Going with the Flow

After reading some comments from last night's post I realized I came across at the end sounding like a drone. Well I'm a state employee so in a way I am a drone. :P But I was asked what kind of place would the world be if everyone went with the flow? Well a boring place.

I do believe that we should not always go with the flow. Bucking the system every now and then is a good thing. It gets people thinking about how things could be done differently. When I posted last night that you should go with the flow and not take life too seriously, I didn't mean to imply you should blindly walk through life.

With my job there's a lot of rule and procedures. I have to go with that flow because most of it is set in the statutes. We have a lot of deadlines and well most elected officials don't really follow those deadlines. There's rules in place for those occurences. It's a stressful situation at times. People tend to get stressed when this sort of thing comes up. What I do is just follow what guidelines are in place and guess what? It works out. The key is to stay calm which is difficult.

This is an example of when going with the flow works. Maybe going with the flow isn't the best description to use. Maybe rolling with it is better. Or riding it out to the end, perhaps?

As far as not taking things to seriously, I don't believe you should. I think you should hold dear the things that matter. Take things seriously that matter to you. But worrying over mundane thing is not the way to go. I've found in my short life that things usually work themselves out in the end. We usually learn a lesson on how to deal with similiar circumstances in the future.

I think we can learn something from the Dude, from Big Lebowski. But we don't want to be ultra complacent like him. I want to thank my two internet friends for bringing this issue to my attention. It made me think what I said through. And gave me the opportunity to write it all out. Which is what this blogging thing is all about.

New Look

I've spent the last 45 minutes messing around with my blog look. I'm sporting lime green now with three of my favorite movie characters of all time at the top of the page. What does everybody think?

After spending an hour looking at Big Lebowski Pictures, I think I'm going to watch that movie. It's been a while since I've seen it. I remember when I first saw it. It was about 4 1/2 years ago maybe a longer. I ran into a guy the state agency I worked for did business with. He was visiting from Tampa and I randomly ran into him in a Borders bookstore and talked to him for a long time about books and movies. He was/is a cool guy. At that time he'd been a quadriplegic for about 10 years. He lead a successful life and was an all around good guy.

Anyways, he got talking to me about the Big Lebowski and how much he loved it. He recommended to me that I should see it. He was into philosophy and into looking at things in different ways. He felt the movie was a guide to life. Or at least had an example of how to approach life, and of course that means living like the Dude. We went our separate ways. I believe this was a Thursday. The next Monday he showed up at the office during the afternoon. He had spent the weekend in town. He had a gift for me. It was the Big Lebowski. He had a letter he wrote as well. It was offering some words of wisdom to me. I was entering my senior year of college and had just moved out of my parents' house. It was the typical letter people give kids that were in my situation. At the time it meant a lot to me. I don't remember what it says and I don't have it anymore. But I still have that movie.

I wonder from time to time what happened to that guy. About a year after that he wasn't working us anymore and someone else took his space. Last I heard which has been a while, he had hit some tough times. Needless to say, that night I went home and watched the movie and loved it. I can't say I agree that it's exactly how you should live your life. But I think we could all be like the Dude. Go with the flow and don't take life so seriously. Because just like in the movie most of what we think is a big deal turns out to not really be a big deal.

Does somebody have the case of the Monday's?

Working through the holidays is a drag. There's not much going on and nobody is at work. It makes for an almost depressing atmosphere. The work day wasn't completely boring. I had several wrong numbers from people trying to find out what's wrong with their food stamps. I really don't like giving people the run around but I'm not the food stamp office. The main problem is that the state operator is giving out the wrong number. I've talked to the state operator 2 or 3 times but they insist that they do not give out the Senate committee's number out. Of course after I talk to them I get an influx of calls of people looking for food stamps or other types of assistance. Coincidence? I think not. But I do my best to help them. Plus it gives me something to do on slow days.

The rest of the days was fine. I got to leave early, always a plus. I had to check on my parents' house because their out of town. I got some laundry done and I've actually put it up too. It usually sits in my laundry basket for a week before I put it back up.

My brother went out tonight so I was on my own. I tried a new type of frozen burrito. Well, it's new to me. It was surprisingly delicious.

I then watched a movie titled, The Limey. As weird as this might sound I remember reading a review of the film back in 1999 when it came out and have wanted to see it ever since. It's an early film by Steven Soderbergh before he hit it big with Traffic, Erin Brokevich and Ocean's 11. It's a tale of revenge starring a cool as ice Terrance Stamp (the bad guy from Get Smart) as an ex-con trying to find the answers to his estranged daughter's death. Soderbergh used some interesting editing techniques in the film. Some worked some didn't. I enjoyed the film. It wasn't the best film I've ever seen but it had it's moments. Most notably Stamp's performance. That is one cool poster also.

