Journey, Life, the Universe, and Everything

It’s been a little while since I last posted. Reasons are difficult, perhaps, to express, but they have something to do with the facts that I can’t post from work and that I find myself with less and less free time once I actually make it home. Much has happened.

Yesterday I saw Journey live in concert.

They were accompanied by Heart and Cheap Trick, a fact that only serves to heighten their awesomeness. Those are by no means small-time bands, after all. The concert was everything I could hope for, but was bittersweet for several reasons I’m no longer sure I can rely in a public forum. As usual, a woman was involved.

A little earlier, the Girl and I spent a day in Annapolis. We talked, we walked, and as usual things were ambiguous. Oh well - at least I got good crab cakes out of it. Also on the weird front - I met her mom. And she cooked dinner for us. Good times.

Various other things have popped up that vex and frustrate me… But I think I’m still processing them. So I leave you with some thoughts:

1. I am now, officially, middle-class entirely on my own. There’s a scary thought.
2. South Ossetians celebrated Russia’s support of their independence… By firing guns into the air. First - way to show your civilized nature, gents. Second - what goes up…
3. Of all the organizations that could use a few consultants, DC Metro probably needs us the most. Dear lord - a train stopped at Federal Triangle shut down the orange and blue lines in both directions, just about. Only they were turning back trains at Arlington Cemetary - WTF? Why not Foggy Bottom? Why not just bounce trains off the stations on either side and run buses to cover the gap? Zero coverage failure, minimal additional cost, hundreds fewer angry customers. Come on guys - this is a no-brainer.

Until next time~

Tech Petting Zoo

So I’ve gotten a lot of questions regarding the tech petting zoo. I’m not sure how much of this is proprietary info, so I’ll try to avoid going into too much detail…

Basically, there’s a center at my firm’s HQ which is solely dedicated to state-of-the art as an art form. They update it quarterly so that the absolute latest gadgets and new technologies are there for employees to try out. For instance, they have one of the new iPods. They have one of those tables Microsoft showed off last year with a fully-touch interface. They also have other, less notorious technologies like adaptive multidirectional/monodirectional sensors.

Basically, it’s a whole room of awesome.

Incidentally, I got my first assignment today. I can’t really talk about orientation, etc… But I’m liking this firm. A lot. Here’s hoping I still like it when I actually get work to do.

Quick thought… Babylon 5 poses a powerful quandry to its audience. On the one hand, there are the Vorlons - bastions of order, embodied by the question, “Who are you?”; and the Shadows - sowers of chaos, who wish only to know, “What do you want?”

To the Vorlons, who one is cannot be answered by titles and affiliations, but only by truly understanding one’s place in the universe. That’s right, the only acceptable answer is, “I am a cog in the machine, a p

Boy - they wouldn’t be happy with the Japanese. Last I checked, it’s standard practice in Japanese culture to define oneself by organizations and affiliations rather than personal characteristics… Some champions of order the Vorlons turn out to be…

Real Life

Work has begun. Real Life has set in. My thoughts for the day:

I now possess:

• 1 Messenger Bag
• 2 Standard Backpacks
• 1 Targus Backpack
• 1 Targus Laptop Bag
• 1 Leather Business Shoulder-Bag
• 1 (Firm-Issued) Thinkpad Business Shoulder-Bag

I’m beginning to understand how Alli accumulates so many bags… Though she definitely does it intentionally.

Also, for all you Hoyas out there: I apparently ride an Abe’s Transportation Bus to and from work

Also - we have a Tech Petting Zoo - how awesome is that?

Hellboy II and Other

I saw Hellboy II a little later than I usually do. Dylan and I discovered that the Metro shuts down at midnight on weekdays in DC - didn’t cause problems when I lived in Georgetown, but it certainly hampers any sort of mid-week nightlife if I’m anywhere that doesn’t have a movie theatre within walking distance!

So we went Friday. Barely made the showing, in fact, which resulted in our being stuck up at the very front. My neck is still sore. Was it worth it? Hell yeah.

This is not the same Hellboy as the first. Gone is the focus on super-secret supernatural badassery (mostly because Hellboy reveals himself to the press early on); but with that facade gone, the door is opened to a whole new identity crisis for our hero. He finds himself hated and feared by humans, rather than revered. Gee - raise your hand if you didn’t see THAT coming! Enter the bad guy: Prince Nuada, last scion of the “elves” (modeled after the Tuatha de Danann of Gaelic fame). He’s passionate, but ultimately not all that menacing on screen, prefering instead to dispatch nastier beasties to do his bidding. He DOES, however, prove to be quite a schemer - putting Hellboy, for instance, in the position of killing the last Forest Elemental, a being of great beauty and grace, just to torture Hellboy’s conscience a little.

The weakness of the main villain, however, lets the movie focus on the development of our heroes. We’ve lost Meyers, but gained Johann Krauss - a medium composed entirely of ectoplasm. Cool beans, right? Despite the vast potential for screw-ups, Del Toro actually manages to make the character believable; and even with his shorter screen time, we see the character evolve to become part of the team in a thoroughly satisfying way.

