I took a road trip with SweetD last week to see Monkey and her little one in Austin while picking up the lovely suit I managed to leave behind last month.
Good times.
Honestly though...good times.
The road trip was fun and while I'm slightly opposed to putting the mileage on the GTI, it was fun to let it unwind a bit on the backroads. I'm so happy with that purchase. You just don't know.
SweetD spent the IAH AUS leg of the journey calling out interesting items that I just HAD to look at.
Only she waited until they had just passed to tell me.
Exactly.
Can't you see I'm driving here? I need some warning if you want me to look at something.
She just couldn't help herself. Even after I pointed it out she kept it up, in fact, at one point she was actually biting her tongue to keep herself from continuing.
Anyway, the visit with Monkey was fantastic. We started with lunch at Mighty Fine Bugers and then went back to her place for conversation and dessert. Mighty Fine makes a damned good burger, and the hand cut crinkly fries are delish.
Dessert at Monkey's house was a leftover home cooked creme brulee that she kindly offered to let me dig into. Those of you who know me will understand how quickly I agreed to take it off of her hands. It was so tasty, so wonderfully tasty.
If you ever have the means I highly recommend you pick one up.
Also, her little one has a fantastic pirate-ship-water-table contraption that caused a bit of a water fight outside. A little water never hurt anyone though, just causes giggles.
Except maybe the wicked witch, and she was misunderstood.
Poor thing.
That's all I've got.
Back in a day or two to finish up some thoughts on the two posts below.
Uncruel...thank you so much for your comments man. You never fail to amaze me with your words.
-pointing at the ketchup
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
games people play
Monopoly anyone?
I do love a good game night. Though, for some reason I prefer games that take a decent amount of time to play.
Trivial Pursuit, Monopoly, Risk, those are right up my alley.
However, those games we play out of insecurity?
Yeah....not so much.
I just can't hack it. Especially since ninety percent of them could be avoided if we'd only be honest about how we are feeling and communicate that to the person we are directing it towards...boyfriend/girlfriend/bestfriend...
Instead of playing a game or throwing a fit or causing drama, just tell someone how you're feeling and why. Hopefully they'll be adult enough to help you deal rather than make things worse.
Not that I've never played those games...because it's so much easier to describe the proper way to handle them having made all the wrong decisions myself.
That's what we call the wisdom of experience.
I've been in relationships full of games and manipulation, on both sides, but I'm at a point in my life where I have neither the patience nor the desire to put up with the drama. Running all of this through my head...it dawned on me that the other reason I don't do games anymore is that, having plenty of past experience, I pull out the big guns at the first opportunity. You see, I'm a vendictive asshole when it comes to drama/insecurity bs, and winning these games to me means that one of two things happens:
Either I cause so much hurt and insecurity that you will never ever play them again for fear of my reaction and how it will make you feel in the end, or I'm such an angry douchebag you decide to evict me from your life.
Either way...you will never play games with me again...in which case I view either scenario a win for team Sub.
Man...reading through that again...I really AM a dick.
Here's the thing though, someone recently played a bullshit game with me and my initial reaction was largely automatic and unconscious. Even 12 hours after the fact I had to take a deep breath and think about what I was doing to refrain from being a total ass.
Notice I said "total ass" because I was still an ass...but just a fraction of one.
Fraction of ass.
heh
So, knowing that my reaction was dickish, and probably hurtful, though certainly not uncalled for or overly mean (you'll have to take my word for it)...I have to ask at what point we stop doing this.
When does our brain interject and ask us to be adults rather than petulant spoiled children lashing out at anyone who doesn't automatically make us the center of their world?
I can tell you that I became an adult when I started making decisions based on what was right and good (in my moral and ethical view) rather than based on what was easiest or caused me the least trouble. I pride myself on that now...sometimes probably too much...but still.
We are so driven by ego that it's difficult to view anything outside of that light unless a person is making a conscious decision to do so. As a result every decision we make is driven by the desire to be the best, the most noticed, most popular...whatever.
