Gone But Not Forgotten

I really don’t blog as much lately as I once did. It’s not because my life is boring but I am sure some folks would say that. I enjoy my life, my hobbies and the daily things I do. Lately I have found no time for blogging in that mix. It simply doesn’t happen as much as I would like to. I also have to admit that for every 5 posts I actually put up I probably have one that I started and for one reason or another I just never finished. Some are written in anger, some in the heat of the moment, some when I was feel sentimental and others were probably written while I was drunk. They are thoughts I started but never really got around to completing.

Every few years I seem to have a decent sized shift in my life. Most times they involve the friends I have. I know I covered this before but with all my friends moving away I have found I need to fill a decent sized amount of free time. I have done that recently by helping a friend out and spending some time with her daughter. It’s been a rough few weeks but a couple of good things have come out of it. One of the big ones is I finally feel more capable of handling kids. I am as shocked as everyone else. This development has led to a revised baby chat with the wife that finally had a more positive outcome that she had been waiting for. We aren’t trying just yet but Kelsey is now taking prenatal vitamins to help get herself a little better prepared for when we take that final step. I better watch out because that last step in a doozy.

Fun You Can Bank On

We have survived yet another encounter with my family. It was a pretty brief trip but the lack of sleep my wife and I had made it a very long day. We got up early but still had to drive to State College with the sun in our eyes. I had no idea that my Dad was off so we went out with my parents for the afternoon. They wanted to take us to a local restaurant that had been built in an old bank.

It was a cool place, added a picture of it below, but the waitress was a little scattered. We walked in around 11:45 and were promptly handed breakfast menus. We proceeded to look at one side of the menu, at the other side and then at each other. We repeated that process more than a few times. We soon asked for the other menus and eventually got them. I got a pretty good laugh at the hours of operation as we were leaving. I took a picture but I am afraid that people reading it may suffer from brain hemorrhages. It takes a degree to figure out what hours they may be open and what meal you can expect them to be serving at that time of day. It really should not be so complex.

We then went and did some random things around the area. We hit up a town wide garage sale. We went to the mall and I was able to pick up the 3D movie poster for The Rocky Horror Picture Show as well as Neurotically Yours Volume 3. My Foamy the Squirrel collection is once again complete.

It was then time to meet my family for the birthday gathering. It was a pretty good time even if they were watching football the whole time. My aunt was in a pissy mood since Penn State lost and it took her a bit of time to come around and be sociable. We ended up looking at photo albums and other than my Dad making fun of everyone else’s pictures it was enjoyable.

After dinner it was time to meet a former girlfriend. My wife was nervous about the experience and my family was baffled by it. Luckily I don’t care what my family thought and I knew my wife would survive the experience. We met at Perkins to chat for a bit. It’s very weird to talk to someone you have so much history with especially if it is a 50/50 mix of good and bad times. We both still care about each other but there are things about our past we can never get past. I guess you will run into that.

It was a fun trip home but we got up tired and struggled all day to stay awake. I am glad I got to see my family. We don’t have much in common at times but we really do have a good time together once we all just relax and act “normal”.

There Can Be Only ONE!

So Kevin Smith posted an update on MySpace. It seems that Bryan Johnson, Steve-Dave from Mallrats, has been in charge of the West Coast Secret Stash and it’s another job in a long line of jobs he hates. I guess he was in charge of the East Coast Secret Stash and hated it. Then he was in charge of Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash for some time and hated it. So when Kevin needed someone to run the West Coast Secret Stash I guess Bryan was the logical choice……? Anyway, as with the other jobs he grew tired of this one too. Kevin made him a deal and said that if they couldn't find a new person to run the store by the time the lease was up they would close the store and Bryan would be free. I guess Kevin believed he could find a close friend he trusted in time. Turns out he was wrong and the store will be closing in about a month. You can read the full story here.

It’s sad news as I’m such a fan of Kevin but I have to say thank god it isn't the East Coast Secret Stash. Kevin said that he is sad that the store is closing but it was never a real cash cow like the East Coast stash is. That blew my mind until I realized that I've only been there twice and dropped about 400.00 between those trips. Then you look at the record line we had for the one Kevin signing. I guess either we have bigger fans out this way of else there just isn't much else to do. There is a signing event coming up on the 29th of this month and of course I am tempted once again to make the trip. My wife is on board knowing that we can take our camping gear and really see the sights. My sights I am sure she doesn't mean going to see the Quick Stop yet again. I promised my family I would see them during my vacation and I promised my wife we would spend some time together. This really is a way to do those things as well as meet Kevin again and get more shit signed. I can almost taste the White Castle burgers.

