November 2005 Archives

Don't you love the Holidays and the commercialism? Honestly, I love Christmas time. I love the atmosphere, the music, the warmth, etc. But this kills me. Microsoft releases a new video game system which there's bound to be a shortage of during the Holidays (I recall this happening with the Playstation 2 in Fall of 2000, then to a lesser extend during the holidays of 2001 with the Xbox and Gamecube). People intentionally buy them up to sell them to the suckers whose kids desperately want them for Christmas. Oh, I don't know how much a premium xbox 360 costs, maybe $400 if you get one that doesn't come bundled with games, but if that's the case, this dude just made out like a bandit-- $1200 for a $400 system. I can feel the love... er, greed, in the air. Last year the thought occurred to me to buy an extra Nintendo DS or 2 while I had the chance to hawk on eBay, but then I thought better... I didn't want to be one of these (smart but greedy) pieces of crap, hehe.

But I admit... for $800 change in my pocket, I'd probably buy an xbox 360 or 2 myself to sell on eBay.
(actually, I saw an auction that ended at $4000... how's that for some profit on eBay. If I'd just bought me a few xboxes and got them on there early I'd be able to buy all the toys on my wishlist. Oh well.)

So the "big rivalry" game is going on right now-- University of Utah vs. BYU. Yeah I went to BYU once, no I don't care who wins. I haven't even given it much thought except hearing about it here or there throughout the week. But I recall from my dream last night something about the game: Utah winning (I think in overtime.) I remember in my dream wishing BYU would win just to spite someone, but I can't remember who, hehe.

So now I'm curious to see who wins. There's around 8 1/2 minutes on the clock and the game is relatively close (Utah is up 34-31). I'm actually at work, so I'm not watching it-- I just have this ESPN "gamecast" thing up that refreshes and gives me the latest stats on the game.

I usually take my dreams for granted as being random, incoherant, and meaningless. It would be funny if my subconscious was right, though. I guess it'd be more amazing if I could remember a score, since the chances are 50 50 of Utah winning. I should have bet money....

Edit: I needed to post an image to verify that I wrote this post before the game ended. I just saw that it ended 41-34, Utah winning.

I grabbed this as it went into overtime...

Haha. I SHOULD have bet money. At least my brother won't be angry this weekend.

Gah. 3 posts without a single photo? I should be shot. This one was too good not to post.

Man. Sam Hawk, how do I love thee, let me count the ways.

I just had some of the most amazing Korean food. Not that I haven' thad it before, but it was so top notch tonight. Spicy grilled pork, mmmm... can't get enough. And even the kimchi was just... just so tasty, like the perfect combination of tangyness and spicyness. It more than compensates for the exact opposite of what I had for lunch-- rancid curry rice from Teriyaki Stix. What's the slogan there? Taste it, love it, crave it? Try taste it, hate it, purge it... anyone got a better one? I almost forgot about that nastiness with how amazing Sam Hawk was.

I just thought you all should know. I'll ramble more tomorrow.

Yes, there is such a thing.

Quick rant... I guess I write this because I just got an e-mail forward of a couple kids dressed as Napoleon and Pedro for the umpteenth time (each time from someone in the office). I'm lamenting the way a great movie has become too popular.

Napoleon Dynamite is a funny move. I haven't seen it in a long time, don't even think I've watched the DVD I bought when it came out. If I watched it I bet I'd crack up.

BUT THIS MOVIE IS BEING KILLED TO DEATH. It's like a pop song that EVERYONE likes, not just teenagers. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone.

Normally when a movie comes out that my generation cracks up at, it stays with my generation for the most part. I think of movies that my generation quotes like Tommy Boy or So I Married an Ax Murderer. Really there's a specific age range that knows those movies, so when they're quoted, it's funny. They haven't been killed just yet.

But Napoleon... at the office for example, there isn't a person who doesn't think it's funny. You think that'd be great, right? But it gets quoted to death! On top of that, you have old, unfunny people who try to quote it and slaughter it, it's just annoying at this point.

There are people who have never SEEN the movie who can quote the entire thing because they hear it quoted so much. I still like the movie but it's probably one of the only ones that I like that I don't enjoy quoting so much because of this. Oh well-- I just felt like complaining.