In fact, the whole movie is thoroughly satisfying. There is one scene in particular - around half-way through the movie - where Hellboy and Abe drink, and muse on life and love. It’s moving in its natural power, choreographed like a well-written symphony, all to the unlikely tune of “Can’t Smile Without You” (sung by Barry Manilow). It’s quite possibly one of my favorite scenes of all time.

For all that, however, the movie fails to truly wow. It meanders from plot point to plot point with very little tangible conflict; just one witty quip and fantastic monster after another. It’s a pleasure to watch, but hardly world-shaking. I recommend it to any fan of folk tales, lore, and the supernatural; as well as to anyone who just likes to watch a fun action flick; but don’t go in expecting anything profound. The first movie was probably better for that.

On the blog… For those of you who don’t know, tomorrow is my last day of freedom before I’m plunged into the “real world”. I’m sure it’ll go by quickly and without celebration: after all, I have to be in bed by 9 PM if I hope to get to orientation on time and still get a decent night’s sleep. That sucks, but I guess sacrifices must be made…

I expect the first week or so will be busy, and that this blog will suffer. I’ll write when I can, though - you know, for those of you who read it…

Wanted

I just got back from seeing Wanted, and I’m feeling horrible.

Wanted is one of those movies that tries to spin a complex, dynamic plot around a constant, high-level hum of gore and death. It fits into the storied company of Shoot-Em-Up, Lucky Number Slevin, and Layer Cake - all movies that manage this delicate balance much, MUCH better than Wanted does. Certainly, there are more than enough slick bullet-time sequences to make any fan of cool action flicks drool, but the plot the movie is tied around fails to live up to the hype.

Wanted is the story of a “Fraternity” of assassins who “read the code in the loom” to determine who fate has decreed should die so that the balance of order is maintained. Find that hard to believe? So did the protagonist, Wesley (James McAvoy). He goes along with it, evidently, because his father’s killer is sure to be an eventual target. It doesn’t hurt, of course, that right before his first assignment Fox (Angelina Jolie) tells Wesley that a member of the fraternity refused to kill the man who went on to burn her father alive in front of her eyes. Good ol’ “kill one to save thousands” with a side of “sucker for the tortured romantic lead”.

In the end, of course, there are a couple of whirlwind plot twists that result in a showdown of truly epic proportions. The end is meant to be a crushing revelation on the order of those unravelled in Layer Cake or Lucky Number Slevin, but it feels flat; forced. We are left with no sense of change or accomplishment. Wesley is still the same Wesley, just with magical powers that allow him to “control his destiny”. So, what - only people selected to be superhuman assassins can control their destiny? What will he do now that the loom is destroyed? Why is he still alive if the loom said he should die? Did it say that?

It’s supposed to be some grand commentary on fate, I’m sure. It winds up, however, being just another loose thread in a barely coherent narrative. It’s a pity, too - the plot is BRIMMING with potential, and the powers and abilities of this fraternity are BEGGING for exploration. One can see why the likes of Jolie and Morgan Freeman would want to be attached to the project. It’s truly disappointing that their characters are left so two-dimensional, and that the movie really ends up being nothing more than an orgasm of badass fight scene after badass fight scene.

I liked it - but then, I like ANYTHING that’s vaguely entertaining. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of bringing a friend who is far less adjusted to such high levels of violence, and I’m worried I may have scarred him forever. Let that be a lesson: If you like violence and cool special effects, this is the movie for you. If you need plot, or if you can’t stand high levels of gore… Better to keep away. Watch Lucky Number Slevin or Layer Cake instead - far less violence, and far more plot to spin it around.

Wave of… Nostalgia?

Loath as I am to quite the bible at you, even I have to recognize the significant impact it’s had on the culture that raised me. There’s a quote in I Corinthians 13.11:

“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”

I found this quote echoing in my mind today as I sifted through the years of accumulated files, papers, and odds and ends in my closet. I’ve probably cleaned parts of my room dozens of times over the years, but the last two crusades against clutter have been particularly effective. These last two times, I found myself realizing that many things that used to be quite important to me are now either forgotten or not worth hanging onto. This growing cynicism acts as a sort of filter for the clutter that is retained, and with every subsequent tightening of the standards my past seems to condense a little bit more. Those of you who know me know that my memory is pretty bad; well, the more I get rid of the less I inevitably remember about life before the present.

In some ways, I welcome this outcome.  The effect it has is oddly appropriate for my personal journey in the past couple of years, and far too obvious an analogy to the tidying and organizing I’ve been doing. I can’t say I disapprove - we all know I love things to be nice and orderly. A part of me, however, really misses the old class notes I’m getting rid of, and truly mourns the loss not only of the opportunities High School and College presented to me but also the old me that failed to take advantage of those opportunities.

