Explosions are Cool

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It's almost the 4th of July and according to me that means fireworks. Now of course this year I'm going to be busy moving, but I've been holding on to some fireworks that I'm not suppose to have in this state and am planning to set off as soon as possible.

I am not a fan of regulating fireworks. They explode and look pretty, two thing I like, but for some reason people have a problem with them. You have to be careful with them, most people think of them as toys when they should really be thought of as a small erratic firearm or explosive, and if your are they are a nifty way to celebrate just about anything.

I've heard of horror stories, such as a couple of years ago in Vienna, VA when the official town fireworks fell over and began shooting at the crowd, and I will never forget that for several years my hometown display involved shrapnel falling on our heads (that's okay though, my hometown is pretty small and has always put on a massive display that trumps some unnamed city (cough Detroit cough) displays).

I really need to become a certified pyrotechnician. I think I can then have as many fireworks as I want. Downside is you apparently need to fill out a lot of paperwork so they know you aren't trying to explode people or anything.

Well, I posted something. I feel good about myself.

-X

Celebrities May Not Die in Peace: Michael Jackson

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A couple days have passed and the number one story still is that Michael Jackson is dead. Discount the fact that most people have suspected this for the last several years.

The other day I mentioned that people kept saying that he was so great and had changed music forever. After a day of watching coverage of his autopsy, I first would like to say that not producing any music for eight years (and a decade before that) should revoke the title "King of [insert musical genre]". Next, I can't think of many musicians that emulate his style. Boy bands, and their derivative solo acts, did to a degree, but they are not particularly popular currently and I feel that they tend to take the beat and tone, but they usually lack the style that Jackson had. It doesn't help that Jackson did ensemble dance pieces, which I can't think of any artist doing today. You get bits and pieces of it in some songs, like the Disturbia video, but most videos today are used for making the artist look "cool" not to help paint the visual image of the song, which is what Jackson did.

So how did he have such a great effect on music if no one follows his example?

-X

Too Early

So once again it is three in the morning and I am still awake. I woke up yesterday at about 2:00pm because I was playing Smash Brothers and lost track of time. It's really annoying that I can't go do normal things. Not that there is much to do here. Later today I need to pick up boxes to start to really pack stuff up, make sure that nothing embarrassing is around when my parents come down 4th of July weekend.

Maybe I'll actually lose some of this weight I gained not doing shit.

Bored now.

-X

Requiem In Pacem: Michael Jackson

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So I've read some of the post-Michael Jackson... crap for lack of a better term.

I look at it as a good thing. Mr. Jackson was clearly insane. My points of reference include a handsome man constant having his face cut up, having no friends that weren't either being paid or hadn't hit puberty, and being accused of having sexual intercourse with several of those prepubescent friends.

Note I am not assuming guilt of that last point, my powers of doubt know no limits, if I think about it enough. My point in this is that perhaps this is for the best.

Clearly a lot of people care about him, as noted by 30% of tweets being about his death, and there is nothing worst then a person you care about being sick and being unable to do anything about it. Under normal circumstances the family would be able to get them help, but Mr. Jackson, like most celebrities, had enough money and power to prevent that until he spent most of it defending himself from the court cases.

After the cases his popularity dropped dramatically, because public opinion and the verdict don’t necessarily match, he started running out of money (or he sold his house for fun), and there had been reports about his health failing.

One person on Fark.com was debating when how long it would be until people forgot the bad part and only remember his music. The problem I have with that is I don’t think I’ll ever think of Michael Jackson and think “music”. Currently, it goes “child molester”, “unnecessary plastic surgery”, “Thriller”. Also while I keep seeing things saying how he did all of these great things for music, no one will say specifically what he did, which songs, what videos, etc. It just seems like people want to say good things about him and don’t know how to articulate it.

That said, Rest in Peace

-X

So slow...

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So I've been trying to post for almost two days but the internet in my apartment has been sucking. Luckily I only have to deal with it for another two weeks and then I'll be at my parent's and they do have very good internet their, if nothing else.

I'm trying to pack and trying to find a real job as fast as possible to lessen the amount of time I need to be at "home". Every job I find though is usually a stretch for me to apply for, or they require three years experience, which I clearly do not have. I need to pack but I don't have any boxes at the moment. I plan to pick some up on Friday from the ABC store as I've heard that that is a good place to get them.