So when do we begin to put that aside...at least to some degree, in an effort to be good to our common man? When does someone elses happiness and desires actually begin to trump our own?
Maybe it's just an entirely different kind of ego that gets off on knowing I'm not the most important person on the planet.
Maybe that's the next evolution for man...
Or...possibly...I'm just full of shit and passing the time before I leave for the night.
Either way I'm still a douchebag half the time.
-still a douchebag
I do love a good game night. Though, for some reason I prefer games that take a decent amount of time to play.
Trivial Pursuit, Monopoly, Risk, those are right up my alley.
However, those games we play out of insecurity?
Yeah....not so much.
I just can't hack it. Especially since ninety percent of them could be avoided if we'd only be honest about how we are feeling and communicate that to the person we are directing it towards...boyfriend/girlfriend/bestfriend...
Instead of playing a game or throwing a fit or causing drama, just tell someone how you're feeling and why. Hopefully they'll be adult enough to help you deal rather than make things worse.
Not that I've never played those games...because it's so much easier to describe the proper way to handle them having made all the wrong decisions myself.
That's what we call the wisdom of experience.
I've been in relationships full of games and manipulation, on both sides, but I'm at a point in my life where I have neither the patience nor the desire to put up with the drama. Running all of this through my head...it dawned on me that the other reason I don't do games anymore is that, having plenty of past experience, I pull out the big guns at the first opportunity. You see, I'm a vendictive asshole when it comes to drama/insecurity bs, and winning these games to me means that one of two things happens:
Either I cause so much hurt and insecurity that you will never ever play them again for fear of my reaction and how it will make you feel in the end, or I'm such an angry douchebag you decide to evict me from your life.
Either way...you will never play games with me again...in which case I view either scenario a win for team Sub.
Man...reading through that again...I really AM a dick.
Here's the thing though, someone recently played a bullshit game with me and my initial reaction was largely automatic and unconscious. Even 12 hours after the fact I had to take a deep breath and think about what I was doing to refrain from being a total ass.
Notice I said "total ass" because I was still an ass...but just a fraction of one.
Fraction of ass.
heh
So, knowing that my reaction was dickish, and probably hurtful, though certainly not uncalled for or overly mean (you'll have to take my word for it)...I have to ask at what point we stop doing this.
When does our brain interject and ask us to be adults rather than petulant spoiled children lashing out at anyone who doesn't automatically make us the center of their world?
I can tell you that I became an adult when I started making decisions based on what was right and good (in my moral and ethical view) rather than based on what was easiest or caused me the least trouble. I pride myself on that now...sometimes probably too much...but still.
We are so driven by ego that it's difficult to view anything outside of that light unless a person is making a conscious decision to do so. As a result every decision we make is driven by the desire to be the best, the most noticed, most popular...whatever.
So when do we begin to put that aside...at least to some degree, in an effort to be good to our common man? When does someone elses happiness and desires actually begin to trump our own?
Maybe it's just an entirely different kind of ego that gets off on knowing I'm not the most important person on the planet.
Maybe that's the next evolution for man...
Or...possibly...I'm just full of shit and passing the time before I leave for the night.
Either way I'm still a douchebag half the time.
-still a douchebag
Friday, August 20, 2010
are you headed my direction?
I'm housesitting this weekend. Taking care of the golden retriever formerly known as "crazy dog". He's not so crazy anymore. This is a good thing.
Unfortunately, it took the nullification of wedding vows for him to get all calm and collected. Perhaps he knew something his human companions didn't?
Meh.
They are both good people, just headed in different directions.
That seems to happen a lot these days. We fall in love only to figure out much later on that our significant other hopes to someday become the most popular hooker between here and Conroe. Which is about the time you realize that you've never had any desire whatsoever to be a pimp, much less one so famous, and the two of you should probably sit down and discuss the fact that you are headed in completely opposite directions.