The Crazy Man Poses Little Danger

Tonight at work the one guy who works for me called me out to our back dock. He happened to see someone behind our dumpster. I guess there have been a few cases locally of suspicious activities and he had heard a few bizarre stories. I had to stand out there a few minutes before the shadow behind the dumpster moved enough to recognize that it was a person. My view was obstructed by what I was told was a bike. After staring at the black blob in the dark for a bit I clearly saw a hand move around a bit. The thing was over 30 feet away and still creeped me out. I went to tell the boss about this odd event. Before I knew it this one server pacing the dock calling out to this person. He asked if they were ok and they exchanged a few comments that I didn't hear. He said that he had seen the guy eating and he seemed normal. The cops showed up a bit later and took the man, who was pretty drunk from what I heard, away to sober up for the night.

The only thing odder than the mystery man behind the dumpster was the casual way the server blew off the whole thing. Using the defense that the guy had just been inside eating doesn't make the situation any less creepy. I asked him if he had ever heard the phrase “casing the joint” in my usual sarcastic manner. It seems to me that any potential crook would have better odds of success if he knew the number of people he might have to deal with and the layout of the location. It really blew my mind how easily he just brushed the whole thing aside. Maybe I've just seen way too many movies but it is very clear he hasn’t seen enough.

Send In The Next Wave!

I had friends in high school. I left them behind when I went to college. Those friends fell by the wayside when I moved to Orlando. I ended up picking up and leaving them to move here. It’s been 6 years and now everyone for once has picked up and split on me for a change. In a span of a year or so I’ve had pretty much everyone I hung out with pick up and move on. It happens…..I realize this…..but that doesn’t mean I have to adjust to it quickly. I’ve not tried to be a prick but at times I don’t respond to someone because of self loathing and self pity. It’s weird having the tables reversed. Frankly it sucks. I realize in this day and age we have the ability to reach out and touch people in a number of convenient ways. As much as I love my technology it just doesn’t replace human contact. There aren’t many humans I enjoy contact with so when one of the elite moves on it’s a shock to the system. The only ace up my sleeve is they all still have family around here…..so they all have to visit some time. I just have to wait…..patiently.

With the pseudo-loss of old friends comes the attempt at maybe making some new ones. Oh joy. There are high ranking government jobs that require an easier screening process than the one I lay down. Tonight my wife invited 2 people she works with over. It ended up being a real geek fest for us guys while the ladies were utterly clueless. He would ask if I had ever seen [ insert random internet joke, bizarre movie or pop culture event here ] and it would spiral off into a very bizarre conversation. Those people whom I am friends with now should know that while my geek side was out on full force my sarcastic side took the night off. Wondering why he got special treatment you never got for you or your respective other halves huh? I was feeling generous. He’s never seen Shaun of the Dead or Army of Darkness but he enjoyed Serenity so he seems to be a viable candidate.

Just A Quick Note

My blogging time has been greatly decrease lately. It’s mainly due to video games and movies. We have 3 out at a time plans for both Netflix and GameFly so I’m a busy guy. There was also a slight snafu and it seems GameFly sent me 4 games so I am even more swamped with stuff than I expected to be. The main culprit is the new 360 game called Bioshock. The day it came in my wife and I were watching a movie and she understood I wanted to pause it to try my game out. Over 5 hours later I figured it was time to maybe watch the rest of the movie. Since then I have spent many hours a night playing the game and I have been loving it. The story was a bit thin at first so I was a little bummed out but eventually everything fell into place. It’s a beautiful game to look at and I think I would almost be having as much fun if I were watching someone else play it. I am trying to boost my XBOX Gamerscore to 30,000 by the day of my 30th birthday. Thanks to this game I past the 29,000 mark and then some. I have almost a month to get about 800 more points. Shouldn't be too much of an issue. It’s a rather lame goal to some but it’s better to have a lame goal than no goal at all.

The Dangers Of Blank Greeting Cards

Around the time of the wedding entry I gave my wife a card. I picked up an empty shell of a card and proceeded to pretend I was as well trained as those Hallmark professionals. It was a small note to tell my wife I was looking forward to spending time with her after she was done helping to get the wedding pulled off. To me it was sweet and innocent. To my wife it documentation of her inability to care for her husband. Was she implying I was some sort of infant? Sure I like a nipple in my mouth now and then but that hardly validates the point. The argument about the card was short and not because either side won. I simply at one point just stopped caring and I added “kind gestures” to the list of things I will never worry about again.

I guess it’s bad to like attention. I dislike most people but still like making people laugh because I adore the attention. This doesn't mean the attention from my wife is the same as the attention I can get from anyone else. I didn't need the attention from just anyone and I assumed the card might help show that I was waiting for her. It really only showed that I will next time buy a cookie cutter card that someone else carefully worded.