December 2002

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12/29/02
Don't tell the elf!
So I'm a bit tired, instead of the relaxing weekend I had planned, it turned out to be quite busy.
Friday, I had to drive out to Brentwood, Long Island to do some work at the Academy of St Josephs.  If you can't tell, that's a catholic school, a catholic girls school.  And before you get all excited, let me splain two things to you.  first, it's the holiday and no students were there, and second, it only goes to junior high so get your sick minds out of here.  So it took me 2 hours to get there, spent about 6 1/2 hours working and 2 to get back.  It was a long day.  I did take my new camera with me and hopefully will get a chance to post the pictures of my journey sometime this week.  Friday night, Carnage (aka Scotty Love) and I watched The Fellowship of the Ring, special edition.  The extra scenes were great, I hope all three movies have a special edition.
Saturday, I helped Tricia and Cathy move into their new house.  It was a pain moving things out of their old apt, but easy, very, moving things into their house.  We were aided by (in random order) Timotheus, Curious Georgie, Bill, Chris and Kathi Maguire, Michelle, Shannon and Theresa. And later Matt and friend, who helped with the superbly executed job of getting the sofa out of the old apartment by not throwing it out the window.  Oh and special thanks to Katey for getting us pizza.  Later Tricia's parents showed up to 'help' clean up.
Sunday,  Tricia treated Tim, Cathy and I to breakfast at IHOP.  We then went to the McGuire's household to pick up a fridge, chair and chest.  We brought it to their new house, said out goodbyes and split.  Timotheus and I went back to my place, hung out and played some Vice City.  Then ChefJeff stopped bye and we went with him and Carnage to see The Two Towers (yet again) (See with the Special Edition Fellowship, there came this coupon for a free viewing of the Two Towers, but it had to be used by Dec 31st...so...)  Afterwards we went and hung out at Sean's and Giner's for a bit, which leads me to where I am now typing this.

So...Without further adieu, here's the Talk Soup Pic of the week.  Ok, I'll explain.  This is Phoebe, my parents' cat which surpasses Nermal in cuteness and has the power to make my friends want to steal her.

And something you haven't seen in a while...
**Support Stephen Baker**
This is a lot of advance notice.  Anathema Device will be playing in Clifton, NJ at Connections on SATURDAY, February 1st.  There goes many of your excuses not to go, but you have a month to think up new ones.

This was also the weekend of the odd dream.

12/25/02
They're busy throwing snowballs instead of throwing heads.
Happy holidays everyone.
And here in Jersey, anyone wishing for a white Christmas is getting their wish in spades.  I, personally prefer M&M blizzards to Christmas blizzards, but you gotta make do with what you got.  Well it's the wee hours of the morning, so I'm hitting the sack  If the roads are good tomorrow, I'll have no time to do anything here, if not...well...I dunno what I'm gonna do.  Anyways, see y'all on the flip side.

OK, here was our Christmas plan.  In the morning, I go to my parents house for Breakfast and gift exchange.  In the afternoon we are joined by my grandparents and aunt and uncle for dinner.  After dinner, we all go to another aunts house for dessert and gift exchange amongst the extended family.  That was the plan.  Things did not go according to plan.
So My parents, my sister and I had a nice quiet quality Christmas together.  It was good having just the 4 of us all day, very relaxing for all.  I had a great Christmas (I got a digital camera...woooo!  So expect a more visual chronicle from here on in.)  I think everyone else did too.  I updated my holiday page with photos and other such things, feel free to go look.

And time to backtrack a little bit.  On Christmas Eve, The family and I went to Charlie Brown's for dinner.  We all had fun there as well as good food.  We then headed for the mo-town movie theater.  We took the scenic route down 53.  It was very nice, the Morris Plains train station was all lit up rather nicely.  We then drove around Mo-town for a bit and looked at all the pretty lights.  We then headed to the theaters to see The Two Towers (again).  I enjoyed it much more the second time because I was able to just relax and watch the movie.  We then returned home and parted ways until the morning.
Then, against my better judgement, I drove up to Butler to Tom's house to hang out with Tom (ooo..big shocker there), Li, Da Gusta, and Kevan.  We had fun watching Fishing with John and just hanging out.  Then I went home and crashed big time.

Oh and another little after note.  Hey Rosie, guess what I got on DVD....

