Shush, Christine.
2003-10-29 - 7:33 a.m.
So, on the way home from work this morning, I hit traffic, and became convinced that my car wanted to go on one big rampage before it dies, taking as many other vehicles with it as possible.
See, Ender is dying. Ender needs about $3000 worth of work done to him, which far exceeds his value. Among other things, he needs transmission bearings worked on, as well as the CV boot, whatever that is.
I don't think it helped his mood that the van in front of us was tailing the car in front of it and kept braking suddenly. I finally left several cars' worth of following space, and this seemed to calm Ender down a bit.
There is a line of bush leading part of the way down the street to my trailer park instead of sidewalk. It's a narrow road, and the bush part is dangerous for pedestrians. Even a dirt path instead of bushes would be an improvement.
To appease Ender's apparent thirst for destruction, I drove him through some of the bushes, after carefully checking for pedestrians. He appears to be appeased for now, and is adorned here and there by various shrubbery bits.
On a totally unrelated note, fall time change is annoying, because working 6pm to 6am can be 13 hours long. This is the end of a 49-hour work week. I wonder, when I recover, whether my car will continue to communicate with me.
My favorite anime??
2003-10-08 - 5:06 a.m.
This was going to be a comment on fub's journal, but I ran into posting problems, "[Error: DBIx::StateTracker: could not reconnect to database @ w17]"... anyway...
My favorite anime? Hmm... Hmm... Hmmmm....
Well, my favorite anime this minute is Last Exile. It's beautiful. The characters are well-defined. The steam punk is really funky and cool. It's really beautiful. The story builds up and increases in pace over time. The characters are likable and have integrity. Did I mention how beautiful it is?
Runners up for favorite anime of the minute:
Seikai no Monshou / Crest of the Stars (and follow-ups): epic, beautiful, and cute.
Figure 17: wacky, fun cross-genre action/character development, and cute.
Full Moon o Sagashite: great music, cute, and hey, magical girl type plot.
Haibane Renmei: love the characters, sense of nakama, and cute.
Kanon: A fun emotional roller coaster with mystery, suspense, and cute.
Kokoro Library: Sweet and slow as molasses... did I mention I can eat blackstrap molasses by itself? Character development almost to the exclusion of plot... and cute.
Lupin III: All the fun of James Bond with more teamwork and fun.
Noir: girls with guns, and cute girls with guns, and Kirika.
Pita Ten: How do you make a plot as tangled as a soap opera and set it in an elementary school setting? Well, adding an angel and demon, both in training, helps. Cute!
Stellvia of the Universe: Ender's Game meets Azumanga Daioh!, in a good way! And cute.
To Heart: Sweet and slow and cute.
Touch: baseball, romance, and the girl next door, by my favorite artist, Adachi Mitsuru. Cute!!
you're going to hit that car
2003-10-03 - 11:41 a.m.
Ade and I made it to San Diego somehow. My car went 378 miles on under 11 gallons somehow. At Salinas, she was going to take over the driving, but hit a car somehow.
It was a parked car. I announced she was going to hit it, but she didn't react in time, and luckily only the bumper's paint was affected. It was right near an auto body shop that had just painted it, and we gave them $50 to repaint the bumper. :) Ender, my car, has a new dent, but that's not really a big deal for him...
L.A. was awful. I don't remember ever feeling that bad from smog before, and we got stuck in rush hour traffic, so we were there for a while. I did get to take the Fullerton Road shortcut, which was nice. We visited my mom for a bit, but she just had surgery, so she wasn't feeling great. We had dinner at Rutabeggorz and made it easily down to Nolly's place without further traffic or accidents. I slept 10 hours without the aid of melatonin.
This entry was made with a Mac.
hot hot hot... ahh, SF
2003-09-22 - 6:12 p.m.