Look, I'm very open minded. I'm progressive and different and willing to accept a ton of different lifestyles and sexual preferences...
Still, the more I think about it, the more it hits me that maybe those old fashioned folks have a few things right.
Take courting for instance:
Back in the day it was expected that a young man would get himself started in an actual career, get a house, and then...only then would he go looking for a young woman.
If he was in the country he'd get his own property...or get promise of it from his father...before looking for a wife.
In either case, the man is already headed solidly down a path and direction. Not that he can't or won't change his mind, just that he wasn't as likely to do so.
Now? None of this is expected before a major relationship or marriage. Which means that many couples get together and then figure out later on that they want entirely different things from life. So, what do you do? How do you fix that?
Don't get me wrong, my best friends got married and that certainly wasn't his situation when he proposed to her. Yet I'd swear to you that they have a fantastic relationship and a great marriage
It's just that...eh...maybe there'd be fewer divorces if we told young men that they needed to be more established before they seriously started to consider marriage.
Don't worry my AARP membership is on it's way and my walker is on backorder.
As a woman, wouldn't it be a plus to find a man who enjoyed his career and had a roof over his head that was in his name? Someone who's goals were already defined? Because then, at least you'd know what direction he was headed from the start. Maybe you meet a guy living in a condo downtown pimping hot college girls to all the biggest names in town...maybe he's exactly what you're looking for.
I've had fun dating, and I don't think that should go away. But then...how do you flip that switch from dating to seriously looking for a permanent long term relationship? Because that's really the issue here. So many of us happen to run into someone who is super fantastic, who hits all of the right buttons, so we flip from dating to serious before we have anything else figured out. And we shouldn't have to miss out on the perfect fit just because we don't have the house or the career...but maybe we should slow down and make sure we have those before we ask that special someone to spend their lives with us?
Not because they are necessary...but because where you want to live and what you want to do has such a huge impact on who and what we are that I can't imagine sharing my life with someone who doesn't have some of the same dreams and desires as I do.
Meh...I don't think this post has an ending, I'm just throwing thoughts out there. This all hit me today on the way into the office (overtime today) and continued during a smoke break outside. Perhaps tossing it on here will help purge it from my system.
Please...discuss...
-call me old fashioned
Unfortunately, it took the nullification of wedding vows for him to get all calm and collected. Perhaps he knew something his human companions didn't?
Meh.
They are both good people, just headed in different directions.
That seems to happen a lot these days. We fall in love only to figure out much later on that our significant other hopes to someday become the most popular hooker between here and Conroe. Which is about the time you realize that you've never had any desire whatsoever to be a pimp, much less one so famous, and the two of you should probably sit down and discuss the fact that you are headed in completely opposite directions.
Look, I'm very open minded. I'm progressive and different and willing to accept a ton of different lifestyles and sexual preferences...
Still, the more I think about it, the more it hits me that maybe those old fashioned folks have a few things right.
Take courting for instance:
Back in the day it was expected that a young man would get himself started in an actual career, get a house, and then...only then would he go looking for a young woman.
If he was in the country he'd get his own property...or get promise of it from his father...before looking for a wife.
In either case, the man is already headed solidly down a path and direction. Not that he can't or won't change his mind, just that he wasn't as likely to do so.
Now? None of this is expected before a major relationship or marriage. Which means that many couples get together and then figure out later on that they want entirely different things from life. So, what do you do? How do you fix that?
Don't get me wrong, my best friends got married and that certainly wasn't his situation when he proposed to her. Yet I'd swear to you that they have a fantastic relationship and a great marriage
It's just that...eh...maybe there'd be fewer divorces if we told young men that they needed to be more established before they seriously started to consider marriage.
Don't worry my AARP membership is on it's way and my walker is on backorder.
As a woman, wouldn't it be a plus to find a man who enjoyed his career and had a roof over his head that was in his name? Someone who's goals were already defined? Because then, at least you'd know what direction he was headed from the start. Maybe you meet a guy living in a condo downtown pimping hot college girls to all the biggest names in town...maybe he's exactly what you're looking for.