12/21/02
You're not supposed to help her. She never sleeps.
So, the zenwarp show was pretty good.  Well, except Baker lost his controller keyboard's power supply halfway through the set.  St. Eve was really cool, but only did one song.  I have to try and catch her some other time and see a full set.  Otherwise, Melissa, Baker's Beau,  was there, Elyzium went with me and there were some cool costumes.  Webster hall, where it was held, was huge  with a balcony overlooking the main dance floor and several side rooms.
Friday, I was off of work and got a call from Giner.  She needed a ride into work.  So I went and picked her up, but on the way back, the road was blocked so we had to take some back roads to get out of Hackettstown.  I also noticed that The Ring was playing at the $4 theater in town.   I was able to drop her off on time and then got my grandfather's x-mas gift and had a craving for Indian food and went to The Clay Oven.  They had some lamb curry for the buffet, it was really good.  Later in the evening, Carnage and I went to see The Ring since we hadn't seen it yet.  On the way into Hackettstown traffic was all backed up, but I was able to take the same back road that I had used earlier to get out of town, now that's neat.  The movie was really cool and one of the scariest that I've seen in a while.  I highly recommend it, if you can find it playing anywhere.
The rest of the weekend involved...pretty much nothing.  I watched some TV and movies and played games and wrapped some gifts.  Though I had to unwrap one because I had accidentally wrapped up Da Gusta's gift in with my sister's.  heh...

And here's the pic of the week, which I like to call:  Hey, that's not mistletoe. (pic sent in by Tricia)

And I made a fun filled...or at least time wasting filled...holiday page.  Go!

12/19/02
They may be monsters, but they're SEA monsters. What're they gonna do?  Flop around on deck and suffocate at us threateningly?
So, If you haven't seen The Two Towers go see it now, and then go see it again, and then again and again and again and again and then take a break to got the the release party at zenwarp tonight and Then go see it again and again and again...

I just made a quiz.  Aren't I great?

12/18/02
Three rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
            Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
            One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
            One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
            One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

12/16/02
What does that say?
Hell of Boiling Oil.
You're kidding.
Yeah, I am. It says Keep Out.
Oopsie, I forgot to post the pic of the week.  So there it is.

12/15/02
Bow down, bow down before the power of Santa
Or be crushed, be crushed by his jolly boots of doom.
So, um...er...This weekend was oh, so exciting, oh yes, so prepare your jealousy now.
Friday, I went to hang out with Elyzium and Heidi.  We just hung out and went to a diner.  Feeling jealous yet??
Saturday, I did NOTHING all day, well, not nothing per say...more like something.  I had to take Scott to random car rental corporation because his car died again.  Then I stopped by the parents and chatted and picked up the tape of shows they were nice enough to record Friday night.  Then I went home and watched said shows.  Sat evening Sean, Timotheus, Jeff, Rosie, and I went to see Star Trek: Nemesis.  Afterwards all but Sean went to Timotheus's's's and watched The Muppet's Christmas Carol.  Which was amusingly amusing.  I had never realized that Beaker gave Scrooge the finger before.  Teehee indeed!
Sunday I went to my uncle Tony's big birthday brunch bash.  The food was wery good and fun was had by all.  Well by me, I can't really speak for everyone else.  This afternoon, I was feeling quite tired, so I accomplished nothing, well, I put up our tree and decorated with our meager decorations, but that's all.  And I re-watched The most Horrible X-mas Ever, which happens to be the best holiday special ever made.

Oh, if I were a cartoon villain, I would be Him.
 

Not sure about the cross dresser part. Well, I'm sure about it, I'm just not one.  You know...

Anyway... This week, of course marks the release of The Two Towers on Wednesday.  I'm hitting Mo-town for the 6:30 show.  You can all join me there if you can get tickets.  Thursday is the Release Party for Two Towers at Zenwarp in the city.  Anathema Device is playing, as is St. Eve, so if you want to go, let me know.  We can carpool and thus save money with parking in Hoboken.

Ok, since you are all now seething with jealousy, I will now take my leave and leave you to...seethe...in your...jealousy.

12/13/02
Guys, it's okay! He just wanted his machete back!
Man, I just realized that it's Friday the 13th.  And my morning awakedness is starting to wear off.  I don't think it helps that I woke up half an hour late this morning.  Stupid 2 alarm clock, set wrong one.  Anyways I still managed to get into work on time.  Go me!
So in a move of much smarts, I decided that it would be bad to go out late next Thursday and go into work next Friday all tired like, so I took next Friday off.  The Zenwarp Two Towers party is looking pretty fun.  Of course next Wednesday, I'm going to see the movie so that'll be way cool.
So time for NJ driver rant.  On the way into work this morning, I got behind a car going the speed limit exactly in the right lane, so I moved behind the car in the left lane and as soon as he pulled next to the car in the right lane, he matched speeds with it.  What's wrong with people?  Why would you do this?  Do they have some sort of vendetta against me?  Is it a conspiracy?  Sigh.  I hate driving.
I feel like i had something else to say, but I forget what, so nevermind.