Since it's been really way too hot here, I think I'll go relax in San Francisco on Thursday... maybe hit the pirate store and the nearby organic juice/oxygen bar, and probably other neat places. Anyone want to join me? I'm not sure of times yet, but since it's a long weekend, I may as well sleep at night when it's cool, so I can be there when it's cool there and hot here. So probably late morning until early evening.
Andrew's Good Day
2003-09-20 - 9:31 p.m.
So, I woke up and called Anthony. I told him what freeway and exit I'm near, and he lives in the same area! We met at the local Starbucks like 5 minutes later. He was very happy, shook my hand again, and gave me $5 "for gas or Starbucks or whatever." He also said that I had his number and to call if I was every in a situation like he was in.
I had a large iced soy chai. Mmmm.
The end.
East Bay Adventure, or Warm Potato-Worm Pudding
2003-09-20 - 9:09 p.m.
So, I was bored and looking for something to do. Debbio was going off to a Unitarian counsel conference, and wondered if I wanted to take her there and hang out in Berkeley beforehand. Let me think... Yes!
So we went and, with Bug's help, found the New World Vegetarian restaurant in Oakland. We shared spicey fish and bbq chicken (both vegetarian meat-like-textured substances). They were both very yummy. Mmm. I can't believe how good the fish substitute is... omnivores and vegans agree!
For dessert, we had vegan flan and vegan taro root pudding. The flan was very good, indistinguishable from my memory of the eggy kind, and Debbio said it was actually a smoother, nicer texture than the real thing. The pudding... that was another story.
It was supposed to be some form of tapioca pudding. It did have tapioca pearls in it. It also had bits of green stuff, something like potato chunks (taro root?), and something that was a bit worm-like. They weren't worms, but I don't know what they were. Did I mention the pudding was warm? The worst part was the texture. Together we finished maybe 1/8th of it before we decided we were quite done with it.
We stopped by Bug's to visit briefly and get directions to the chuch formerly known as the First Unitarian Church of Kensington, which was for some reason changed to the Unitarian Berkeley Fellowship, or something like that (think about the original abbreviation...). We got a bit lost, but finally, I dropped her off and drove back to Bug's to visit. As I pulled up, my phone rang. It was Debbio's mom... there was no one there at the church, and could I go back and get her?
She called again on the way there to tell me it was at the Unitarian church that is actually in Berkeley. She gave us directions on the way, which had a critical error, and sent us on a wild chase for a street that only exists on the other side of University Avenue. After hours of driving around, we got to the right church. I hung out for a while, but left when they all started going to bed, since I wasn't tired yet and had no Melatonin handy. Mental note: keep some in the car...
A bit tiring, but a fun adventure nonetheless...
Anthony's bad night
2003-09-19 - 6:20 a.m.
I went to church! Umm, 2 weeks ago, almost. It was nice. But this other story is fresh on my mind right now...
I was driving home from feeding Bart and Milhouse their cat food and stuff, stopped at Safeway for groceries, then drove around randomly. I decided to drive down Bascom towards Los Gatos, when I saw the Mini Gourmet. I remembered I was still dressed like a pirate because today (Friday) is International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and decided that would be a great place to eat and talk like a pirate. Well, it was. I thought about the song "Wide Open Spaces" by the Dixie Chicks, and I suppose it fit with my random driving around.
I left and continued down a few more blocks in the direction of Los Gatos, thinking a 7-11 Slurpee would also be nice, when I saw a 7-11. I stopped in and got a Red Slurpee (cherry), when I heard the guy in front of me in line asking the cashier about something. Then he turned and asked me whether I thought gasoline would melt a 2-litre soda bottle. I said it would be fine, though I wasn't sure about fitting the nozzle in.
I paid for the Slurpee and started towards my car. The customer bought his Coke and asked me if I could help him. He wanted a ride to Hamilton Avenue to a gas station, and possibly back to the freeway.