I seriously must be having LOST withdrawals or something. I had another strange dream last night. Again Lost-esque, I was this time in a more tropical climate and there was a hatch underground that I and a few others were in (I remember Jeff being there, and Locke even showed up for a moment in part of the dream in the hatch). I remember there being food storage down there and yet sometimes we’d be above ground and there’d be a lot of people in some places. Some parts of the dream were kinda like being on a road trip Yeah either I’ve watched too much Lost or my mind is just attempting to satisfy a craving for it while I sleep since there hasn’t been a new one for a couple weeks.

On another note, have you ever really stopped to appreciate how your body can spew projective vomit? I mean the sheer force with which you can expel substances from your stomach— it’s amazing. This is the thought that passed through my head last night as I hurled. Of course once I finished hurling the next thought was to take a picture of the red and green swirls in the toilet bowl— followed by a laugh at the thought. If it weren’t for the acid destroying your teeth and esophagus and what not, I could become bulimic... Hehe.

Shawn and I hatching our next dark plan

Now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb.

Yeah, Shawn and I donned Jedi garb for Halloween this year-- it was excellent. People at Shawn's work thought he was wearing stilts with his costume... I guess that big flowing cloak made him look taller somehow.

Interestingly I talked to more than one person this Halloween about how it's lame that we only get to dress up one day a year like this. Like, we should be able to dress up however we want any day of the year. You know, like Frankenstein on Big Daddy?

Dwane told me never to get too old to buy costumes. He was decked out in full WW II soldier uniform (don't remember what type), saying "If I'd been young when Star Wars came out, those are the costumes I'd be buying", telling me to get a Darth Vader costume sometime. I related the story of how there was a time when I was younger that my brother Dan would don his black cape each Sunday after church and carry a stick around. Those were the good old days. Later Halloween night Dan echoed those sentiments (without me mentioning the above conversation with Dwane), lamenting that we don't just wear what we want whenever. I can relate. I mean, have you ever actually tried on a Jedi / Sith robe? I'm sure you'd feel the same way if you did, hehe.

So why can't we dress up on days other than Halloween? 'Tis such a waste to only dress up once a year. Why buy a legit costume if you can only wear it once a year? Like, I'd like to get a tux and just wear it to work sometime-- just for the heck of it. Oh I'd get all sorts of attention but that's not the point. The point is I'm doing what I want. Heck with social norms, I say! I need to get some costumes.

Like a Ghostbusters costume... that would be the coolest. People would KNOW I meant business with that proton pack on.

Last night I had a sort of Lost-esque dream. But instead of being on a tropical island, I was stranded with a group of people in the middle of the desert. We were getting along just fine on some sort of inhabitation— it was like a train car (not the old kind but one that could from a metallic, futuristic looking monorail) only wider, with enough space inside for living quarters, bathrooms with hot showers, etc.

At some point we became aware of some "others" that were not too far off in the desert. Dreams can be somewhat abstract... I don’t know if I ever understood fully what made those "others" dangerous. At one point I thought they were killers. At another I thought they were carrying a deadly disease and contagious. At yet a later point in the dream it seemed as though the others had one person who was sick that was sort of their weapon. In any case, there was a very real sense of anxiety and danger in this dream.

At one point we moved out of our train car and hit the road because our lookout had spotted the others moving towards us. After what didn’t seem like a terribly long hike through a canyon and then what seemed like some sort of miniature desert city, where people droned along small roads and intersections as if under some kind of spell. We eventually ended up near some more train cars, and somehow they were supposed to be safer than the one we had vacated. I have no idea what would make these more safe than the ones we felt necessary to evacuate (dreams don’t really make sense, do they?).

I saw a semi truck pull up and a man with a smirk deliver something to one of the train cars. Moments later I was in a car adjacent to the one that had received the delivery and heard someone coughing uncontrollably, they sounded like they were done for. Freaked me out, I had no idea what was going on, only that there was impending danger. I ran back to the car across the way and shut the door tight. It was kind of a desperate, helpless situation, it seemed. The kind where you lock the door and shut your eyes and just hope that whatever evil is lurking outside your door passes you by without harming you.

Then, my alarm clock went off.