12/08/02
To confirm earlier reports, President Clark has signed a decree today declaring Martial Law throughout Earth Central, citing threats to planetary security. He’s expected to provide information to support this action at a closed meeting of the full Earth Senate tomorrow. We repeat: Earth is now under Martial Law
You have to see this.
On a lighter note, Anathema Device and St. Eve are playing next Thursday, Dec 19.  Please join me and give me a reason to see them.  Plus there may be a transit workers strike and we'll need 4 people in a car to get into the city.  So come on and enjoy the show.  Let me know.

12/08/02
You scare me.
I scare YOU?
Sunday update part deux.
Friday, I just found out was Rosie's birthday.  Happy birthday Rosie!!!!  Hope you had a good one!  Well, I ended up watching Firefly and John Doe on Friday and playing video games.  I also made a new mix, did some experimenting with it by adding WAV files between some songs.  It's pretty neat.
Saturday, I met with the fam and my father, sister and I went into the city to see Dance of the Vampires.  My family likes going by way of the ferry, so we went to Weehawken and took the ferry from there, well we took 2 ferries because the first one pulled out of the dock and pulled back in with engine trouble.  So the next ferry was very crowded and ended up filling up 2 buses to standing room only on the other side.  We got off the bus near times square, hit an overly crowded McD's then headed for the Minskoff theater where the show was.  We waited in the lobby and by now I REALLY had to use the bathroom.  So once it opened, I ran up the stairs and headed to the bathrooms, I passed an usher who rudely said "Can I help you?"  I wanted to give some crude answer back, but my overwhelming need to void and a desire not to get kicked out (the former was the vital reason) I basically ignored her and hit the head.  Then got to my seat and waited.  The show started.  The set design was beautiful, especially the castle gate, the staircase and the graveyard.  The music was fun, written by Jim Steinman who wrote the Bat Out of Hell album for Meatloaf.  the singing need not be commented on as it included Michael Crawford, Broadway's biggest star as well as Rene Auberjonois of DS9 and Benson fame.  The show itself was highly entertaining with much humor included.  I also think that they were taking pictures for the program since there was a big camera on a tripod setup behind us (the show is in previews, it actually opens tomorrow.)
After the show we waited outside since my sis is a Broadway autograph hound.  alas Michael Crawford didn't come out, apparently he doesn't come out between shows (he had a night show as well.)  We then proceeded to walk up to Rockefeller Center to see the tree.  All I have to say is during the holiday season, midtown is frikkin crowded on the weekends!!!!  So we walked back to 49th st. and caught the bus back to the ferry, which had standing room only and caught the ferry, standing room again.  We hit the road, stopped at the Tick Tock diner for yummy goodness (mmm...portabella burger), then headed home.  Nothing else terribly interesting occurred that night.
Sunday, Nothing much happened, except talked to Tom, until the afternoon when we went to Clay Oven for Giner's birthday.  I couldn't really afford a gift, so I made her a card using cut up newspaper clippings to make it look like a ransom note.  It said, "Deliver $10429.99 or the gift dies.  Serious.  No Games.  No Gimmicks.", and had a picture of a Ren-Faire guy holding some woman captive.  At the nice dinner was Giner, Sean, his parents, Brian, D-mo, Carnage, ROSS, Craig, Dave (the two of which originated this weeks quote) and Lauren.  We had a great time and Lauren showed us her ring (way to go, Dave!).  Most of us then went back to Giner's for hanging out and Halo.  Then, Carnage and I retuned home and that's the end of it all.

I've decided to add a new thing for the hell of it.  Pic of the week.  Each week, I will put up a new pic for your viewing pleasure.  It will either be artwork or something from a TV show or movie or a pic that someone took.  For now it'll just be a pic.  Maybe I'll set up some kind of thumbnail/archive thing eventually.  If you have any pics you want posted, send 'em here.

12/08/02
The old man thinks he's in love with his daughter.
Good God. We're out of our depths here.
No, no, no! He hasn't got a daughter! The old man thinks he's in love with his daughter.
The old man is?
Hamlet... in love... with the old man's daughter... the old man... thinks.
Ah.
Happy Boitday Giner!!!!!
So, I just wanted to point out two interesting signs I saw whilst returning from the city yesterday.  The first was on the ferry, where someone had somehow removed a 'ts' from the end of the sentence so the sign read "Life preservers found under the sea"  Which I'm sure would be most helpful for a boatload of drowning people.  Does that mean only those who can't swim would be saved?
The nest sign was down the road from the ferry station where they had a bump in the road.  the sign said "Speed Hump".  Sorry hun, but the sign said....  No wonder traffic's so screwed up in Jersey.  No pun intended.
Indian buffet today for Giner's big par-tay.  YUM!