I don't know exactly why, but I agreed to at least drive him to the gas station. His name is Anthony. He filled up the 2 litre bottle, gave me $6, called his girlfriend, and I drove him back to his car on 280. He shook my hand, and I drove off, thinking about how I hadn't felt a need to wait and make sure he got it started. He had nearly a gallon, and I figured he'd probably be fine, but I'd probably never have any further contact with him.
I drove home, set my slurpee down to collect some groceries, reached back towards the Slurpee, and picked up a cell phone that wasn't mine. I stared at it for less than a minute before it rang.
Some time tonight, Anthony will be calling me to find some place to meet to return his phone. Heehee.
registration
2003-09-03 - 1:26 p.m.
Nooo! I really was going to register my car today. Honest.
I found the renewal form to take with me, and it does require a smog check this year. I'm getting it smogged friday, then getting it registered.
nifty torcon!
2003-08-30 - 11:32 a.m.
Torcon is nifty. I have lots of nifty stuff. People here are nifty. I miss nifty people who are not here. The transit system is nifty. Wonderland has lots of nifty roller coasters. My stomache is not feeling so nifty overall with the 14-hour time shift from my "normal" sleeping schedule. The gay bed & breakfast is nifty... Thechick is apparently the only girl there, and I'm the only straight guy. Canada is really nifty. I think I'll throw together a nifty post-travel page on http://www.canadia.info, since I already own that domain. Nifty, eh?
going postal
2003-08-25 - 4:30 a.m.
Thursday morning I went to mail cookies and get my OK Soda ready to be mailed as soon as I got the money from the eBay auction.
The box was over a pound, so it was $3.95 for priority mail. This also meant that when I woke up that evening, after the post offices had closed, I could not simply drop it off. Due to increased security measures, items weighing over 16 ounces (1 pound) and bearing stamps must be handed to a retail clerk.
Friday afternoon I went back to the post office with Ade. There was a long line, and only one cashier, but a second person was offering to process pick-up items. Ade asked if it was okay to give her a package that was already stamped and ready to go. We handed it over. Whew.
Saturday afternoon I woke up to find that a CD I ordered had arrived and been brought into the house. There was also a box! I was expecing a video tape...
I was not expecting my package returned to me, with a note that because of increased security, all packages weighing over 1 pound and bearing stamps must be handed to a post office clerk. Arghh!!!
I raced over to the post office, knowing it was probably closed. It was. I used the payphone there to call 1-800 ASK-USPS. I got confused by the phone menu and wound up getting information on the post office I was at. At this point, I took the receiver from my ear and started trying to hit the phone booth with it. I missed, and I still have a scab on my left middle finger, right near but not on one of my knuckles.
Then I listened some more and discovered the office phone of the post office I was at hadn't closed yet! I called them with my cell and explained my situation. "I'm sorry, sir. If you could come back on Monday..."
"No, I work nights, and this is the end of my weekend..."
"Well, I'm about to leave the office for the day..."
"I'm at this post office right now..." I'm also leaving pretty much right after this work week for Toronto for the weekend... I'd have to apologize to the poor eBay buyer or send the can from frickin' Canada or something...
"Oh? Where are you? I'll come meet you."
She took the package and assured me it wouldn't get returned to me again. Ahh. I thanked her profusely and calmed down prety quickly.
chocolate memories
2003-08-24 - 7:58 p.m.
Memories melting together like chocolate. Mmm.
I sent out some cookies. I'll send more out to other people some time after Torcon. Mmm, Toronto. Mmm, cookies.
Debbio convinced me it would be a good idea to take her to a concert not far from the places where we live. The catch is, she was at a conference an hour's drive away this weekend. An hour to the conference, an hour back to the concert, then another hour back to the conference, and an hour home. The band was Mr. T Experience. It didn't take much convincing.
The doors opened at 6:30pm, with 3 opening bands before MTX. We arrived at 10pm, not far into their set, as I counted at least 12 songs. They waved us in without making us pay as we'd shown up so late. Mmm... it was a good show. There was some tentative moshing that wasn't horribly out of control, though Debbie switched places with me so I'd be closer to the pit, and I did take a blast of sweat from this guy who was flinging his hair around. Ew.
