You are lost

So, wow, 3 months went by.  I’d be lying if I said that I haven’t had a little time to write but to be honest it hasn’t been too exciting around here.

Here M.I.A. Born Free are Germany’s winner some  Ukraine’s entry inserts I want one to Saul Williams browse  through.

And  Police kill 7 year old girl oh  SWAT team storms civilian household wow Arm yourself in Ohio people Because online children are just better what the  fuck.

I’d write more on these things but really it’s too hot to sit in front of my computer right now.  Maybe I’ll write something of substance soon.

Work has retained it’s dominating grasp on my time the last few months, and I feel very drained.  My knee went out on me twice in February and this is the first week I’ve gone without a brace on it.

Let’s get on with it though.  I haven’t had a great deal of time but here are some of the joys of the last month or so.  Massive Attack released their newest album Heligoland and I love it.  It’s very different from their previous works and has some very Bjork-ish qualities in some tracks.  I posted a link for Paradise Circus in a previous post, but Flat Of The Blade has become another favorite and was the background noise of choice while I finished Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

Telepopmusik returns to my playlist with their album Angel Milk.  Damned French electropop; fit to be music for strippers.  Though by no means a new album, released in 2005, they’re still new to me.  I don’t care for their rap influenced tracks, but more prefer songs like Love\’s Almighty which sounds like it could be in a Bond movie soundtrack.

Other misc music finds of interest include Will Young though I only like a few of his songs, and Flight Of The Conchords, a folk rock parody group from New Zealand that remind me of the kind of jams Jim Gonzales used to have back in the day.

So that’s what I’ve been up to the last month or so:  working, listening to music and reading.  Not much new then I guess.  I’ve got a list half a mile long of things I’ve been meaning to get around to that I hope to begin tackling a bit more this month.  I doubt I’ll be given time so I guess I’ll just have to make it.  Whee.

The holidays are over and things are starting to calm down again at work.  However I won’t receive the bulk of my personal time back until later this month as one of my coworkers is gone.  He just got married and will be away on honeymoon for a while.

You would think that after two and a half months I’d have a bunch of things to tell you about.  Sadly this isn’t the case.  But life hasn’t been completely uneventful either.

We had a cold snap with a little snow that lasted a couple of days.  Not exactly winter but enough to throw a couple of snowballs… er… slush balls.

Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years:  all pretty uneventful.  We did a couple of dinners when we could, trying to balance out everyone’s busy and conflicting work schedules.

December 28th was a sad day as Skol & Jen had a death in the family.  Their youngest child died.  It feels like I should say something more, but what more can you really say?  Tragic.

December 29th Jeff and Jenny had a baby.  I don’t speak with them much but I still wish them luck.

Matt got a truck from his father.  A Ford F-150 I believe.  Free.  Trucks are always useful.

Yesterday while playing scratch tickets Matt won $1000.  Pretty sweet.  A good way to start out the new year.

I find out in the next couple of weeks if I get a bonus this year (it’s looking like I won’t but I don’t know for certain yet).

In my limited spare time I did manage to find a few things of interest to me.  Massive Attack has a new album coming out soon.  I found the video for one of the singles, Paradise Circus, which I found to be very enjoyable.  Link NSFW as it does contain pornography.  A little more safe for work would be a Zombie Kitten Apocalypse cartoon.  New to my musical interests is a group called Cage The Elephant.  Not a favorite, but not bad.

Speaking of Cage The Elephant, let’s talk about video games.  Even when I don’t have time to play them myself I often will watch Matt or whoever else play.  One of the new games in the house is Borderlands, which is where we were introduced to the music of CTE, who did the intro.  Other games around the house lately have been Super Mario Bros Wii which is great fun, Left 4 Dead 2 which I haven’t had time to really get in to at all (although I want to), and Animal Crossings DS which is by no means new but pretty relaxing when you haven’t got time to commit to anything in depth or involving.

I didn’t make any resolutions for the new year.  I figure all my goals are the same as last year… and the year before.  More of the same “nose to the grindstone”  routine with maybe a touch more time management.  For those of you interested in Chinese horoscopes, February 14th marks the Chinese New Year; 2010 will be the year of the Metal Tiger.  The correlation here is Tiger symbolizes aggressive energy towards the completion of tasks, seizing of opportunities, and otherwise reaping the rewards of hard work.  I don’t put much stock in horoscopes but it sounds good to me.

Here’s hoping the best to all of you in the new year.

When over 273 days a year are sunny and the weather begins to get hot having a few rainy days becomes a very special thing (Missoula averaged about 159 sunny days a year).

The temperature, which had been getting in to the 90′s already, is back down to reasonable 80′s and we’re expecting a few more thunderstorms throughout the next few days.