Stephen, no the other one, told me about this.  Freaky, yet cool in a disturbing kind of way, but hey, that's me.  Some more pics can be seen here.

12/05/02
Before he came down here, it never snowed. And afterwards, it did. I don't think it would be snowing now if he weren't still up there. Sometimes you can still catch me dancing in it.
Boy Howdy did it snow today!  Snow is cool, fun and more fun!  And, man, I'm getting old.  My lower back is killing me.  I need to start some of that exercise shit.  So carefully drove into work today, finished up some things, made phone calls and left messages because no one was in because of the snow, ended up calling my boss, who was in the city, and letting him know we were leaving early.  Drove home carefully, yelling at people, "NO!!!  DON'T STOP!!  STOPPING IS SNOW DRIVING DOOM!!" Then ended up[ playing various video games all afternoon with brief interruptions as my boss called me to ask questions, which is ok, cuz Vice City can pause.  Nothing else to tell.  Saturday is Dance of the Vampires and Sunday is Giner's birthday.  That's all.  Talk to y'all later, ok?

12/02/02
That's my Gusta.
Lesson time.  Never, EVER, pass out at a friend's party.
Thanks to Josh for forwarding Ed's photo to me.  And thanks to Da Gusta for passing out in the first place so that we may mock him.
On an even better note, I got my Two Towers tickets this weekend.  Wooooooo!!!!!!!!

And here's a more informative article about the murders that took place yesterday, along with a listing of all the murders in town in the past 20 years to put things in perspective.  There's been five.

12/01/02
Smokey, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules.
My right arm is a bit sore, but we'll get to that later.  for now I'll jest let your dirty little minds stew on that for a while.  Thursday, I went to me aunt's for dinner and such.  It was good, there were about 18 people there.  We killed off the entire bird, which was disappointing to me because I actually brought containers for leftovers and there were none...sigh.  Then I went and picked up Li from Da Gusta's.  We drove to Kat's, but for some reason Da Gusta rode his bike.  He's a wacky one.  We hung out with Tom as well then I drove Li back to her parents and came home and crashed.  Much like I'm doing right now, so I hope this is coherent.  Also let me know if I leave anything out.
Friday I awoke and hung out all morning.  Then in the afternoon, I picked up Li and we rented Taxi Driver which neither of us had seen before.  It was a great movie.  If your feeling holiday spirit, why not get it for me?  Anyway, we then headed to Sean's and watched a tape on that magician who buried himself alive for several days, then froze himself in ice.  I forget his name, but he went all over performing tricks on the street, it was great.  Then we all went home and to bed.  Except for Sean and Giner, who were already home.
Saturday, was another lounge day.  Then in the evening Gusta and Li came over and we went to the bowling alley for Cathy's surprise birthday party.  There was Timotheus, Jeff, Rosie, Bill, Helen, Curious Georgie, Matt, Shannon, Theresa, and Tricia's sisters there.  Cathy and Tricia showed and she was quite surprised.  Cathy that is, not Tricia.  We then bowled.  And, you know, for my second time bowling ever, I sure sucked ass.  I was doing well the second game, but it got cancelled because it was time for laser light bowling and the rates changed.  We all had fun though and I rode home with Timotheus and once again lost consciousness.  I seem to be doing that on a regular basis.
Sunday, I got up, lounged, hopped online and did most of my holiday shopping.  Watched Panic Room, yet another really cool movie.  Dropped by my parents' house to get what few Thanksgiving leftovers that I left at my aunt's house.  Came home and watched We Were Soldiers.  Another great Mel Gibson war movie.  Another one I'd like to own someday.  After that I worked on this webpage.
On a side note.  Today, this happened.  This is where I grew up and right next to where I live now.  It kind of freaks me out.  I've been in that store and probably talked to those guys.  I'm also a little dismayed at how much trouble I had finding this story.  It wasn't even listed on the sight for the county newspaper.  Weird since it even made the NY evening news.  Last time that happened that I saw was a year or so ago due to heavy rains and flooding.  Before that was when I was in high school when a rash of bomb scares was called in to the school.  We need to do something cool to get on the news.  Or maybe the news needs to start reporting on good things happening and not just the bad shit.   Yeah...  Like Michael Moore and Marilyn Manson said in Bowling for Columbine, The difference between the US media and that of other countries is that ours sells fear.  Keep us afraid and keep us watching.  It makes me sick.  I haven't watched the news since one day, years ago, they showed some people in Mexico being shot by soldiers.  Real people, dying on TV.  And they say movies are violent.  Movies are fake, but it's ok to show the real thing on the 6 O'clock News.  Sigh.  Sorry bout the rant folks.  Stay tuned for your regular program.