I've had fun dating, and I don't think that should go away. But then...how do you flip that switch from dating to seriously looking for a permanent long term relationship? Because that's really the issue here. So many of us happen to run into someone who is super fantastic, who hits all of the right buttons, so we flip from dating to serious before we have anything else figured out. And we shouldn't have to miss out on the perfect fit just because we don't have the house or the career...but maybe we should slow down and make sure we have those before we ask that special someone to spend their lives with us?
Not because they are necessary...but because where you want to live and what you want to do has such a huge impact on who and what we are that I can't imagine sharing my life with someone who doesn't have some of the same dreams and desires as I do.
Meh...I don't think this post has an ending, I'm just throwing thoughts out there. This all hit me today on the way into the office (overtime today) and continued during a smoke break outside. Perhaps tossing it on here will help purge it from my system.
Please...discuss...
-call me old fashioned
Monday, August 16, 2010
Inception
Inception
Writer/Director - Christopher Nolan
Starring - Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Ellen Paige
Layers.
Onions have layers. This movie has layers. This movie is like an onion.
No. Wait. scratch that.
But yes...layers.
It's a heist movie, only it isn't.
It's sci-fi...but not crazy over the top otherworldly sci-fi. In this case a completely new impossible technology is involved, but it's cleverly placed into a setting that we will recognize and relate to. This is smart, making it far easier for us to accept the entire story.
There's also a small love story.
And a dash of espionage.
As I said...layers.
When we look for onions we test for many things...but looks, color, texture...these are the most important to me. Movies are no different, and the cinematography here didn't disappoint. Stunning landscapes and dream sequences abound. The astounding views and scenes shown in the trailers are carried throughout the film.
Onions will make you cry. This movie...
Well, okay, no crying.
Let's forget about the onions.
Layers though...from beginning to end you will be thinking about the many different levels and different plays taking place. It is definitely the best movie I've seen this year...but you won't likely walk out of the theatre with a smile on your face, because it isn't a feel-good king of thing.
Emotional draw is what this movie did best. You become invested in the outcome. Not just along a single story line either. I don't want to give anything away, but there are two poignant emotional moments that really struck at me. Both are similar in what they were supposed to be...but so different in the moments themselves. That's right, I'm a vague bastard. I'm also a badass and a sweetheart.
Because layers.
Exactly.
Yet for all of that...the plot was relatively simple. Not much in the way of twists and turns or unseen moments. Apparently some folks haven't liked this...but trust me, with everything else going on here, I think that would have made this movie too complicated, too intricate.
I'm going to tell you that Inception is a must-see. It is currently #1 on my list for this year. Just be prepared for a show that will make you think.
-dream weaver
Writer/Director - Christopher Nolan
Starring - Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Ellen Paige
Layers.
Onions have layers. This movie has layers. This movie is like an onion.
No. Wait. scratch that.
But yes...layers.
It's a heist movie, only it isn't.
It's sci-fi...but not crazy over the top otherworldly sci-fi. In this case a completely new impossible technology is involved, but it's cleverly placed into a setting that we will recognize and relate to. This is smart, making it far easier for us to accept the entire story.
There's also a small love story.
And a dash of espionage.
As I said...layers.
When we look for onions we test for many things...but looks, color, texture...these are the most important to me. Movies are no different, and the cinematography here didn't disappoint. Stunning landscapes and dream sequences abound. The astounding views and scenes shown in the trailers are carried throughout the film.
Onions will make you cry. This movie...
Well, okay, no crying.
Let's forget about the onions.
Layers though...from beginning to end you will be thinking about the many different levels and different plays taking place. It is definitely the best movie I've seen this year...but you won't likely walk out of the theatre with a smile on your face, because it isn't a feel-good king of thing.
