That thing on the left, near the bottom, where it lists what I’ve been listening to, Blogamp, finally fixed it. Not that YOU would care. I have something I should be working on, so as a result I work on stuff I’ve been putting off rather than work on this thing I really should be doing.
I also noticed that Wikipedia has a new look. Super mignon!
I will pay someone to implement my Trillian Pro Plugin ideas. Plugins are basically addons to add extra abilities to the application. Usually, they are written by third-parties. I even had a dream I tried to persuade this chubby kid to write Trillian plugins for me. I’m obsessed. Here a few ideas I don’t mind blabbing about:
I have more floating around but I can’t remember just what they were at the moment. I need you mysterious programmer, if you’re out there. Send help.
he plugins I am very happy with now:
There are a lot more, but there are so many it’s just best to load the ones you’ll actually use.
What makes life worth living? Is it better to believe in something imaginary or to not believe in anything? What is the best way to spend your time here? Why? Why do I sit around thinking about things I have no need to know and no means to control? I need to leave the house more often. :)
Scraps of fortunes from fortune cookies have been accumulating in the various folds of my wallet. Today I decided to write them down and get rid of them.
They seem to fall into two categories, admonitions and predictions.
Admonitions:
“You’ll accomplish more if you start now.”
“Promise only what you can deliver.”
“Helping a friend is like helping yourself.”
“You stand in your own light. Make it shine.”
Predictions:
“You have an ambitious nature and may make a name for yourself.”
“You have executive ability.”
“You will make a name for yourself.”
…and I am an eBay addict. I even bought a digital postage scale. This is probably a phase that will pass as soon as I unload all my junk. The good news is, it is an obsession that is making me a little money while ridding me of some unnecessary stuff. Here are a few things I’ve learned while researching and through my own experience:
I’m sure I’m forgetting some stuff, but that’s a good start. Ebay fees suck suck suck, but where else can you sell stuff to so many people?
This past weekend we celebrated Jody’s birthday, the crazy Gemini that she is. With the help of Sab’s organizational acumen I planned a night of dining and bar-crawling. This is more daunting than it might sound since neither Jody nor Sab really drink. Phillip, and Courtney were also in attendance. I made reservations earlier in the week at this small restaurant on Lamar, Wink. I thought it would be nice to do something different and go to a place with actual cuisine.
The restaurant was a little over-priced, but everything was good. If I ever go there again it will only be for the dessert course, which I thought was the only exceptional aspect. The entrees were exotic. Sab had rabbit, Jody had short ribs, Courtney had duck breast, and Phillip and I had the game hen with barley and green beans. We ordered a white wine, Torbreck from Australia, which made me remember that although I enjoy its novelty I am not a wine person.
As I mentioned, the dessert was a lot of fun, they brought coffee on a silver platter with a bowl of unrefined and refined sugar lumps. Jody had some sort of rich chocolate cake made without flour, Sab had a raspberry chocolate souffle, Phillip had a lemon custard tart, Courtney had a creme brulee, and I had a goat-cheese miniature cheescake. I had a taste of the creme brulee, which was subtle and creamy.
After dinner we decided to meet up at the balcony of the Stephen F. Austin for drinks. Phillip forgot his ID so he had to run home to get it. By the time he and Courtney got back we were ready to leave since there wasn’t much going on there except for the weathered, tattooed, and tanned motorcycle enthusiasts who seemed to be swarming all over downtown Austin with their ole’ ladies tagging along beside them or installed on the back of their bikes.
We walked down to 4th Street, and we all slowly aimed toward Oilcan Harry’s, the most prominent of Austin’s gay bars, in my mind the most interesting place to go, since I thought it would be neat to get Phillip (who is very conservative) and Sab (who is gay and very conservative) into a gay bar, at least just once. Actually, I think the entire group is composed of straight-laced people.
