zrath

Hello out there in LJ-Land!
I hope all the mothers had a nice Mother's Day.

So the weather cooled down on Friday and I dragged my futon back in the bedroom.
Everybody at work had a serious case of the Fridays, acting goofy and half-drunk and watching the clock.
There were plans to go to a bar for karaoke after work, but I think that fell apart. People were tired.
I know I was. I pretty much went straight home and dozed in front of the TV.

On Saturday, Jean-Louis and I had planned to go to his cousin's house in Malibu to borrow his little boat and use it
to go out to sea to spread the rest of Pascal's ashes. Traffic was proving to be a formidable foe though.
PCH Northbound from Santa Monica was its usual congested self until all the public beaches were passed and traffic
thinned considerably. I rendez-voused with J-L at the corner of PCH and Topanga Canyon then followed him.
We drove North for a while, passing Surf U. (aka Pepperdine University), then traffic came to a complete stop.
This was not good.
J-L got out of his car to tell me that his cousin was, in fact, not home. Putain de sa mère!!!
A sheriff car drove by on the median. I got out of the car to peer down the road and see what was up.
A paramedic truck drove by on the other side, going the wrong way and freaking out all Southbound traffic.
Yeah, it was an accident up ahead, about 500 meters from us.
Some days, things just don't click.
I got back in the (St)Ranger and told J-L I was outta here. I worked my way out of the Northbound lanes, over the
thankfully very low median, and unto the Southbound side. J-L was right behind me. I buzzed him on his cellphone
and discussed lunch plans. He took me to a mexican and sushi joint in this very Club Med-like shopping village.
Lots of children and dogs and people in tasteful shorts and shirts. Malibu high class if you will.
I had a chicken burrito which I later noticed didn't have any cheese in it. It was good and fresh.
After lunch, we discussed plans to try again next weekend then went our separate ways.
I drove home and hit some monstrous traffic on PCH. I considered taking Sunset Boulevard, but traffic seemed lighter
after Sunset so I stuck to PCH, and yes it got lighter. PCH became the 10 Freeway and took me home.
After changing, I went back out to mail a couple of small packages, the last of the eBay auctions.
The post office was closed, apparently shut down early for Mother's Day. Damn and blast!
I ran a couple of errands, hit some unexpected heavy traffic spots (just a bad day to drive, I guess!),
then stopped at Snob Foods (Whole Foods) to get some better sushi than what is sold at Trader Joe's.
I went home, fired up the computer and ate my sushi. It was fresher and tastier, yes.
Afterwards, I poured all the pieces from the Count Dooku Solar Sailer Lego set on my desk and set about designing
and building a Geonosian Interceptor, a beefier version of the Geonosian Fighter, one of my favorite ships.
I kept at it from 7pm until 1am, watching some Season 4 "Doctor Who" and Season 2 "Burn Notice" while building.
I came up with something I like, overall, and I took pictures for later uploading to Flickr.
And then I went to bed...

On Sunday, I slept in and had all sorts of bizarre dreams I could not recall after getting up.
I hung out online for a while, and worked my way through a small stack of Games For Windows magazines I had never
gotten around to reading. GFW used to be Computer Gaming World, one of the oldest game magazines in existence.
CGW used to cover all the major computers of the time, like the Apple ][s, C64s, Atari 8-bits and STs, Macs, Amigas,
and IBM PCs (once they got graphics and games to go with them). Now the magazine is PC-only, not even Mac coverage.
I read the magazines then threw them out. No reason to keep them around. While I was at it, I took all the garbage out.
I did some housekeeping stuff, and when it was all over, I settled down and watched "The Spirit" on DVD.
Oh dear lord...
Frank Miller is an asshole.
I'll talk about the movie in a future Netflixing post.

Monday! Monday was overbearing and awful and stinky-poo!
I kept dropping things, stuff kept going wrong, machines were acting up.
Monday was soooooo fired!!!
I went straight home after work, made pasta for dinner, and watched "End Of Days" with The Governator.
Only then did I fire up El Computador and go online to hang out with friends and weirdos on FurryMuck.

Tuesday! Tuesday was better.
Work went well. During lunch, I went to Target and picked up some snacks so I could stop bumming food off my coworkers
when 5pm hunger pangs made me growl. I also restocked on cereal for the morning breakfast. My box of Frosted Flakes
contained a Star Trek Beam-Up Badge in it! Which is just a weak LED flashlight shaped like a Federation insignia.
Or in my case, a Romulan insignia. It doesn't even make cool beeping noises. LAAAAAAAME!!!!!
Anyway, it's 7pm and time to go home.
See all y'all later!

Not much going on these days.
My phone doesn't ring. It works fine, it's just that no one calls me.
I'm still looking for better-paying work.
The SACEM wants paperwork that I don't have and don't know if I can get. Things ain't the same in France and the US.
I need to write them a letter (they didn't give me an e-mail address) and explain the situation here versus there.
Yes, an actual letter, in French, that will take a week to get there by mail.
On the other hand, the French attorney handling my grandmother's passing e-mailed me and mentioned that she trusted e-mail more than snail-mail.
Oh yes, apparently my paternal grandmother died a couple of months ago. Those playing at home may remember that the Sibling and I had cut off
all ties to the family back in France, mostly because they were assholes. So the news left me cold.


My ear infection is acting up again, I've lost 20% hearing in the right side due to swelling.
I swear, this thing is seasonal! As soon as October rolls around, wham! No coverage, no money, so no doctor.
I'll just keep the ear clean and get some peroxide to put in.
And wear headphones as little as possible.


From the "I Don't Think It Means What You Think It Means" Department:

L.A. Times.com article entitled: "Stocks gyrate wildly in volatile session"

I don't know about you, but the verb "gyrate" brings to my mind something spinning wildly in place.
I'm picturing the stocks with a hula-hoop around their collective midriff, gyrating wildly!
You know, for kids!
Is this wrongful English usage or am I just needlessly picky?


After a very brief taste of Autumn, Los Angeles Weather Control has cranked the thermostat back up to the low 80s.
At least, it's cool enough at night to not necessitate living-room-futon-relocation for proper sleeping.
But, I'd like to some colder weather for Halloween, plzkthxbye!


I leave you with the latest bizarre Lego ship design from the very talented Nnenn: the Ogre.
Mr. Nnenn's other creations can bee seen here. I recommend the Starfighters, Space and More Space folders, but his other themes are cool too.
More Space contains a replica of a Kilrathi Dralthi fighter from the original "Wing Commander" game.
There's also the player's ship from R*Type.