I feel like blogging but don't know what to blog about

The title sums it up. I haven't posted in a few days. I'd like to tell a funny story but nothing funny has really happened, yet.

I saw a few movies this weekend. Valkyrie starring a one-eyed Tom Cruise and The Spirit.

Valkyrie was actually pretty good. It was distracting that no one spoke in a German accent. The story itself was interesting. It was also intense throughout. The acting wasn't bad either.

The Spirit was not good. I still liked it, sort of. Pieces of this film worked but not all of them. It felt like I was watching a science experiment where there wasn't a set hypothesis to begin with and therefore there wasn't a clear result. But at least now I know what I'm going to be next Halloween.

In other new, I spent most of my Christmas money already. I bought a couple of shirts. I bought some comics out of the $1 bin at a local comic shop. I actually finished up the series, Way of the Rat. I had bought the first story arc a few weeks back and enjoyed it. So I went back and got the rest of the series. I'm looking forward to reading them. The shop didn't have all the issues. I'm still missing 3 or 4 but that'll give me something to look for for the next couple of years.

Christmas breakfast

In my family we have a tradition. Every Christmas my mom has any family that happens to be in town over for breakfast and to open presents on Christmas morning. It's one we've done ever since I could remember. Well since my brother and I have our own house for the past two years we've asked if we could host it. The past two years we've gotten the same response, no. I feel my mom doesn't want once to encroach on her territory and also she didn't think we could pull it off.

This year all of a sudden she says we could do it. We didn't even ask this year. Later I found out that originally the only people in town this year would be my parents, my grandmother, and my brother. And me of course. So that's a much more manageable crowd. Well this week we got the added surprise that my aunt, uncle and cousin would be here as well. That's a little bit more. My brother and I were up to it. It's only eight people, no big deal. Well mom did what mom's do. Worry about it. I guess she worried that the house wouldn't be clean or we'd under cook the breakfast casserole. Who knows. And well I'm starting to think that my mom and grandma and to some extent my aunt thinks that my brother and I are perpetually 12 years old. Never mind we're in our mid-twenties have full-time jobs, pay a mortgage and other bills.

And after some nagging and seconding guess on her part Christmas morning came. And to her surprise we pulled it off. Everything was nice. The food tasted good. No one got sick. The house was clean-ish. It was a nice Christmas.

Another storyline from this Christmas was the present we got from my grandmother but that's a post for another time...

It's Tuesday

Before I start I have an update on my co-worker who was in an accident this weekend. Her surgery went well and she's still in ICU. They are expecting to move her to a regular room either Wednesday or Thursday. She's apparently in good spirits though. However, she's got about 14 weeks of therapy ahead of her.

Today got off to a good start. I left my I.D. badge at home. I tried to sneak in the door behind someone but unfortunately I ran into a security guard who made me walk to the front entrance of the capitol in the cold. I set the metal detector off and had to have the wand waved over me. Great start.

The rest of the day was slow. I was busy first thing in the morning but things fell off after that. This is the calm before the storm. January is when it'll really pick up and by March we'll be starting session and keep going nonstop until May.

My boss let me go home at 3:30. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to tidy up the house. Then I posted my nominations for the 2008 Cappies. What's the Cappies you might ask? Well it's the annual comic book awards that the users on the message board I frequent, the Captain Comics Message Board, vote on annually. Maybe after the first of the year I'll post some of my favorite comic book moments from 2008 along with my favorite movies and some other stuff.

This evening I went to Bonefish with my family. The food was quite good. The company was well....It's the holiday I'll stay positive and leave it there.

Weekend wrap-up

After my post last Friday I was in a pretty dark mood. I drove around town for a little while and ended up seeing a movie. Of all the movies to choose from I saw Let the Right One in. It's vampire film from Sweeden that told the story for young vampire love and by young I mean both 12 years old. It was actually really good and probably one of my top films of the year.

Saturday my brother and I did some Christmas shopping with my dad then had lunch with our parents. I spent the afternoon watching Wanted and then flipping channels and reading a few comics.

Saturday night we went to Carrabba's with a bunch of friends. It's an annual tradition. It was a lot of fun. There were some awkward moments such as running into our friend's soon to be ex-wife at the pool hall after dinner. But other than that it was fun. The night ended with a few of us going back to my house and watching the American classic, Jackass 2.

Sunday was an extremely lazy day. I played some football yesterday afternoon then ate at my parents.

