Monday, December 25, 2006, 09:05 AM
Christmas Eve wasn't too bad. I am in the church handbell choir, so I ended up spending about 6 hours at church last night. Considering the fact that we are a volunteer, amateur choir, we are probably one of the best church choirs in Maryland. We sounded pretty darned good last night.
The vocal choir in particular was on the ball. They sounded good enough that they could cut a CD and people would buy it.
We also had the Bay Street Brass Works adding the sound of a brass quintet to the mix. We also have a choir member that plays huge kettle drums. It was great.
The unexpected bonus was that inbetween the 8:00pm and 10:30pm services, we had little sandwiches and snacks. I probably ate too much. Oh well... I'll have to hit the gym extra-hard tomorrow!
I'm pretty "bah, humbug" most of the time. But it is nice to actually celebrate the birth of Christ.
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( 3 / 1066 )Sunday, December 24, 2006, 10:39 AM
Well... I have to say that I'm having a really tough time getting into the Christmas spirit. I'm flat broke, and the only Christmas present I could afford to buy was a few new shirts for my partner (Doug). Aside from that, we're basically out of food and there's no money left in our checking account. So there's no Christmas dinner. My uncle is having his Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, but I have to be at church since I am in the choir.
Aside from all that, it's 65 degrees outside. Our dumb, lazy President claims that there is no such thing as global warming. But I can't recall any 65-degree Christmas holidays -- in Baltimore -- when I was a kid.
And why am I so damned poor? A year ago, the company I worked at for TEN YEARS went out of business. Basically, they were just another casualty of Bush Economics. My new job, which I like VERY MUCH, only pays half of what I used to make. Unfortunately, I still have a fairly expensive car payment that I had no problem affording when my income was much higher. Oh well. In 17 more months, that will be over.
On the bright side, I did earn my first promotion at work, so my income will go up $200/month starting in January. I also have Doug with me. Rich or poor, I am always glad to have Doug by my side. There have been years that I've been both penniless and alone. At least this year I'm broke but with someone I love who also loves me.
Still... I'm feeling pretty "Bah, Humbug" this year. Maybe next year will be better.
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( 3 / 1038 )Saturday, December 23, 2006, 05:35 PM - Random Thoughts
Too nice to be a Bush Conservative
I actually have a friend who is a complete and utter “true believer” when it comes to George W. Bush. He really doesn’t think Bush has done one single thing wrong throughout his “presidency”. It’s a shame, too, since my friend is a really nice guy who otherwise seems educated and reasonable.
I do try to get him to understand that our president is a stupid, lazy, arrogant ass. But he has somehow been programmed by the Far Right.
Here’s a sample of what it’s like:
(me): “You know, the Republican party lost because of how badly the Iraq war is going.”
(him): “But we’re WINNING in Iraq. And the Iraqi people are GLAD we are there.”
(me): “But what about how Bush lied in order to get us into war?”
(him): “Just because they never found WMD’s doesn’t mean they were never there.”
(me): “What about how only 17% of the Iraqis want us there, and how this war has cost the lives of over 600,000 civilians in Iraq?”
(him): “Those are just media lies from folks who hate America.”
(me): “What about how Bush has been illegally tapping into phone conversations and email? And what about how Homeland security illegally tracks all citizens’ credit card purchases?”
(him): “Bush has executive privilege, so that’s okay.”
(me): “So, what do you think about global warning?”
(him): “It’s a media hoax by people who hate America.”
(me): “What about hybrid technology”
(him): “It’s just a fad.”
(me): “What about conservation?”
(him): “The world will never run out of oil.”
(me): “What about overpopulation?”
(him): “The world can easily handle 100 Billion.”
Yeah, it gets pretty frustrating. He pretty much sees it in the same way except he can’t turn me into a Right Wing believer. Oh well, what can you do?
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( 3 / 1155 )Friday, December 22, 2006, 12:25 PM
It took a while, but I finally uploaded the vacation pictures and videos from the cruise Doug and I took this month. To see them, just go to:
http://www.gaianar.com
And click the "Bits & Pieces" link, located in the lefthand navigation column. Then click "Cruise 2006".
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( 3 / 1036 )Friday, December 22, 2006, 08:44 AM
The company party was pretty fun yesterday. The only downside was that one of the dishes apparently was either spoiled or contaminated. Half of the staff called out sick, and a third of the ones who did show up have stomach problems.
I am fine, however. Since I'm allergic to shellfish, I didn't eat any of the langostino pasta. I just had fried chicken and macaroni salad. And I still jogged 3.4 miles yesterday.
The talismanic figure known as "Mr Pretrial" even called out sick. It was his first sick day used in 20 years. They guy literally has thousands of hours of unused sick leave.
Well, aside from crippling the staff, the party was pretty fun!
Oh... And I'm not the one who made the pasta!
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( 3.1 / 1062 )Tuesday, December 19, 2006, 04:33 PM
My partner's boss is an idiot. She's trying to force Doug into getting counseling because he wrote about being depressed. Well, his dad died about 8 years ago, and Doug misses his father around the holidays. What a shock. What normal, functional human being DOESN'T miss deceased loved ones around key holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving? Doug's boss isn't even making a ruckus out of some misguided compassion. She just likes giving her staff a hard time whenever possible.