Emotional draw is what this movie did best. You become invested in the outcome. Not just along a single story line either. I don't want to give anything away, but there are two poignant emotional moments that really struck at me. Both are similar in what they were supposed to be...but so different in the moments themselves. That's right, I'm a vague bastard. I'm also a badass and a sweetheart.
Because layers.
Exactly.
Yet for all of that...the plot was relatively simple. Not much in the way of twists and turns or unseen moments. Apparently some folks haven't liked this...but trust me, with everything else going on here, I think that would have made this movie too complicated, too intricate.
I'm going to tell you that Inception is a must-see. It is currently #1 on my list for this year. Just be prepared for a show that will make you think.
-dream weaver
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Salt
Salt
Writer - Kurt Wimmer (also wrote Ultraviolet and Equilibrium)
Director - Phillip Noyce
Starring - Angelina Jolie
This is a spy thriller, no bones about that. More Jason Bourne than James Bond. Though, I think I liked that.
Heh...I just realized that those two spys have the same initials.
Anyway...the fight scenes are mostly believable, and the camera shots are kept clean. The only use of the jittery camera is during one of the car chases.
I've heard people say that Jolie doesn't deliver, but I don't think she had much to work with. The dialogue is kept to a minimum and the opportunity to show her character as anything other than an action hero are short and few. I think that those she did have were used relatively well.
The other thing I liked about this movie is that it wasn't so far out of whack that everything came from left field, but also not so simple that I was guessing all of the plot twists long before they happened.
It engaged me, kept my mind playing, and let me figure things out just before they happened. That's a key feature to the thriller and is pulled off very well here.
So, final verdict...it's worth the price at the theatre. I put it at #2 for the year. If you enjoy a good spy movie with a healthy dose of action and plenty of plot twists...this is the movie for you.
-not a russian spy
Writer - Kurt Wimmer (also wrote Ultraviolet and Equilibrium)
Director - Phillip Noyce
Starring - Angelina Jolie
This is a spy thriller, no bones about that. More Jason Bourne than James Bond. Though, I think I liked that.
Heh...I just realized that those two spys have the same initials.
Anyway...the fight scenes are mostly believable, and the camera shots are kept clean. The only use of the jittery camera is during one of the car chases.
I've heard people say that Jolie doesn't deliver, but I don't think she had much to work with. The dialogue is kept to a minimum and the opportunity to show her character as anything other than an action hero are short and few. I think that those she did have were used relatively well.
The other thing I liked about this movie is that it wasn't so far out of whack that everything came from left field, but also not so simple that I was guessing all of the plot twists long before they happened.
It engaged me, kept my mind playing, and let me figure things out just before they happened. That's a key feature to the thriller and is pulled off very well here.
So, final verdict...it's worth the price at the theatre. I put it at #2 for the year. If you enjoy a good spy movie with a healthy dose of action and plenty of plot twists...this is the movie for you.
-not a russian spy
2010 Movie List
Okay, so.
The idea here is to rank all of the movies I've seen this year...only I didn't review all of them and well...I'm not sure how to place them.
As a result we'll start with what I've seen in the past two weeks and go from there.
I will tell you though...Dispicable Me was awesome. Go see it.
Also...Toy Story 3...I've been told it's a masterpiece but I ho-hummed it. Don't know, maybe because I expected more than their stock storyline after all of this time?
Eh...if you liked the other two you'll still like this one.
Anyway...onto the list!
1. Inception
2. The Social Network
3. RED
4. Harry Potter
5. Megamind
6. Salt
7. The Other Guys
-everyone's a critic
The idea here is to rank all of the movies I've seen this year...only I didn't review all of them and well...I'm not sure how to place them.
As a result we'll start with what I've seen in the past two weeks and go from there.
I will tell you though...Dispicable Me was awesome. Go see it.
Also...Toy Story 3...I've been told it's a masterpiece but I ho-hummed it. Don't know, maybe because I expected more than their stock storyline after all of this time?
Eh...if you liked the other two you'll still like this one.
Anyway...onto the list!