Today was the kick-off to what will be a long week. Holiday weeks are always slow at work unless you work in retail. I also found out a woman at work (the cougar who kissed me on the cheek last week) was in a very bad car accident. Last I heard she was out of surgery and in ICU. But everything went well but it's going to be a long recovery.

Maybe I'll post some fun stuff this week.

I'm Back!!!

It's been a while since I've posted. Almost a year. Let's see if I can catch everyone up on what's happened.

Well when I last left off I was thinking about asking out a young lady at work out. Well I did. We dated for 5 or 6 months. It was not what I thought it would be. Turned out she was a little bit of a psycho. Most of what she said was never true. Most of what she was a mystery with no rhyme or reason. I tried to let it fizzle out but that didn't work out. I finally dumped her over the phone after not talking to her for two weeks. She actually took it well. I also never told my parents that we were dating. She's not someone they would have approved of, at all. That's pretty low of me, I know and I should probably grow up, eventually. Anyways she didn't go into the military like she said she was. She got another phantom leg injury which sidelined her the first time. Apparently she's unofficially engaged to a guy she's been dating since the summer. I broke up with her in June. Needless to say she got over me, quick. I just found that out this week. Just the tip of the ice berg of what was a weird week but more on that later.

That might have been the biggest development of the year for me. Well it was at least new territory. I went on my annual camping trip with my friends and our old history teacher. It was a blast. We met some girls from Dothan, Alabama. Hilarity ensued. I funneled a beer or two. A girl fell into the fire and bounced out unharmed. We learned a new drinking game. I smoked my first cigarette well first ten actually. Then told my brother about it which made him decide he wanted to smoke. Now he's hooked. I'm a great brother.

Work was mostly a drag. I didn't take any time off during the summer. I did take a week off in October to do some stuff around the house. Next time I take off I'm going somewhere.

My boss took a promotion and now I have a new boss. She started this week. It's been a smooth transition for the most part but still kind of weird.

I also bought a Wii and have played a lot of Guitar Hero. I can't really remember anything else of importance.

Which brings me to the weird week.

• First of all it dragged on and on. I feel like today should be Saturday.
• I find out my ex is engaged.
• Then my brother is more or less dating a girl I've been friends with for 10 years. Who I've been trying to date for years. It was obvious that we were just friends but I kept trying to convince myself there was more. My brother has had less luck than I have in the romance department than I have. So I'm happy for him. But he's being secretive about it. I also know this girl well so I don't know if she views whatever they're doing as "dating". So I'm worried about him. I still feel weirded out by the whole thing.
• I met up with a friend I've known for 6 years. There's never been any sort of talk of romance or even an attraction. Her and I are just friends who meet up every few months and talk movies. This time after a few beers at my place she got a little touchy and started with some kissing. It was a side I never seen before. Not wanting either of us to regret anything in the morning I threw up the boundaries. I'm not sure we'll be meeting up anytime soon.
• This wasn't a weird moment but a cougar (not the animal) laid a huge kiss on my cheek at work. It felt pretty good and I was able to brag about it to another co-worker who likes to talk about the stupid emails he sends back-and-forth with her. Top that buddy. I realize that was probably not appropriate.

I also realize I'm probably coming off as a jerk in the post. I think I'm in a turning point in my life. It's getting to the point where I think I need to move on. I'm not sure if I should think about going back to school or trying to find a new job or move out of town or state. Or a combination of those options. It'll be tough to pull off in this economy but I'm sure something might work out.

That's it for me. I'll be posting more often. I'll do the typical update stuff and maybe post some comic reviews.

But Honestly

The long weekend was good, but not long enough. I hit the road on Saturday with my bro to Pensacola, FL. Our mission was to see my favorite rock band ever, the Foo Fighters. The other thing that made this trip interesting was that we used to live in Pensacola for 16 years in fact. But we moved 10 years ago. We used to back quite offten but it's been a while.

We arrived Saturday after surviving the rotten weather on the interstate. We checked in our hotel which was conviently located across the street from where the concert was. We then ventured around town for a bit before dinner. We hit a surf shop that we visited when we lived there. It was actually a different location from the one where we frequented. I remember them having more surf boards and less skateboards. What we discovered was that while there was some new buildings here and there it looked exactly the same. We drove by a school we used to go to. It was the same except that they put dugouts on their baseball field.

We ate a catfish resteraunt that we liked growing up. Still good. We tried to go to the mall but it was closed for an event. We tried to see a movie but the theater that was located in the mall parking lot was long gone. We found another one nearby though. For the record, Rave Theaters are very nice and they need to build on in Tallahassee. We saw Cloverfield, good flick.