Some of the money that would have gone to the show went to $5 t-shirts and a CD. We went to Shell, loaded up on caffeinated beverages, and went back to the conference.
The conference is a Unitarian teen thing that is more fun than I remember church youth activities being. I wound up hanging out till about 7am listening to new Debbie songs and sitting around and playing 10 fingers and chatting. I had so much fun that I will probably go to the November con officially as a con adult.
Slept, then got to see Bug and Chucklemagne and Thechick at the park. We even played 10 fingers, which I had just learned. Basically, you say something you haven't done, and if anyone else has, they put a finger down. Depending on what you're going for, you try to be the first one to put all 10 fingers down and be out, or you try to get everyone else out first.
We went to Bug's grandmother's house, and I stayed for dinner. It was fun and relaxing and tasty, and the conversation was good.
time travel interview: me at almost 24
2003-08-22 - 4:46 a.m.
Today I'm interviewing the 23-year-old me from an early Thursday morning in June 1993.
"What am I doing here?"
"Hi, Todd. This'll just be a quick interview."
"How do you know my name? This place is a mess..."
"Never mind that. I want to hear about your little adventure at the beach tonight..."
"You look familiar. You... you're me! But older! Or maybe it's just the Vicodin... maybe I'm not really here..."
"I understand you, Suzanne, Carol, and Adam went to Linda Mar beach tonight."
"Yes."
"Tell me what happened."
"We were a little bit cold... we were lying down on the beach. I dug my feet in the sand to warm them up, and Suzanne was using me as a pillow. We were finally cuddling, and it was... it was very nice... "
"What do you think would have happened if you hadn't been interrupted?"
"How do you... well anyway, I don't know, probably would have stayed that way a long time, then gone back home... why are you smirking?"
"Sorry. Go on, Todd."
"This girl shined a light at us and asked us what time it was. Then a little later this light kept shining in our eyes. It was very distracting, and I was getting annoyed. Finally, while the light was on me, I stuck my tongue out in the general direction of the light. A moment later, suddenly, I was surrounded by kicking, and I don't know what all happened, but I broke some nails in there somewhere, and before I knew it, some guy handed me me glasses, but one of the lenses was gone."
"Oh yeah, it was one of those frames with metal over the top of the lense and like fishing wire on the bottom."
"Right. Uhh..." Uh-oh, he's looking at me funny again. "I thought we'd all gotten beat up. Suzanne helped me back to the car, while Carol and Adam went to Denny's to call for paramedics. I saw there was blood on Suzanne's face! I freaked out till she said, 'It's okay, Todd, it's your blood.' Hey, it wasn't that funny... We tried to start Carol's car, but it's an automatic, and I didn't know you had to have the brake down for it to start. Finally, the paramedics came and asked me lots of silly questions. 'Do you know what day it is?' 'Well, it *was* Wednesday....'"
"I'll bet Suzanne was relieved to hear you had your sense of humor back."
"Er, she was. Okay, Todd. This is obviously my, er, your house. Look at the pile of mail and junk on the kitchen table! Look at the dishes in the sink! Gee, there's the new Oingo Boingo CD, or it's new where I come from... there are my old Mash tapes!"
"Not again, younger Todd. Please let me finish this interview. This was a very important time in my life, and I have a few more questions."
"Okay, fine. Be stubborn; I should expect it. I had a feeling after all this that I would be spending a lot more time with Suzanne for a while... it's the kind of crazy event that can bond people together... obviously I was right, or this event wouldn't stay stuck in my... our head. Oh, and you can't have forgetten the whole Satan Hospital thing. They kept saying they were taking me to Satan Hospital, which was freaking me out, since I'd never heard of Seton Hospital before..."
"Yeah, that was a riot."
"Now I have some questions for you. I'm going to date her for a while, right? Kiss her?"
