Stop That Pain!

First of all, the freebie “special edition part two” BME shirts are in! They're being mailed out tomorrow some time (or worst case Wednesday). If you're getting one, you already know. I also saw the prototype for the IAM.BMEZINE shirt, which looks amazing — I'm picking that up tomorrow (and will post a picture then). There should also be a fair-sized image update to BME tomorrow.

Oh, and I was being made fun of today… Aparently I have a “bag of tricks” that I use on girlfriends that's always similar. I was thinking though, isn't that the case with everyone? I'd hope so — unless you are a fake person, you're going to respond pretty much the same way to a given set of circumstances. I think I do — although I'd like to say that I fix some of my mistakes every time? Even if I'm not particularly good at fixing my mistakes, I at least do things BIGGER and BETTER every time! :) Those of you that have been reading BME from day one and know me through the few relationships that's entailed are probably laughing, hopefully with me, right now. Although I think some of you are laughing at me, but that's ok too, I probably deserve it.

Oh, and I know that some of you think that posting about the ups and downs of my “love life” here is rude because I have ex-girlfriends on the site. (And no, I haven't been reading your IM's — I don't even know who you are — but things do get forwarded to me). Anyway, this is my diary to the extent that I have one, or maybe I should say it's a sort of growing auto-biography. I'm not going to censor it. If you don't enjoy reading it, just don't read it. It's being written because I enjoy writing it on some cathartic level, and I'll say it again — if you don't like reading it, don't read it. I've never censored myself to protect anyone's feelings and don't think it's appropriate to do so. If I did, I wouldn't have tattoos or stretched lobes (and my mother would be quite pleased).

Most importantly: I make lots of mistakes, and I do say things I shouldn't on a fairly regular basis — I even accidentally posted my credit card number a while back! If you have a problem with something I've written, contact me about it. It's not going to help anything just complaining about it behind my back!

It's lovely today

Yet another poll. These things never stop coming, and I keep filling them out. I guess I must enjoy them. I found this one on Rebekah's page, although she herself lifted it as well. Follow the chain if you care to…

What was the last album you listened to?
Up The Coutry, by The Sixth Great Lake. I recommend this album to everyone who likes stuff like Mojave 3, Palace, etc.

What was the last book you read?
Chasing Che: A Motorcycle Journey In Search Of The Guevara Legend, by Patrick Symmes. While MiL0 is researching the technical and necessary aspects of our trip, I seem to have trouble drawing myself away from the romance (in the Easy Rider sense of the word) of the adventure.

Who was the last person who had a truly epic effect on your life?
Truly epic is a grand statement. There are a lot of people who have had a huge impact on my life, but epic would have to be a word reserved for only a handful. In this small part of the world, I will say that would be Jon Cobb. He's responsible for opening a lot of eyes, mine included, and continues to offer valuable guidance, sometimes when I want it, and sometimes when I need it (the two do not always go together). He's a man born into the wrong time — while I know there are people here who fancy themselves shamans, they're largely frauds. There's a wiseness that teeters between divinity and madness and Jon has that. That said, I've come into contact with a staggering number of truly remarkable people, and some time in the future (maybe for my memoirs, ha) I'll try and write about all of them. Many of them even have IAM pages. (If I left you off, it's because I only had so many words to make links with).

When did you last cry?
Aren't I too stoic and manly for that sort of thing?

When did you last laugh until it hurt?
As above? To be perfectly honest, I don't remember the answer to either of these. I'm sure it's happened recently.

If you could only rescue one possession from your burning home, what would it be?
The whole point of burning my house down is to get rid of my possessions. While everything here has value, it's valueless at the same time. I guess if I could bring something out I'd grab my boxes of photos.

Which one song or poem sums up your life?
My life? What kind of simple-lifed loser has a life that can be summed up in a single song? How about I pick a song that sums up a small part of the right now of my life — perhaps though I choose it only because it's what's playing on the stereo right this instant… I'll try and hammer out the lyrics to 300 Miles (by The Sixth Great Lake) as they pass by:

out where the city ends
the leaves are falling on the ground
that's when the summer ends
the road that's stretching over the horizon
billboards get so high

that's where the grass starts growing
on the ridge that leads down into the valley below
the mountain's fortelling the coming of snow
i'll tell you all about my trip
when i'm a safe 300 miles away

you can have your city
you can take it from me
cause i could never live again this way
no i could never live again this way
...but that's not such a bad thing

i'll tell you all about my trip
when i'm a safe 300 miles away

Mouse House

My house is mouseinfested. In addition, it's infested with very clever mice that seem to express little to no interest in the traps I lay out for them.