Sunday we did more driving around. This time we went to the school we went to for 8 or so years. We also drove by our old house and both sets of grandparents' house. It was weird seeing all of it. It was a big part of our lives but now it seems so distant.

I might as well skip the weird trip down memory lane. Let's discuss the concert. I can honestly say this is probably the best concert I've ever seen. I had a notion that the Foo Fighters would put on a good show and they did. They rocked it out but also played their accoustic stuff as well. It was just a complete show. The opening acts, Against Me and Jimmy Eat World were both really good too. It was actually our fourth time seeing Jimmy Eat World.

The Foo Fighters were great. I sang along to every song. They put some different twists on the songs. They threw in some guitar solos and drum solos here and there. There was also this cat walk that went from the main stage and through the crowd on the floor. The lead singer would walk out on it now and then. Then during the middle of their set he picked up an accoustic guitar and walked down the cat walk. In front of him a smaller stage lowered from the ceiling. The rest of the band followed. There were already intruements and microphones there. This is were they played their accoustic set. The finished off the accoustic set with a great version of my favorite Foo song, Everlong. After a few more songs they went off stage but came back on and played a 3 song encore.

All in all it was a good weekend.

Ping it!

I've mentioned that I as well as my brother, got a ping pong table for Christmas. I figured we asked for it at some point. I have never been good at ping pong. Mostly because my hand-eye coordination is awful and I'm slightly clumsy.

My roommate set up the ping pong table on Monday. I've been playing some. We were just hitting it back and forth. Then we tried a game or two. I wasn't too good. Last night I went out drinking so I didn't play.

Tonight while my roommate went for a jog I went out to the garage. I was wearing my ipod. I folded one of the sides of the table up and then let that @#$(%* ball have it. I was slightly frustrated by stuff going on. Some of it is stuff I mentioned in an earlier post. It's all my fault. Well I started to finally get the hang of it. My roommie got back and came in the garage holding a paddle. So we hit back and forth. He could tell I had improved. Then we played a game. Actually two. He still beat me. It wasn't as bad. I still suck, no question about it. But even though ping pong is rather intense I am relaxed by it.

My brother mention to my roommate he was sorry that he had to play with me. It probably wasn't much fun, he said. I think my brother will be in for a surprise when he comes home Friday night.

Work and other stuff

This will just be random stuff tonight. I apologize for not posting more recently. I've had writer's block, sort of.

So I've been back to work for a week now. It's still hard to be motivated after being off for a week and a half at Christmas. We're busy this week so I guess I have no choice. All I can think about is going to the Foo Fighters concert next weekend in Pensacola. That will be awesome.

I'm thinking about asking out this girl at work. I've almost convinced myself to do it. I'm not good at that sort of thing (asking girls out). I think I'll do it. I usually chicken out. We'll see what happens.

My roommates back. He was gone for almost a month but he's back now. He cleaned up the garage and set up the ping pong table so that rules. I tried it out. I suck and need a lot of practice. I thanked him by taking him to dinner at Cabo's. It's a local resteraunt. It was delicous.

Good Night and Good Luck.

Comic Reviews for the last week of December!!

So we're in 2008 now but I still have a few comics from 2007 that still need some reviewing. This is also the end of the weekly comic reviews. Starting this month I'll be getting my comics once a month, maybe every other week. We'll see. So at either the beginning or end of the month I'll do a monthly review. Also as a special treat all of the comics I read were good and none will get less than a 3 star review.

Avengers the Initiative #8: This is one of my favorite titles right now. It's also one of the best new series of 2007. For those of you not in the know this series is about the training camp for all government registered super heroes in the Marvel Universe. For the first 7, actually 8 if you count the annual we've seen lies and more lies from the "heroes" running this training facility. Most of the recruits aren't too good either. However, this issue is when everything is starting to fall apart. How? We don't know yet. All we know is that long time hero, scientist and wife beater Hank Pym aka Yellow Jacket running for his life at microscopic size through all sorts of death and destruction. We see a flash back of sorts of the beginning of the initiative up to a week before the begining of the issue. The issue ends with Yellow Jacket staring up at the reason of the mayhem. Who is it? I don't know. It's some crazy looking guy with KIA engraved on his chest. I could go on and on about this series. THe writer, Dan Slott, does a great job of adding more and more charcters to this series with each issue. Some old some new. He gives each one a distinct voice and you never feel like you're missing anything. The unique art by Stefano Caselli is a nice touch that completes this series. ****

X-men #206: This is chapter nine of the Messiah CompleX. This story will end in January after four more chapters. The X-men are still in a pickle. Some have died, some are wounded, some are lost. This issue ends with a possible betrayal by Bishop who had not been seen in this story as of yet. Of course we won't know if he has betrayed his team untill the next issue. But the last page with Bishop standing over the bodies of Cable and Forge with a gleam in his eye holding a smoking guns signs are pointing to traitor. ****