"Yes."
"Cool. Bet we're still a virgin. Or did you marry someone?"
"No, you're right."
"And still some kind of vegetarian? Did Linda finally talk you into becoming vegan?"
"Not long after you started dating Suzanne. Boy, was she pissed off... tried to shove a chocolate ice cream cone in our face..."
He glanced over at a calendar. "2003! This is ten years later! You must have your computer science degree! I'll bet you make a ton of money... wait, why are you telling me so much about the future? I'm not going to remember this, am I?"
"It's about time for you to go on to your next dream, Todd."
"No fair! There's so much I want to know... Oh, getting sleepy..."
He's fallen asleep, and started to fade away already. He caught on pretty quickly... maybe it was all the vicodin. Anyway, that was the real spark that kicked off my first real relationship, just before my 24th birthday.
Interview thing comes back around
2003-08-18 - 2:03 a.m.
This time, I'm interviewed by Firetigr.
I've done this interview thing once before, and the same question came up. I hope you don't mind, but with a few edits, here is the same answer again.
I went through several stages. The first, and I think the most influential thing, was a conversation I had at McDonald's around 1989. By the way, my favorite restaurant used to be McDonald's. Over burgers, Dori talked to me about vegetarianism. I had heard of it before, but hadn't considered it. She was considering it, and said meat is bad for your aura. I wasn't too concerned about that, but I thought hey, I could try vegetarianism... once I move out of my parents' house.
She flirted with vegetarianism. I went off to college in 1991, at San Jose State. I was introduced to dorm (er, residence hall) food at a place known as the Dining Commons. At the D.C. I could get all the food I wanted per meal ticket. There was also a cafeteria open to the public where I could get certain amounts of money worth per meal.
I was a fan of bacon and burgers, and that was most of the meat I ate. D.C. bacon I would blot with 7 napkins per slice before eating it... it was that greasy. Then a few things happened... I had a Gardenburger at the fancy cafeteria (with side of bacon, which confused them to no end when I ordered it), and the McLean Deluxe at McDonald's. The Gardenburger was quite tasty. The McLean Deluxe was one of the most disgusting things I'd ever tasted. It was supposed to be a lower-fat, healthier burger. Bleh. No wonder it didn't last long.
I stopped eating red meat late in 1991. I think it was mainly for taste reasons. I went through various other stages for various reasons, settling on being vegan for health reasons a little after my sister Linda converted. I turned vegan some time in August, 1993. My SO at the time, and Carolhiggy, gave me about a month to last as a vegan, and my SO even tried to shove a Baskin Robbins chocolate ice cream cone in my face. Thank you both for helping my resolve... it's 10 years this month. :)
Once I was vegan, I realised there are more extreme types than vegans. That I know of, there are raw vegetarians and fruitarians. I don't mind eating their food... some if it is pretty good... but I think plain old veganism works for me.
Ouch. One thing? Hmmm... for people to really understand each other, not just on the surface.
I don't remember ever singing in the shower. I haven't really thought about it. I do often sing in the car, especially when the car stereo works.
Hmm... okay, that's easy. The Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (pen name: Lewis Carroll). Genius, and we might even have a lot to talk about.
Kindness. Amusing people. Oh, and that big castle I'm going to build... yeah...
creative energy, cats, and horses, oh my
2003-08-13 - 12:51 a.m.
Ugh, feeling creative energy again, like I'm fit to burst if I don't do something with it soon.
Don't get me wrong... creative energy is a good thing... just really don't know what to do with it right now.
Hmm, I do need to eat for a few days with little money till my cheque comes on Friday. Maybe I can do something for now like available food in cupboards + small purchase + creative energy = fantastic eats! At least, something edible.
Other avenues of expression I have followed in the past include writing fiction, writing poetry, various types of art, web design, writing for anysize.org, case mods, and at least once an online form of beat poetry. Maybe I should try some more beat poetry... I might have a future in it...
