hope Adam had fun despite all the drunkenness. Josh wrote a post for his site mid-stupor and I am going to check it out as soon as I'm done here. I'm glad we dodged going to a strip club, since Adam did not want to go and neither did I and Jason. It was much more fun to just hang out and not have it be awkward in some weird place where you can look but not touch, which Jason and I discussed earlier.

Adam if you're reading this I know I had a great time. I hope you did too and thanks for driving my ass home.

Welcome to Random Creepery

Well I hope you are all enjoying my new and best web site. I've put more time and money into this site than any other and I hope I will continue to work on it and use it to its full potential. This page will be mostly about my updates and current life issues that are plaguing me.

Before I end this, I will regale you with a work story you should enjoy. Situation: it's 7:57, that is three minutes until I'm scheduled to leave. The day had definitely been among the top 3 God-awful ever. Getting out of there was the only thing on my mind at this point. Several customers had already thwarted my attempts to leave early. In comes Captain Creep.

"Where's your Polaroid film?" he asked in an odd, Spanish-sounding accent.
"Over there behind that wall," I pointed. A minute passed and he returned.
"No, I mean the instant film, the Polaroid film."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. It's over there on the other side of that wall bottom shelf," I reiterated. He went back and found the film, then returned.
"Can you help me with this?"
"Do you have your camera?"
"No."
"Then I don't know what you want me to do here," I replied getting very annoyed.
"Can you help me put this in my camera? I can't figure it out on my own"
"I can't do anything for you if you don't have it here," I almost shouted. "It's easy to put in. You should be able to do it yourself."
"No, I probably couldn't figure it out." He then milled around and came back. "Wait, I remember. I think I have it in my car. Wait here and I'll go get it."

Infuriated now after the hellish day I already experienced, I decided I would definitely not satisfy his request. I closed everything up and got the hell out of there wondering on the way out as I fumed if he actually showed up again; dumbfounded by my absence or if like a true creep, got back in his car and left. Just another typical day at work...