Hi!

- *snerk*

- I'm reading Lord of the Rings again. I haven't read through the trilogy in years. I'm very caught up on the lore, know more about Tolkie's intent, have spent hours on websites explaining Lord of the Rings mythos in-depth (from Tolkien's own letters), but I liked the movies so much that the books seem less grand.

Of course, the books are fantastic. They were the original that fantasy is based on today. And they are different. Gandalf is better in the books. I can't decide about Boromir. I love Sean Bean as Boromir, and the scenes where he shows his humanity and decency are among the best of the films. In the book though, he seems even more noble.

- My back hurts. Work was terrible yesterday. Power in Alma went down except for the street McDonald's is on, because we share a line with the hospital. And someone quit and so it was a bad day. But it's over. Woot.

- I'll try to be funny tomorrow. Goodnight!

so few things, so much time

- Mike needs about 840 more signatures. I'm going to try and get out with him on Saturday. It depends heavily on my car being fixed. This is a big deal, though. For a long time a lot of us have talked about doing things but he actually is. Good for him.

- I just had a huge glass of Kool-Aid. Oh YEAH!

- Steve McNair was found shot four times. This has been a bad few weeks for celebrities. Although his girlfriend was killed too. Users of Oxy-clean - Beware!

- This was the first non-completely stressful shift I've had in awhile. It was nice. I doodled a bit. I drew a nine-tentacled monster named Spotty.

- I'm thinking I'll try going even if my car isn't fixed. I have to work at 3, so maybe I'll leave around 8am. It depends on how early he wants to go, I guess. Then I can get back home around 2, or 2:30, depending on how many times my car dies.

- Tuesday is sleeping behind me. She looks so cute!!

off to work this independence day

- Let's hear it for our soon-to-be Federal Representative, Michael VanKleeck!! Way to go, bro.

- No fireworks for my family today. That's sad =/

- I'm off to work. Hope you all had a great day!

3rd of July

- Not much to say today. I don't think I'm going to make it to the Tea Party. I was really looking forward to hearing Mike's speech. But 1-3 thousand people is 1-3 thousand people too many, and my car isn't the most reliable.

- I feel soo tired right now. I don't know why. I slept fine, and for a good amount of time. I have to work tonight, and it's draining the life out of me.

- Slow news day. Check out my wife's updated blog. Good stuff.

writings on writing

- First off, let me say that I know I am not a great writer. I know I haven't published anything; I know that I will never have a great cult of readers who hang upon my every word and discuss which of my books are canon. I'm well aware.

However, I know there are writers which do have some or all of these things that I am not worthy to judge, but I am going to anyway.

What bothers me most is the way humor is treated. If your book is going to be funny, please, PLEASE move past the tired cliches of a saturday morning cartoon. You know, the kind that makes 8-year olds go, "Haha! He's so cool!"

No more comment. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's probably because it's all in my head.

- By the way, Nickelback won a bunch of awards lately. I know who Nickelback is because they have about 3 songs that play every time I do an overnight. Anyway, their one song, I think it's called "If Today Was Your Last Day," ticks me off. I think I might have mentioned this in a note on Facebook, but for those of you who find that forum too "girly" (which makes no sense, honestly... hmm, that can be point 3), here it is again. The first line of the song is "My best friend gave me the best advice."

See? Professional lyricists using the same word twice in a single sentence, and not in a cool compare/contrast way. He just didn't want to have to work! The song isn't horrible, by Nickelback standards, but I can't get past the insanity that is the first line. It's not like he made up the song on the spot, in which case it's understandable. But he wrote, and rewrote, and then edited, and then had managers look at it, and production guys, etc. He WANTED to use the same word twice in the first sentence. If you hear it, you'll know what I mean about not intending the word to be some kind of link between the two phrases. He acts like "best friend" makes "best" unlike the "best" in "best advice."

I brought this up at work and the crew call me a snob. It's true, but Chad Kroeger gets paid a lot of money. The least he can do is some oratorical variance.

- Facebook. I've heard some say that "it's for girls." 2 possibilities. The people saying this truly believe that the facebook website is actually feminine, that staying in touch with people is for women only, that sending notes one facebook is like applying lipstick.... OR they don't know much about it, are too lazy to get their own account, and rather than learn/try/take time out of their day to do it, they make up an argument that has no meaning or validity.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go take a quiz about what kind of handbag accessory I couldn't live without...

thoughts on death

- Michael Jackson, the Lady mom used to do her hair after, and the Oxy-Clean guy all died recently. One of each gender.

Some people are glad about Michael Jackson, some people distraught. The best thing I can say about Michael Jackson is that someone made an AWESOME WoW parody of its "Billie Jean." Also, it brought a lot of humor into this world with its baby-dangling exploits.

- Fable 2 is not as good as Fable 1, in my opinion. This is because I am all about characters. I spent more time creating characters and writing them biographies on Icewind Dale 2 (my all time favorite game) than actually playing the game. Fable 2 gives you a hideously disproportionate character (Jay Leno was obviously their model) that will be in his mid-50s to mid-70s by the end of the game. Fable 1 did that too, but thanks to cheats and trainers on the PC, I could fix that. My character still looks like a cool hero is supposed to look, while in Fable 2, he looks like a pirate that lived through the Depression.

- Back to death. When the wicked fall, should we rejoice? it seems classless, but at the same time, the fact that they WILL fall is a source of comfort and encouragement. So when it happens, are we suppsoed to feign regret/remorse, or maybe just pity?