In the meantime I've been rereading Something Positive, which is an amusing waste of time, playing with my roommate's cat, and avoiding applying for the jobs I've previously stated I do not qualify for.

At one point in the last couple of days I actually had some type of content idea for this post, but I've clearly forgotten it. Now to go grocery shopping just to get out of the house.

-X

Analyzing

Image by Lilly via Flickr

I signed up for Google Analytics so that I could confirm that no one reads this blog. I actually have a lot fun playing with the new blog-helping toys they come out with. Analytics theoretically could show me exactly where the viewer are coming from, down to their city. Now I'm testing out this Zemanta dealie with makes it easy to add relevant images and tag for your posts.

Yeah, I'm a technowhore. As I've said before I do this very arbitrarily to get thoughts out of my head in to a better, less crowded place. And of course to waste time. Time, I could be using to find a job.

Scott Adams posted a blog about how charts make everything simpler and that is the real reason that I wrote this post.

Viva la Resistance!

Image by Newsphoto Amsterdam via Flickr

Moving out soon back to "home". This is really the worst time to graduate from college. As usual I blame my parents. I won't be able to live there for very long, mostly because I can't be myself there. It's mostly that while there everything I do is under scrutiny, when I wake up, when I leave the house, when I return, if I'm being "social" (am I in the main room or else where), etc. I don't care for the area and don't have many good memories of the building.

Did I mention I'm allergic to it too? And it's drafty, rickety. It just isn't my home. I'm not sure if I've ever felt like it was my home and I lived there for seventeen years.

Clearly, I need to revolt.

I don't even know where I'm going to put all of my shit. It isn't big enough to hold my parents crap and I've gotten a lot more in the last couple of years.

Damn. My roommates are playing GURPS right now and if you've ever known people who play, you know that they do not have a volume control

And they only just started.

-X

Sleeping Troubles

Didn't want to upset the tone of the previous post and yet I feel like I have more to say.

I have twenty-seven days until I leave my apartment. I'm seriously planning to head westward and probaly southward, not northward. I avoided taking a trip up to see my family a couple weeks ago because I don't have any reason to return to the New River Valley in a timely manner. Downside is I haven't had much of a chance to talk to my parents on what I would like to do. I spoke with my father once and he didn't seem completely against my plan, but then again I always have better conversations with him on the phone.

In the meantime, I am having trouble going to bed at the proper time and waking up at a reasonable hour. Sleeping thru my alarm and just not getting out of bed. I can't even really get to work looking for jobs and apartments until 1 AM.

Night all.

-X

Memories of the Past

So I went back to dA to consider submitting things again, but I started wandering around my old friends site it just got more depressing. One had a stroke two years ago and while she did recover from it she vanished shortly thereafter. One I'm pretty sure died. Another, a young guy, vanished.

It really makes me want to leave the site and never return.

I finally checked on a friend of mine from high school and he was still there. Of course last week I got a call from my father informing me that another guy I've know for just about as long was involved in a skateboarding accident and is now a veggie (thought the post needed some light heartedness). Don't know if his parent's took him off support or not.

End of post.

-X

Depressing

No not the fact that I still do not have a job or a place to live away from college. I wandered over to my deviantArt account to see what fancy artwork had shown up in the last several months. Only a little over one hundred pieces. Back when I first got into it  I would have gotten that many in four days. Worst my favorite artist pulled his entire gallery because his girlfriend broke up with him - he says he can't draw anymore. 

I hate broken dreams.

-X

Musical Freedom

I'm very happy at the moment because my obsession over certain songs is temporarily neutralized. I am able to listen to most of the music on my ipod without switching to some random stuck in my head song.

I made a playlist for the songs I added in the last three months. Only two CDs on it. Need to buy more music, see if I can fill up the first 10 of my 80 gb. Still need a job though, only one month left before.

Oh, and fun to the max. My laptop's usb drives are half dead. currently finicky with most devices and can't give enough constant connection to my external harddrive! weeee! Totally replacing it with a smartphone after I move.

Not sleeping tonight in hopes to reset my completely screwed sleep schedule. YAY!!!

-X