It is Dawn's birthday today! Happy brithday sis!
News of the amazing - I mowed my lawn today and it all fit
in one bag. This may seem trivial to you, but for me, it's
a big deal.
And of course I played Morrowind. I showed some trader to a nearby
town and she gave me these magic boots. Afterwards I found out
there is a price on her head for selling "shoddy goods."
Great, now if I sell these boots someone will probably beat me
up for selling damaged goods. Worse yet, if I try to use them,
who knows what would happen. It's a good thing they won't fit
on my big Argonian feet.
Picked up Ron today at the airport. His flight was delayed over
2.5 hours. He described as the Simpson's Comic Book Guy might:
"Worst. Flight. Ever."
Nothing like drinking on a school night. To relieve stress we
walked up the Ice & Fuel and had drinks with Ann & Alex.
They also brought Mike. And then two other coworkers showed up.
It was getting pretty rowdy and the bartender had to ask if there
were any more of us who were coming, as we kept taking tables
and jamming them together and ordering food all out of order.
I was nice and toasty. Glad I walked.
I left early, but every one had to come to my place because Mike's
battery had died and I had to get out of bed to jump it.
Actually went to work today. But then again, so did Ron. He just
doesn't understand the concept of vacation. After work, we left
to go shopping for the party at my place on the Fourth. Ron and
Alex were kind enough to buy most of the party supplies, since
it was their idea to have it anyway. I just had to buy my own
alcohol and the dead animal flesh.
More drinking! In the evening Ron and Ann went off to Alton.
Ironically, Geoff came over from Alton and was ready for some
alcohol So we finished off my bottle f gin I had for the party
and broke into the beer too.
Party at my place. I will post some pictures when I get them
developed. It was pretty successful, except I got all excited
and started having anxiety and had to chill. I finally conceded
that the only way I will get my Smokey Joe to actually cook food
is if I use what I consider way too much charcoal. But it worked.
My brats and dogs were cooked in time and delicious.
The local fireworks are just blocks away, so we could all see
the show from my backyard. Pretty cool.
Off course there was lots of drinking. Hey
it's a party, after all. It was unavoidable really, since were
were playing the "Aliens drinking game." It started
with drinking whenever Ripley lays down the law, but we ended
up with lots of rules. We had to drink whenever:
- Ripley starts laying down the law
- Ripley acts motherly to Newt
- Newt acts like an adult
- Hudson panics
- Ripley and Hicks bat eyes at each other
- Gorman shows his woeful incompetence
- Vasquez acts like a man (lots of drinking here)
- Burke acts like a slimy corporate tool
Come to think of it, there should have been a rule for Bishop,
but oddly we didn't have one. Something like "Bishop acts
more human then Burke."
Went into work again. But three days of heat and drinking
made me ill. I went home and skipped the baseball game I was supposed
to see. I stayed at home and started feeling better. I played lots
of Morrowind. Then for some stupid reason, I started drinking again.
It was one of those hangovers that required a bit of the "hair
of the dog that bit me I guess." And it worked.
Went shopping with Ron at the Galleria - A place I loathe. But
Ron did buy me some Timberland Sandals as payment for watching
the cats while Ann's off fighting forest fires. So that's a bonus.
That evening - More drinking. Went to Hacienda and met up with
Alex, Ben and Chezna to drink margaritas. We shut the place down.
Not having enough alcohol we went back to my place to drink more
and play Scattegories. I'm pretty sure Chezna cheating on the
letter "N." I don't think there is such an animal as
a Narbo Shark and Neggs is not a breakfast food.
Ron and I didn't get up till noon (last nights party didn't end
till 4am). It was definitely one of those lazy days. At one point
we went out to look at stuff at REI and then get some healthy
food for dinner at Whole Foods.
Later, Geoff came over for the Sunday Adult Swim ritual. I had
some rum & cokes with him. Just what I needed - more drinking.
Dropped off Ron at the airport this morning. Tonight I
had nothing to drink. Hmmm... Ron's here, every night I drink. Ron's
not here, I don't drink. Clearly Ron is a bad influence on me.
So quiet. No Ron. No Girlie (did I mention I had Ann's
dog last for the past week also?) Just me at home alone. I had to
call up Mike and have him come over to keep me company for a while.
Of course I just made him watch me play Morrowind the entire time.
That night I think a had a dream where all the people in it were
polygonal shapes.
Urgh. Why do I go to the Pizza Hut all you can eat buffet?? I
eat all this pizza and feel bloated and whats worse I never get
the toppings I want. When ever they bring out new pizza to the
buffet table it's like a feeding frenzy as everyone goes for the
best pieces. I swear some kid bit my hand today. Anyway, all I
am left with is the freak pizzas like the "strawberry"
pizza. No one ever touches those.
Got up, went to work, came home, played Morrowind.