So Doug had to delete his blog so that its contents couldn't be held against him.
His boss is a jerk.
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( 3.1 / 1025 )Sunday, December 17, 2006, 03:55 PM
More Christmas Parodies!
What Christmas holiday is complete without more bloodthirsty parodies? These are just a few short ones to round out the season...
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The Golem Song
[To the tune of "The Dradel Song"]
Golem! Golem! Golem!
I made you out of clay.
And when I'm finished sculpting,
The neighbors you will slay!
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Silent, Deadly Night
Silent Night
Deadly Night
All is stark
Kids have fright
There's yon Santa Claus
Weilding an axe
Because the parents
Have been way to lax
He'll chop the kiddies to pieces
Yes, chop all the kid to pieces...
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Up on the Rooftop
Up on the rooftop
Clickity click!
Down comes pissed off old Saint Nick
He's not bringing the kiddies any fun
Instead he's packing a great big gun!
He'll shoot the christmas tree full of holes
Before he picks off some innocent souls!
Ho ho ho!
Both barrels to blow!
Ho ho ho!
Who's gonna know?
Up through the chimney
Lickity split
A night full of mayhem
By good Saint Nick!
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( 3 / 950 )Tuesday, December 12, 2006, 03:26 PM - Cool Stuff
Rudolph the Cyborg Reindeer
Rudolph the Cyborg Reindeer
Had a red prosthetic eye
And when it shot out lasers
The children would all run and cry
All of the other reindeer
Used to stay the hell out of his way
They didn't want to be bisected
When Rudolph came around to slay!
Then one foggy Christmas Eve
Santa came to say,
"Rhudolph with your eye so bright,
Won't you be my laser sight?"
Then how the children feared him
As Santa launched a shooting spree.
Rhudolph the Cyborg Reindeer
You'll go down in infamy!
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( 3 / 1100 )Sunday, December 10, 2006, 09:51 PM
Burglar Claus
Better watch out
Better not cry
Bar all your windows
I'm telling you why:
Burglar Claus is coming to town!
He's making a list
Checking it twice
He's stealing all the things
That fetch a good price
Burglar Claus is coming to town
He sees you when your leaving
Or when you're not awake
He'll scour through your jewelry box
'Cause he can tell what's real or fake!
Oh... You'd better not pout
Better not cry
You're insurance is going up
I'm telling you why:
Burglar Claus is coming to town!
Burglar Claus is coming to town!
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( 3 / 933 )Wednesday, November 29, 2006, 06:33 PM - Random Thoughts
To put Bush's mishandling of the Iraq war in context, let's imagine how he'd do as a tour bus driver instead of as a president.There's a bus with 100 people on it. Two of them are millionaires, while the rest are middle class or working class. All of the passengers have paid the bus fare in order to ride the bus, and Bush's salary comes out of that bus fare.
At some point, there's a fork in the road. Bush gets out his map, but he's just not quite smart enough to read the map in order to determing the right direction. Without telling the passengers this, he simply guesses and then turns hard to the RIGHT.
Before long, the road gets bumpy. Someone pushes a huge boulder down the side of the mountain and it hits the bus really hard -- killing one of the passengers. Bush could have swerved out of the way, but he was asleep at the wheel. He spends the next half hour saying that anyone who accused him of being asleep at the wheel is lying and traitorous.
Meanwhile, the road continues to degrade. Some of the passengers start grumbling and a few of them ask Bush if he took the correct turn at the fork. Bush replies, "I've made up my mind. We're going to STAY THE COURSE!"
Then an hour later, huge potholes appear in the road. Bush radios ahead and asks maintenance crews to fix the problem. Unfortunately, he sends almost EVERY repairman to the WRONG ROAD. It turns out that there isn't even anything wrong with the other road. But because of bad instructions, the repairmen destroy the other road while allowing the current one to keep degrading.The people who live alongside the other road start killing the repairmen out of anger.Bush, however, says that he won't recall the repairmen either. He says, "I've made up my mind. We're going to STAY THE COURSE!"
At this point, Bush decides to give a big refund to the millionaire passengers, but makes the middle class passengers pay out of their pockets for the refund. Bush says this will somehow make the view better.
Three hours later, the bus starts careening down a really steep hill. The brakes start making noise as the pads begin to overheat. The passengers are now getting really upset. They start murmuring about wanting to CHANGE DRIVERS. Bush recruits one of the passengers to kill some of the other passengers who are making too much protest. Then he briefly stops the bus to let in 20 OUTSIDERS who haven't paid their fare to ride the bus for FREE. Now the bus is cramped and overloaded. The brakes are now about to fail as the bus heads down an incredibly steep incline.
At the base of the mountain, a sign reads "Bridge Out" and "5000' drop". The passengers scream for Bush to change directions, but Bush simply says, "I've made up my mind, and I'm going to STAY THE COURSE!"
As the bus careens into the mile-deep abyss, Bush jumps out of the bus into his daddy's SUV. the rest of the passengers plummet to their doom.
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