However, some people have suggested that perhaps it's because I'm so messy that I'm stuffing them silly from my leftovers, leaving them with no motivation to risk their necks looting my traps. I believe that theory has more support given the events of this weekend.

I came home to find both my traps — set over two weeks ago — with mice in them. I guess without a benevolent deity scattering food over their land, they had to resort to danger. These traps aren't really very good though — they're supposed to be “easy to use”, but for some reason that just seems to mean “weak spring”. One mouse got crushed, but the second one was only barely caught. He was still alive, albeit with a very sore weiner.

Assuming he survives the humilation of being involuntarily penectomized (or at least having a good bout of CBT), he's out in the back yard playing with his fieldmice buddies.

New Boots!

(I'm starting with the more banal stories first, so watch out for more entries from me as the day goes by.)

So as you can see from the picture above, my old boots are totally fucked. I might as well be wearing sandals. That said, they're incredibly worn in and very comfortable, so I'd been really stalling on replacing them… But, I figured that it was time, so I picked up a pair of 20 hole Grinders… I'm not sure I like the fit as much as I do with Docs but they're still very comfortable.

The older woman — who I presume was the store owner — who sold them to me was one of the most friendly and boisterous shoe salespeople I've ever met in my life. Perhaps she was responding on some subconsious level to my Germanic heritage — She did offer to sell me a pair of laces of questionable color as her skinhead kids sat at the other end of the store. Now, I know that lace colors having any meaning at all is very much a thing of the past (if ever) but I don't really need my ass kicked over something I object to strongly in the first place!

Anyway, with the exception of the ten minute bootsequence, I'm very happy with these boots… And since I am willing to put up with that from my computers, why not my boots?

Another stupid poll

FAVORITE BEER: Fin Du Monde, although I've been drinking Crest “Hobo's Delight” 10% Super lately. Well, I've cut down to drinking probably less than once a week, so don't read that wrong.

DO YOU NEED LUBRICANT: I think that would be the Fin Du Monde.

FAVORITE VEGETABLE: Snow peas? But I like most vegetables.

LEAST FAVORITE VEGETABLE: That horrible thing that tastes like licorice. If I have to choose one I know the name too, I'm not a fan of tomatos (unless they're the tiny ones).

FAMOUS PERSON YOU'D LEAST LIKE TO SHAG: Fame is less exciting or appealing than it seems. What do I want to shag a stranger for?

SNOW OR RAIN: Rain. Unless it's wet snow on a warm day.

DO THE ENDLESS LISTS OF BANDS ON PEOPLE'S IAM PAGES ANNOY YOU: Only because they're all the same.

FAVORITE TATTOO STYLE: Black black black. I also like East LA stuff…

DO YOU TRUST HOME PREGNANCY TEST RESULTS: Sure.

DID HANNIBAL MAKE YOU PUKE: I didn't see it, but I highly doubt there would have been any puking.

FAVORITE STORY FROM CHILDHOOD: The Voyage of the Dawntreader.

SUNRISE OR SUNSET: Sunset.

LEVEL OF EDUCATION: Partial BFa, visual art. Partial BSc, computer/cognitive science. Odds of completing either: Pretty much zero.

LUXURY HOTEL OR CAMPING: All of the above.

FAVORITE SMELL: I don't think smell is a sense that I give much priority to, but I like the smell of the ocean.

EVER TOUCHED A DEAD PERSON/ANIMAL: Touched — many times. Killed — many times. I've even handled a human brain.

DOES YOUR BODY REACT BADLY TO ACRYLIC JEWELRY: No, but my sense of aesthetics does.

HOW LONG CAN YOU GO WITHOUT SLEEP AND STILL FUNCTION: Years.

FAVORITE CITY: Toronto, by far.

DREAM JOB: There's no such thing. I don't want a job.

WHAT ARE YOU BAD AT THAT YOU'D LIKE TO BE GOOD AT: Nothing.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN REVENGE: As the Klingons say, it's a dish best served cold.

WHAT'S THE QUICKEST YOU'VE BEEN FIRED: Fired? I think you have to have a job for that. I have never been fired.

YOUR MIDDLE NAME: David.