Got up, went to work, came home, played Morrowind.
Bill and I went a saw
Men in Black II and Minority
Report. MIB2 was pretty good, but certainly not as good as
the first. I did like the "locker Aliens," probably
because it was a) new and b) short. See, the big
problem with this movie is that it took all good bits (emphasis
on "bits") from the first movie and played them out
as long jokes in this one, most notably the worm guys and Frank
the talking pug. Somethings are just best left in small doses.
Minority report was really good, if a little predictable. Afterwards
I told Bill you just can't go wrong when turning a Philip K. Dick
novel into a movie. Even when Ah-nold is starring in one.
Of course, very few of these movies end up being remotely like
the books, but for some reason it's the magic touch for a good
sci-fi film. Another nifty thing was the return of Speilberg's
playfulness. Even though the movie is a "serious" movie,
there are plenty of off the wall humor moments that used to be
found only in Spielbergs earlier films (like Indiana Jones).
It's Sunday, so that means Geoff came over and we watched Adult
Swim. I was happy because the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode
was my two personal favorites, "Mayhem of the Mooninites."
("Bus of the Undead" is my other favorite, and
it was on just last week.)
Grrr.... typing this for the second time because I accidently
hit "No" when it asked me if I wanted to save. I swear
I am losing my mind and am I in the right profession anyway? Now
this will never be as good as the first time around.
 At
any rate, my drive to work will no longer be as fun as my drive
home. For the past couple of months Dillards
has had this billboard happily greating me on my dreary morning
drudge to work. They also have an identical one on my way home.
But alas! Today the one on the way to work was replaced by some
stupid Disney ad for the new straight-to-video sequel "Tarzan
and Jane." But at least for now, I still can look
forward to the drive home and seeing those Kahki Cargo Shorts
by Daniel Cremuix.
I freaking hate memory! You would think that after all these
years the computer industry would have solved this problem with
memory never being compatible. But Nooooo! I order some new memory
for a workstation here at work and I swear it's the exact same
thing I ordered before but do they match? No! I even went to the
same manufacturers "memory selcector" tool on the internet
to find the memory. But I did switch up vendors. But still they
should have been the same, damnit! *grumble grumble SDRAM grumble
unchecked buffer grumble grumble grumble eat me! This old memory
has a big Dell sticker on it. It's not the same! I am losing
my mind!*
Uploaded the Fourth
of July pictures today. After coming up with captions for
all the pictures, I don't feel like typing anything else.
I spoke too soon. The Dillard's poster on the
way home is now gone too. *sigh*
Geoff came over tonight and we watched Fargo
and about half of American
Beauty. After Geoff left I was feeling antsy and wanted to
get out. But lately, none of my friends seem to want to go out
anymore, so I often end up just going by myself. This was after
1am, mind you, so I only have four bars to choose from at this
point. Magnolias
and The
Complex would shut down at about 2:30am, and Faces
is just too scary anymore. So I hopped in the car and drove off
to Boxers
& Briefs, which is about 40 minutes away in the middle
of nowhere, Illinois.
It's odd, but I really like that place -- as a bar (although
the strippers certainly don't hurt). It's probably the quietest
gay bar I have been in ever, it's never packed, and surprisingly
- for what it is - it seems cleaner and less seedy then other
popular places like Faces and The Complex (neither of which I
have been to this year yet). But it is expensive: a bottle of
Miller Lite costs $4.25, the cigarettes are like $5.25, and of
course you are expected to tip the strippers. If you give the
bartender a $20 for a beer, you will get 15 singles back. Of course,
this is easily avoided by sitting at a table rather then the bar
or the back stage.
It's like 100 frickin' degrees outside, and I had to mow the
lawn. It hadn't been mown in three weeks and was looking pretty
scraggly. By the time I got to the front yard, my eyes were burning
from sweating so much in them. Then the tree out front is dropping
leaves like it's October and when I mowed over them they turned
into dust and that got in my eyes as well and acerbated the problem.
After that nightmare I just went inside and played Morrowind (once
my vision cleared) for the rest of the day.
It was even hotter today. I stayed inside all day playing Morrowind
or doing chores. Just too hot. But I went over to Bill & Don's
later for dinner and to get input from them so I can design a
better website for them. I meant to go home early, but then Adult
Swim came on and after that ended we went out and got ice cream.
As Bill and I sat down to eat our ice cream, we found Buffy
the Vampire Slayer (the movie, not the series) just starting.
I had only seen it once, a long time ago and then I fell asleep
during it. So I ended up watching the whole thing and not getting
home till 2am - on a school night.
Thunderstorms today. So I played Morrowind all night. I am now
fully outfitted in glass armor, which for some illogical reason
is the toughest armor you can apparently get in this game. Looks
wicked cool too.