In other news, a cat added me to his Livejournal friends list recently, so I added him back. Yes, I've met him.
And, does anyone know a good place in the SF Bay Area to go horseback riding? I plan to go with an old-fashioned gentleman who knows his way around horses rather well.
random disney vacation
2003-08-10 - 10:19 a.m.
Good things
Thechick
TK (Tiki) Room
Flash passes
Fast passes
Deceptively short line for the Matterhorn
The Blue Bayou and their vegan options and cool, dark atmosphere in the summer
Rides that seat more than two people together
The Pirates of the Caribbean display at the Art Gallery
Ragtime Piano
Good-night Irene
Del Taco, despite the fact that asking for hot sauce twice = mild both times
Red Slurpees
Bad Things
Money problems
Hot air
Lack of air conditioning in the car
Deceptively long line for Splash Mountain
No Country Bears
No People Mover
Dole stand by TK room closing so early
Free Disneyland motel shuttle that goes there once and returns once and way before park closing
Odd Things
A 5-year-old girl on a leash
Little girl at our motel with a t-shirt that said "Bitch"
Sleeping at night
Innoventions at the old America Sings building & "future" stuff
need a little till I get paid...
2003-08-06 - 9:44 a.m.
Heh, anyone local want to buy a little something?
change?
2003-08-06 - 2:45 a.m.
This weekend should prove fun, even though I'm pretty broke. Wednesday night I'm seeing Batboy the Musical. It's $20 for students, and I intend to pay mostly with pocket change ($10 of it in $1 coins). Does anyone want to buy some change, especially quarters, dimes, and nickels? Heehee.
Then on to this little place that has a Tiki Room, a ragtime piano, and a Pirate ride. It may have a few other nifty things too. Thankfully, one of my kind friends is fronting the money for the trip, thanks to a bank that is fronting him money via a small piece of plastic. :)
Something of more substance soon. I found this too amusing though.
2003-08-05 - 7:38 p.m.
Heehee, Lactating Barbie!
If You Were A Barbie, Which Messed Up Version Would You Be?
brought to you by Quizilla
free car wash too
2003-07-31 - 5:29am
I love Wednesdays in general, but tonight was really a blast.
Took two of my favorite people, Debbio and Thechick, to Santa Cruz. We stopped by Staff of Life to get this new vegan cheese alternative stuff, wrapped it up with frozen food to keep it cool, and went on to the Boardwalk.
Traded in Pepsi cans I scrounged from work for the after-5pm special, then on to rides, rides, cotton candy, rides, garlic fries (and cheese-on-a-stick for the cheese-eaters), and oh, more rides.
I lost my Ban-danna on the Giant Dipper late in the evening, so I was only sporting the big pirate earring after that... not quite a complete pirate outfit. We did mini-golf too. They were one short on adult clubs, so the shortest of us (Debbio) got a kid-sized club. I was doing well enough though that half-way through I took the little club instead.
On to Saturn Cafe, where I had olallaberry tofu pie, gingerbread, and a chocolate mint shake (they finally have vegan milkshakes! yay!). I was critisized for eating so much junk food, but c'mon, I eat a lot of healthy stuff, and today was about splurging.
Went to go pet Charybdis till Thechick kicked us out to sleep, then went to pet Boo, then couldn't find Mog or Arlene, so we went to Walgreens... two of them... still no Dan-Banna.
One of the Walgreens did have a very high-shooting broken sprinkler. We drove right up to it, then under the spray very slowly... then back around the other way. Free car wash! It was silly and fun. Debbio went to some sleepover thing, and I went home. I wonder if that fake cheese stuff would be good in lasagna...
Arrr.
2003-07-29 - 12:24 a.m.
There is a Pirate Faire in Southern California, Sept 27 and 28, 2003, in Lake Casitas (in Ojai or thereabouts). I am so totally there. Yahoo! Maps says it's a 5 and a half hour drive from San Jose.