1. Inception
2. The Social Network
3. RED
4. Harry Potter
5. Megamind
6. Salt
7. The Other Guys
-everyone's a critic
Saturday, August 14, 2010
hello again
It's been so long since I've written that this feels like that first trip on a bike after years of not riding. I know what to do, how to do it, but nothing quite fits.
It feels clumsy.
I've lost my grace.
Oh let's be honest here...I never had any grace when it comes to writing. Not really. Those who know me will tell you that what comes out here is very rarely considered before it is added to the page. Thoughts flow from graymatter to fingertip at 78wpm. I took a test the other day...that's not just a random guess.
But yes...what you read is not far removed from what you'd hear should you be standing in front of me. I do enjoy the occasional verbal game. It is fun to stretch my brain and test these skills...but mostly...
Mostly you get these phrases in their original form.
It's better that way.
Cleaner.
As well, I'm far less likely to censor myself if I refrain from thinking it all out.
I think that's what happened. Part of the reason I disappeared. I was thinking too hard about what I might say.
What I should say.
So I said nothing at all.
Meh.
I'm learning. Still learning after all these years and I'm so happy to know this, to realize how far I've come and how far I've yet to go. I'm proud of the man I am...that's not boasting or bragging, just a fact.
I am proud of the man I am.
I have flaws...certainly.
I probably use "..." far too much when I write, heh.
Just think of them as pauses, because that's where I'd breathe or think or, well...eh...
*shrugging of shoulders*
You get the picture.
I'm back though.
I'm back.
I've deleted all of the old entries for now. They'll be reposted over time along with entries from the old site. That one with all of the amazing folks where I found this blogging phenomena for the first time.
There is happiness in that thought, and you can't see the way the corners of my mouth turned up into a grin just thinking about them...but there you have it.
I'm still that same guy I was a few months ago.
Obsessed with making things using his own two hands. So focused on the relationships around him and what we all get from them. Still trying to figure out how the written word so affects his fellow man, or woman...you get my drift.
But making his way, day by day, and happy to be here, you can see it from ear to ear.
Happy.
-like a cheshire cat
It feels clumsy.
I've lost my grace.
Oh let's be honest here...I never had any grace when it comes to writing. Not really. Those who know me will tell you that what comes out here is very rarely considered before it is added to the page. Thoughts flow from graymatter to fingertip at 78wpm. I took a test the other day...that's not just a random guess.
But yes...what you read is not far removed from what you'd hear should you be standing in front of me. I do enjoy the occasional verbal game. It is fun to stretch my brain and test these skills...but mostly...
Mostly you get these phrases in their original form.
It's better that way.
Cleaner.
As well, I'm far less likely to censor myself if I refrain from thinking it all out.
I think that's what happened. Part of the reason I disappeared. I was thinking too hard about what I might say.
What I should say.
So I said nothing at all.
Meh.
I'm learning. Still learning after all these years and I'm so happy to know this, to realize how far I've come and how far I've yet to go. I'm proud of the man I am...that's not boasting or bragging, just a fact.
I am proud of the man I am.
I have flaws...certainly.
I probably use "..." far too much when I write, heh.
Just think of them as pauses, because that's where I'd breathe or think or, well...eh...
*shrugging of shoulders*
You get the picture.
I'm back though.
I'm back.
I've deleted all of the old entries for now. They'll be reposted over time along with entries from the old site. That one with all of the amazing folks where I found this blogging phenomena for the first time.
There is happiness in that thought, and you can't see the way the corners of my mouth turned up into a grin just thinking about them...but there you have it.
I'm still that same guy I was a few months ago.
Obsessed with making things using his own two hands. So focused on the relationships around him and what we all get from them. Still trying to figure out how the written word so affects his fellow man, or woman...you get my drift.
But making his way, day by day, and happy to be here, you can see it from ear to ear.
Happy.
-like a cheshire cat
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Patience please...
We're under construction.
We'll have a new entry for your happy little minds to digest in just two shakes.
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