Tried to go to dinner at Cafe Eau in the Central West End. I
say "tried" because Mike was convinced they were open
late and we could get food after 10pm. Must rememeber to not listen
to Mike - the kitchen closed just as we had arrived. I was starving
and now all I had to eat was the Karen Walker special: three olives
soaked in gin.
One I started talking to Mike again (after about 45 minutes worth
of sulking and growling), we discussed the word "eau."
I always thought that it meant "scent," as in "eau
de toilette." Mike told me it meant "water." So
I laughed because that means "eau de toilette" means
"tiolet water." Then I realized my translation would
have been "toilet smell," so I guess that isn't much
better.
Went out for a bike ride and rewarded myself by playing
Morrowind the rest of the evening. I have now completed the seven
pilgramages.
Bill, Don and I saw Goldmember
tonight. Special screening. After a really funny opening with a
number of cameos (Gweneth Paltrow as "Dixie Normous!"-
I'm still laughing over that one), it kind of lagged for a while.
But then, it suddenly picks up a lot of speed and once again, I
found myself belly laughing so hard I am surprised I didn't get
the hiccups. Expect even more toilet humor and visual gags. Once
again, my favorite is probably the "superimposed shadow"
joke - this time with Austin and Mini-Me. (Yes, they reuse a lot
of jokes, but they make up for it be making fun of the fact that
they are using the same jokes.)
A few days ago, Alex sent me pictures of the 4th
of July party that Chezna had taken. Included with them were
some pictures of lemurs and I had no idea where those came from.
Today, I get this email from Alex:
From: Welsko, Alexandra
Sent: Friday, July 26, 2002 10:48 AM
To: Roark Bradley (E-mail)
Subject: leapin' lemurs
Brad-lee,
My pocket lemurs are quite angry that you have not posted the
pictures of them that I sent to you on your website. Normally,
they're
quite shy, but they seem to think that it's time for a little
more exposure.
Although, they have some concerns that you mention that you
liked "A.I."
since that movie made me want to physically harm most of the
folks involved
with its production. Being at home made me realize how much
I missed one of
my favorite St. Louis pastimes: bugging Brad.
Hee hee. The lemurs
are waiting.
Now how was I supposed to know? Why would I want to put Lemurs
on my website? So I responded:
From: Roark, Bradley
C.
Sent: Friday, July 26, 2002 2:44 PM
To: 'Welsko, Alexandra'
Subject: RE: leapin' lemurs
But I never saw the
lemurs! I didn't know what they were about! Am I now to become
spokesman for Zoboomafoo?
(although that Chris Kratt sure is cute...) Fine, I'll shrink
em and post em just for you.
Alex gave me a reason:
From: Welsko, Alexandra
Sent: Friday, July 26, 2002 1:48 PM
To: 'Roark, Bradley C.'
Subject: RE: leapin' lemurs
Even more important than promoting Zoboomafoo is promoting the
Duke
University Primate Center where I met my very first lemur.
Actually, the Coquerel's Sifaka (a very very close relative
of the lemur, but not actually called a lemur by those who are
concerned with such things) that you see in the opening of the
Zoboomafoo show lives at the Primate Center. His name is Romeo,
I think. As my final project for my natural resources management
class last year, I prepared a conservation plan for the lemurs
of Madagascar (the only place they're found in the wild), and
when I was ALL finished, I couldn't help but think something
was missing from the report, so I created a 65-page appendix
with information and pictures (LOTS of pictures) of each of
the lemur, sifaka, and aye-aye subspecies (Definitely look at
the Aye-ayes; they look like Rocky). I think my professor thought
I was nuts. Anyway, they would greatly appreciate a nod on your
web page since they're just about the cutest little buggers
around (and HIGHLY endangered). Okay, back to work. Did you
know they feed them Purina monkey chow at the primate center?
That always made me laugh. Okay, really, back to work. BYE!
So Alex, here's your lemurs:
Once again, the heat index was over a hundred degrees this weekend,
so I basically stayed inside all day. I went grocery shopping
and that's about it. Oh yeah, Mike come over later and we watched
Pee-Wee's
Big Adventure.
Larry stopped by today and convinced me to go with him to Lowes
because he needed a new pot for his ficus. I told him I didn't
need to go to Lowes because I would want to spend money. But he
starred at me with eyes not unlike those lemurs above,
and I acquiesced. So of course we go there and Larry doesn't buy
his pot (they had only one and it was chipped), but I walk away
with $50 worth of stuff. Truthfully though, it is about time I
bought a garden hose. I have the most brown yard on the block.
Truly tonight I am the suburbanite. I trimmed the weeds off the
patio, spent the night going out every half-hour to switch the
sprinkler, cleaned the litter boxes (all three of them) and took
out the garbage. Welcome to ... the
burbs.
Nothing exciting happened today. I went biking and played Morrowind.
Today was much like yesterday - biking and Morrowind.
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