Giant Size Avengers #1: This is an big comic with little odds and ends stories from the various periods in the Avengers' long history. The stories are being shared by three current Avngers' members; The Wasp, Ms. Marvel, and the Black Widow. All three who are in bikinis most of the time. The various stories are all light and fun. Probably the best of the lot involves Spider-man getting a crash course in what it means to be an Avenger by Captain America and Iron Man. This issue also has reprints of some classic Avengers stories as well. ***1/2

Green Lantern/Sinestro Corps: Secret Files #1: After the few months of the Sinestro Corps story in the pages of Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps we get this comic filling us in on all the characters invovled with Green Lantern. I usually pass these issue that tell you about characters and fill you in on other things associated with a particular character. However there are tons of artists involved with this issue. So each character is drawn by a different person. They also get a quick blurb so you're not reading a whole page about some random alien with a green lantern ring. There is also a comic about Morro, the crypt keeper for the Green Lanterns, in the middle of the issue. It's an enjoyable read for anyone wanting to keep up with Green Lantern after reading the Sinestro Corps story. ****

Green Lantern #26: This week was a Green Lantern double whammy. We follow several Lanterns dealing with the after shock of the Sinestro war. We also see the beginnings of the Guardians of the Galaxy's newest project, the Alpha Lanterns. Geoff Johns does a great job with keeping the title interesting. Artist Mike McKone is a great replacement for previous artist, Ivan Reiss. ***1/2

Countdown #18: After months and months, Ray Palmer has been found! One main story of this series was the search for Ray Palmer, the Atom. Ray has been missing since issue 7 of Idenity Crisis in 2005. He is aparantly the only one who can stop the Great Disaster from happening. What is the Great Disaster? We don't know exactly. But the Atom is the only one who can stop it. This issue we see where Ray has been this whole time. We get a great little character piece on an already intersting character. This is one of the first payoffs of Countdown. Here's to hoping that they continue. ****

Book of the Week

Amazing Spider-man #545: I never thought I would enjoy the last chapter of One More Day. What has been a whiney, angst ridden chapter of Spider-man's history finally is over. So is apparently is the marriage of Peter Parker & Mary Jane. They sold their marriage to Mephisto, a devil, to save the life of Aunt May who was shot by a sniper gunning for Peter. While I don't like this in the least this issue was good. It had some emotional depth. It also sets up for a promising chapter in the life of Peter Parker. He's single again, Aunt May is alive and nobody knows he's Spider-man. Also he and everyone else doesn't know that he was ever married to Mary Jane. I think a lot of people think that this is the new status quo for Spider-man. It is, for now. This month starts Brand New Day. There will only be one Spider-man title, Amazing Spider-man, and it will ship 3 times a month. Each month features a different creative team. If you want my opinion, I think it will be great. I also think that something will happen after about a year and everything will go back to the way it was. This issue also marks the end of writer, J. Michael Strazynsenki's long run on Amazing Spider-man. He's been on the series since 2001. *****

Look out for next month when I do my monthly reviews. I'll throw in some graphic novel reviews and maybe some reviews of older comics.

Well gang that's it, for now.

I'm baaaaaaaaaack

After a weekend with the family, I have returned. Unfortunately I have to go back to work tomorrow. Oh well, such is life.

I had a fairly decent time in Savannah with my family this weekend. Savannah's a neat place. There's a lot of history and the town is kept up pretty nice. The buildings in the historic section are pretty cool. There's also a lot of town squares with statutes. We ate at some good places as well. Including Lady & Sons which is owned by Paula Deen of Food Network fame. It was pretty good southern cooking. The best place had to be Uncle Bubba's which is owned by Paula's brother, Bubba. It's seafood and boy was it good.

The downer was the fact I went with my parents. Not saying this to be mean or anything. Well, a little bit. I haven't been on vacation with them in a few years. I've been on my own for a while now so I got use to doing my own thing on my own time. Plus my mom still thinks my brother and I are twelve. It was just little things like having to wait for them to catch up. It wasn't horrible just annoying.

New Year's eve in Jacksonville with my Aunt's family was eh. My cousin is just annoying. He's 13 but acts like he's 6. His parents really don't do much to correct him so he runs the show. I'm usually a nervous wreck after I leave there. We did eat at a Japenese steak house that was quite good. Those places are always fun.

I might post some comic reviews later tonight. I read some pretty good comics while on vacation. So you have something to look forward to. I also hope everyone had a good New Years.