I’ve been enjoying Patricia Kaas‘s album “Kabaret” lately.  She was France’s entry in Eurovision this year, and the bluesy touch of her album has been very suitable for the dreary weather we’ve been having.

I watched Martian Successor Nadesico again.  It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it.  Not a great nor a bad series, but the memories I have attached to it made me feel nostalgic, and old.  It’s been a decade since the first time I saw it.  I was still sleeping on couches, Laurilie had yet to be born, work was graveyard shifts with Curtis…   It’s strange to see how much things have changed since then.  “Those unforgettable days, for them I live.”

I’ve been a little tied up with work the last couple of weeks.  It’ll be at least two more weeks before I have the potential for an uneventful week.

So Eurovision finished up today with Norway taking 1st place, Iceland 2nd, and Azerbaijan 3rd.  Personally my favorite this year was Estonia’s entry Urban Symphony.  There seemed to be a few entries with orchestral pieces, and of course plenty of bad techno and slutty pop crap.  I love this contest.

“You can’t place faith in material things / material things will fail you” -Machines Of Loving Grace

So my day was exciting.  I had to go to Flagstaff for management level food safety testing and certification.  Before heading out I tried to check some things online but the power supply on my computer decided to go wonky and I got blue screened instead.  Whatever.  So I head off, take the course, finish the test, and having completed my mission prepare to set course for home… but my starter isn’t engaging.  Yay!  Stranded halfway across the state!

Anyway, I beat my starter in to submission with a crowbar and made it back home.  As for my computer… it seems something had come loose so after checking all the connections it’s working fine.

After discovering such treasures as Sebastien Tellier or Verka Serduchka, and maybe even some non treasures as Pirates Of The Sea or Azerbaijan’s Elnur & Samir, I’m excited to see what this year’s Eurovision crop will turn up.  Only a couple of weeks to go.

Gatas Parlament has a new album out!  I’ve only heard a little bit of it, but I’m hooked.  I’ve never paid for anything in Kroner before.

Since I’m kind of on an international music theme here, I’ve also been digging the music of Belanova and Fobia.  Makes me wish I had put more effort into learning spanish.

Mien gott, that’s quite a few links!  I just got so carried away!  So…. much… to….. share….

The boy introduced me to the awesomeness of Ronald Jenkees.  I thought I’d share that experience.

Thanks to the loving patience of Sara my site works again.  Woohoo!  I’ve got a little tinkering around still to do, but it’s nice to have it working proper again.

We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.  But that’ll have to wait for another day.

So here’s what I’ve been doing for the past month.  I’ve played/beat Professor Layton and The Curious Village (DS), Portal (XBox) and Army Of Two (XBox).  I am still currently playing Beautiful Katamari (XBox), Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Ring Of Fates (DS)  and Every Extend Extra (PSP).

I’ve also been doing some reading.  I finished “Hello, I’m Special” by Hal Niedzviecki, an interesting analysis of the promises and realities of western pop culture and the rise of the conforming non-conformist.

I’ve also finished Disinformation’s “Book Of Lists” by Russ Kick, “The Stranger” by Albert Camus and am currently engaged in a re-read of Brave New World.  I’d really like to read Lord Of The Flies again, but I no longer have a copy of it, and I’ve got plenty of other things to read without picking up more things at the library.

In the way of music, it’s been a little of this and that.  New stuff from KMFDM, 16Volt, Juno Reactor and a few others.  Some Katamari Damacy tunes, some Calexico, Iron & Wine, my playlist has been all over the place.

Not much else is new or really going on.  Reading, playing video games, listening to music; this is what you do when you don’t have everyone to hang out with.  Play with my cats, work on the yard.  I quit smoking for 2 weeks in there somewhere, but that failed.

I think I’m going to organize some kind of yard sale or something.  Sara and I have a bit of clutter going on and selling it off wouldn’t be a bad idea.  I think the Pirates could do with something like that too.

I’ve got my eyes on Bagdad. No, that’s not a typo; I’m looking at Bagdad Arizona… with hope. It’s got a big fat mine with a big fat list of entry level jobs with big fat numbers for pay. I’m applying today. I’d go more into detail about the various draws and benefits and such, but I’m still on my first cup of coffee.

Aside from that, I went 15 days without smoking. I decided, and most everyone agrees, that I’m a happier person when I smoke. They’re not cheap, but seriously, I don’t have a lot else down here. With the exception of those I moved with all my friends are back north, my family is back north, the nearest folf course is 80 miles away. Reading and video games only do so much and I hate my job. Physically it’s bad; spiritually it’s beneficial.

I’m working on a series of upcoming posts that will detail the trip down for those who might be interested.

I’m listening to the new KMFDM album Tohuvabohu and I don’t know exactly how I feel about it. Not bad, it’s just not as intense as Hau Ruck was. It sounds like it’s lacking something…

More coffee. Bye!