I took a phone call today. No surprise there. However, this particular call lasted two hours and fifteen minutes, involved calls to three other departments, I talked to two individuals from the original calling location, and had to take one break to breathe while my brain attempted to catch up with the situation.

Even with the call over, I have follow-up to do in a week.

Needless to say, I never want to spend more than two hours on the phone with anyone unless I’m talking to a woman I consider stunningly beautiful and worthy of my time.

Sure, I spent most of the call talking to a girl who sounded my age (you’d be surprised how much you can stereotype people by the sound of their voice), but what good does that do me?

Categories: Work
Tags: phone

Work goes okay these days. My brain feels squished against the wall of the Unknown. So I work to tear down the wall and am continually amazed at the sheer height and breadth of said wall. If you’ve never encountered the wall, I would recommend not trying to conquer it.

World of Warcraft continues to drain my free time. I’m paying $15/mo for it so I might as well get my money’s worth from it. It’s a nice break from reality though and a seemingly lesser vice than other avenues I could pursue.

Seemingly. It’s not to the point where I’ve left my wife and abandoned my kids for the sake of my guild “The Righteous Alliance of Knights Who Be Holy and Awesome.” A better guild no man could have. **1**

I watched the first episode of Beauty and the Geek last night. Those geeks make me jealous. They’re true geeks. When asked what “booty” was several of them defined it as being “pirate’s treasure.” One described himself as being a huge hip-hop fan and when told the “ghetto” meaning of “booty” he stated “now the songs make a lot more sense.”

So this’ll be it for now. Have a good night.

**1** please note sarcasm and lack of serious. The guild I’m in is actually called “Knights of the Alliance,” has over 400 members, and sucks at killing horde. If you’re Alliance, you want to be good at killing horde. We’ve got a long way to go. (And it’s not “my” guild, just the guild I’m in.)

Categories: Life
Tags: World of Warcraft

It’s another one of those nights. I almost wish I had a beer in my hand.

I don’t.

Instead I’m listening to Joseph Arthur’s album “Nuclear Daydream.”

I just finished watching “Saved.” It’s an odd sort of feeling, but I do like the movie in general. It does a good job demonstrating some problems with pop-evangelical-Christianity. But the movie has no solution or realistic conclusion. I think one of the things that weirds me out the most is the main character reminds me of my ex-girlfriend. At least in looks if not in other ways.

I’ve been playing a lot of chess online lately. For some reason, turn-based games have had a grip on me lately. It may have something to do with the game of Risk I played on New Year’s Eve and the fun I had. So now I’m playing chess consistently (if you want to play, let me know), and today I was introduced to the wonders of Civ 4. Now there’s a game with great strategy and designed to look and play well.

Sometimes I wish my life took place in a series of turns. It’d be so much easier to determine where I want to go and what I want to do if I had a week to think between making life-changing decisions. In the real world, though, some decisions take minutes. Some decisions never get made.

Each decision plays a role in the greater whole.

Even though I had a lot of fun hanging out today, playing Civ 4, and passing the time, I still wind up in the same place at the end off the night. I’m in my room hanging out with machines and inanimate objects. I’m in a room where the only being capable of love is myself, and I’m no artisan of love.

These are the moments I am weakest.

Artist: Joseph Arthur
Song: You Are Free
Album: Nuclear Daydream

Lyrics:

Time is moving on
You and me
You and me
Suffering is gone
You are free
You are free

I know I let you down
Those days are over now

I’m no longer who I was
No longer who I thought I was
…

Categories: Life, Lyrics
Tags: alcohol, chess, Joseph Arthur

I made several resolutions last week despite never desiring to make New Year resolutions. It’s a product of bad timing. I broke down on New Year’s Eve.

Seattle will not be my excuse. I’d blame it on loneliness and desperation based on being in a new place with few friends and little to do, and you would believe me. But it wouldn’t be true. The rain factors not (I actually don’t mind rain… much).

My break down has little to do with location. It’s related to me and mistakes I’ve made. I don’t know enough about psychology or any scientific or religious system to tell me how I’ve developed emotionally into this person, but I am prone to addiction.

If you’ve never had opportunity to notice, let me inform you: addictions are harmful. Dangerous. Disguised. Sneaky. Physically, emotionally, and spiritually destructive.

The worst part for me has been the awareness. I’m aware of the harmfulness of addiction. I see it hurting me. I see the potential for it to hurt others through me.

When you were a child, did you ever dream and fantasize about alcohol? Did it ever seem to be the best way to spend a night?

Somehow the world of adults in our society becomes consumed by alcohol. At my present job, my peers plot Saturday night outings to downtown where they can bump, grind, and get immensely drunk. People share stories of drunken adventures to see who has the coolest tales and who can claim to be the toughest drinker.

Then one day a man can wake up and realize he drank the night away in solitude. The hangover sucks, but worse still is the realization of defeat. See before you the man beaten again by addiction. One more night in a finite life destroyed by liquor. Where will it stop?

He knows it’s not the first time he’s failed. He need merely think back a week to a similar event. He sees what’s happening.

The man cries as he sits in his chair reading AA literature and contemplating his state of existence. What did he do to let addiction gain such a hold?

(To Be Continued…)

Categories: Life
Tags: alcohol, New Year's

Welcome to 2007. Happy New Year!

“I am not afraid to keep on living, I am not afraid to walk this world alone.”
- My Chemical Romance – “Famous Last Words”

Categories: Life
Tags: 2007, My Chemical Romance