We were funnelled toward the dance floor in the back where we all stood for a while just watching the writhing dancers and trying to talk. A lot of the men had their shirts off dancing around by themselves, and there was more than one trio of men grinding into each other. Jody and I were easing into one of our simmering disagreements, so I went to the bar to get a couple of Manhattans for Phillip and Courtney. When I came back, both Phillip and Sab were out on the floor apparently dancing. Those were the two people I least expected to dance. I found out later that Sab had dragged Phillip out there, a testament to his powers of coercion. I tried to get Jody to come and dance since I knew she wanted to earlier, but she was still annoyed with me and could not be egged on. It was nice to see Sab dancing and having a good time since he had not been out in a few years.
After a while we walked a couple doors down to 219 West, a place I had never been to that Sab had suggested. I found out why a little later. After waiting in line a little while watching all the wide-chested guidos and their tiny dates stream by we got in and wedged our way to the floor near the DJ. Sab went over to the platform to say something to the DJ and then the DJ got on the microphone and said something about having a special guest in the house and asking if Sab was having a good time. It turns out that Sab is the DJ’s stylist. We all danced around for a while and got sweaty. Dancing is one of those things you do in the moment and can’t imagine or remember really doing later. That’s the way I feel about it.
We stayed there for several more songs until the place closed and the lights came on, then we all walked to Jody’s car and drove down 9th to take Phillip and Courtney back to their car. When we were driving down Red River a truck barely paused at the cross street stop sign and a guy on a bicycle who did not slow down enough ended up smacking the truck on the end as it went through the intersection, wiping out in the middle of the road. The truck didn’t stop probably because they were at least somehow at fault for not stopping completely and also probably drunk. Some people came to the bicyclist’s aid as he rolled around on the ground clutching his hip. Jody wanted my phone to call 911, but someone helping him already had their phone out and dialed, so I hesitated. As in many accidents, both parties could have done something to avoid the accident. The truck did not fully stop and the bike guy was going too fast and not paying enough attention. It was a surprising and violent event, but I felt detached, waiting for something to happen. I’m not one of those people who jump into the middle of situations like that if other people are helping, however I’m also not the type to feign concern or sympathy to soften the guilt of my own hesitancy or inaction. Does that sound like an excuse?
I went up to Oklahoma with Jody this past weekend. It was nice spending time up there. A couple noteworthy things:
Here are some photos from Breen’s Graduation / Birthday / Getting-a-cool-job-right-out-of-school-and-moving-to-San-Francisco Party. I would’ve put them in my gallery, but it is busted at the moment, and I’m in no position to mess with it. It was a lot of fun and, honestly, we’re all really proud of Breen. He will be sorely missed.
Here is Breen, Rodney, and I, all current or ex-fedexers.
Here is Scott, Jody, and Gloria. Scott is my brother.
Here is Daniel and Sarah. Notice the little flags in Sarah’s hair. Ad hoc cuteness.
I have a lot of photos from this weekend, but my gallery isn’t working properly. I made need to reinstall it.
I got a Netflix account recently, and this weekend I watched The Royal Tennenbaums again since I hadn’t seen it since it came out. It really inspired me to want to do more creative endeavors. Mainly during the parts of the movie involving all the little pet projects of the Tennenbaum children: painting, building model stage sets, writing, etc. Although I always seem to have an endless amount of work to do I have really missed my more creative side. Somewhere along the way I stopped devoting as much time to playing with pens and pencils, and I made drawing into something more like a burden or obligation, an activity where the expectation of a potentially dissatisfying outcome was foremost in my mind. But, I have missed drawing and making things. Making something can put you into a zen-like state. There are times when I’m drawing or doing something and I sit back in amazement at how the act of creation takes on a life of its own and how it can induce such a state of wordless wonder. Even if you have a particular vision of how things will turn out, the result is always a surprise. I think it is the talent for working with chance that makes an artist. You have to come to some sort of agreement with the medium that you will try to see things through even if the results deviate from your imagination. You have to be somewhat open and loose, receptive to a wide variety of possibilities. I think the importance of technique is in the expansion of possibility and the flexibility it lends to converting chance and possiblity into something surprising.