It doesn’t take much reading through my old notes and musings to get a pretty frightening picture of where I’ve come from. Doing so in the past few weeks, I’ve begun to feel that, as a kid, I engaged in a lot of rather Williams-esque escapism in the form of toys, comics, and video games long past the time when my friends had dropped those hobbies. Of course, I still haven’t really kicked the habit, so clearly part of me still loves the shelter those outlets provide. Not to mention that it’s hard to turn down a good story, no matter what form it takes.

As more and more of that past disappears, though, I’m realizing that it’s getting easier to let go of. I carted several years’ worth of Wizard Magazine out to the recycling bins today; you should have seen how hard I fought to keep those just a few years ago. That’s not the worst of it: last time I was here, I sold half my books.

Am I putting away childish things and finally growing up? Or am I simply moving to new, equally-childish pursuits? What if I don’t like who I’m becoming?

Gone AGAIN?

Right you are, sir!

My baby died for real this time. Catastrophic hard drive failure. Data not recoverable without extensive dicking around in a clean room. Sucks to be me…

One new HD, and some quality time spent in Tim’s basement, however, means that I’m back up and running. I’m trying to get my Thinkpad back to its former glory as we speak. Once I do, I should be back at least a bit

Top Five Reasons Not to Drink at Home

Since coming home, it’s become readily apparent that Cappy’s advice was right: “Enjoy senior week while you can, because once you graduate it’s called alcoholism.”

I was thrilled when I discovered that Tim’s brewing beer full time in his house, but it’s thrown into sharp relief the rather unsettling fact that I no longer have quite the excuse I did to drink as much as I do.

It’s a sad fact indeed.

In fact, after careful study I have come up with the top five reasons why drinking at home is, in fact, a terrible idea:

1. The unsettling incident from two nights ago that involved the automatic ice dispenser on my fridge; a cup that was, in fact, upside down; and the subsequent large quantity of water which somehow wound up on my room’s carpet (even after I managed to fill the cup).
2. The large, wooden chicken in the middle of the quickest route from the bathroom and the kitchen to my room which is nigh invisible in the dark.
3. The horrifying discovery that all forms of pain medication are STILL kept in my parents’ medicine cabinet.
4. The fact that I actually have to get home once I’m drunk, and that this effort involves cars. Which I don’t have.
5. The awkward reality of explaining to my parents just what the hell happened last night.

I have GOT to stop drinking in my friends’ basements…

One more thing…

Oh, and can we talk about women for a second?

Totally apart from the sheer mess that is one of my best friends’ relationship with his “ex” who’s currently abroad (who he talks to for HOURS a day - and don’t deny it, you know it’s true!), which stresses me out by proxy, it seems I spend all my time these days trying to figure out just what the hell is up with the woman and I. You know the one - the one I debated talking to about a month ago. Things are coming to an end, and we’re on the same see-saw we’ve been on since day one. You know, the one she probably doesn’t realize we’re on.

I might have sort of told her off last week.

(more…)

Oops, I seem to have disappeared!

I guess I’ll never really get used to blogging. Short list of changes since my last post:

1. My computer is better than fine. Turns out the wireless card driver was glitching.
2. I’m a year older.
3. I’m out like $800 on the geekiest (and best) weekend ever. No questions, please - even *I* have secrets. I’m debating reviewing some of my new acquisitions on the blog
4. I’ve been through the last class of my college career. I’m now struggling to muster the energy to care about finals…
5. Both my best friends are back on the horse. I’m not yet… Guess that’s what senior week is for!

I always kinda thought there’d be some great fanfare when college ended. Like some sort of marching band, or crack in the sky or something. I guess I should have expected that Georgetown would have a little bit too much dignity to make a big deal out of it. Of course, my last class WAS Advanced International Business, and it’s not like I haven’t spent the whole semester in that class checking my e-mail, updating my blog, and generally doing anything but paying attention to the professor. He gave a speech… And not one that really made sense. Oh well - that’s Georgetown for you.

My friends took me out for dinner/drinking on Friday to celebrate my birthday a little late. I had a fever going in, but I couldn’t tell by a few hours in and I had a lot of fun. Found a great place in Adams Morgan called The Blaguard. They have, I shit you not, shuffleboard. Which we suck at… But the Guinness was $6 a pint, and that more than made up for it. There’s also the close proximity of Amsterdam Falafel Shop for convenient drunk-munchies. We also managed to hit Wingos on the way back. I’d feel bad, except I’m up to running three miles a day these days.

I also got my grilling in for the weekend. Found around 4 and a half pounds of ground beef in the freezer that made for an excellent few hours of grilling (which I did instead of working on my paper on Organizational Change and Mountain Carvings). I think I’m declaring open-season on all food in the house on Wednesday. Maybe then my house-mates will finally eat some of the shit that’s been sitting around since September. Oh - and I saw Iron Man. God DAMN that movie was awesome.

I can’t believe it’s all over in a week.