If you were in control of your country's budget, how would you allocate the money?
As cruel as this may sound... I think our country needs to stop putting so much money toward fixing OTHER COUNTRIES and try to fix OUR OWN. It's great to try and look like a saint-like humanitarian World Power... but if the rest of the world also sees how poorly said World Power is handling its own people and problems... does it make it better?
Maybe I don't know enough about the details of these things, but yeah... I would start with putting a big limit to what money we send out to the "aid" of others, and try to fix our crap first.
What's the best summer concert you've ever attended?
I think the concert at Houma, LA was great. Houma's "The Good Earth Festival" with LiVE. I would post pictures, but this was back when I only used film... and it was a disposable film camera, too.
Other than that, I think TOOL was great (August 2006) and, of course, Bayfest 2008 with Everclear and LiVE. I have pics of that one.
Boo!
- being told to do something for work, then ending up being told "you can't do that." I was told to call the IRS to find out some info, and after being on hold for 15-20 minutes, the IRS rep said I don't have authorization for that information. What a waste of my time!
- cracking my thumb nail at the flesh. Yuck... I really hate when that happens. it bled a little, and that made it clear I won't be washing dishes until that healed.
- not getting responses from people on whether they will be attending our Rock Band Party this Saturday. My close friends have responded... it's the others that very few of them said anything.
- going to a "Body Art Exhibition" only to find out it's not people displaying their ink, but the artists displaying their paintings/drawings/photos of their inking/etc. I was so disappointed it wasn't a bunch of people displaying their own tattoos on their bodies. I brought all kinds of cameras, and it was kind of boring for me.
- people. I don't think I've said it in a while, so there you go. a refresher.
Yay!
- Cassie and Britt will be here on Friday. I'm a little stressed over the cleaning of the house, but it'll be fun to take them around and have our...
- Rock Band Party on Saturday! fun, fun, fun. Ed said he wouldn't mind having a competition set up for it, but I'm not really sure how to do that... any suggestions?
- Thai food. yesterday was Shuffleboard Monday, and so before we went down to Murphy's, we stopped by Bangkok Chef and had some yummy Thai curry and spring rolls. I still have leftovers, too.
- sleep. Taking off work Monday-Wednesday next week to hang out with Cassie and Britt, so I think I can get extra sleep from not having to get up at 6am.
- Shape Inlay. Free web game on Yahoo!Games.
I'm still addicted.
- quiet time at work. 'Nuff Said.
- good noodles and tempura. Yep... went to Koto again. yum.
Erin texted me and told me Michael Turner had died. She texted me on Saturday, June 28, and I was in the middle of sorting and pricing swap meet sale items, so I had forgotten all about it.
With all the pictures and posts about the San Diego Comic Con, it reminded me that one of my favorite comic book artists was gone. He had such a nice, flowing, romantic style of drawing comic book art that I immediately fell in love with it. The first time I noticed it was when he co-created Witchblade while at Top Cow Comics (with one of my other favorite comic book artists, Marc Silvestri). Turner then left Top Cow to start his own comic book company, Aspen Comics (Aspen MLT Inc.), in January 2003. There, he released comic books Fathom, Soulfire and Ekos.
In March 2000, he was diagnosed with bone cancer in his right pelvis, which is what led to his early departure from this world on June 27, 2008. He was only 37.
I started looking for Turner items on eBay, hoping to find an autographed something I could get. I never got to meet him, and never will. This saddens me. I really admired his work (and the daring act of leaving Top Cow, which led to lawsuits over rights to Fathom, Soulfire and Ekos, to start his own company) and feel like it will not be quite as fulfilling to go to the Comic Con and not get to meet him.
Ian shared this with me today. I had to continue the sharing.
So, I log onto Vox and the first things I see are pictures from hawaii (all he does it photo blog) at the San Diego Comic Con.
I'm so very jealous. I've always wanted to go, but never have. I've promised myself that one day I will go. Hopefully by the time I can afford a trip like that, the Comic Con will still be around.
The AC is busted in the office. the thermostat reads 84 degrees in here. Door is wide open, but no breeze.
This really sucks.
Loathing:
- waking up at 6am. Every work day. it sucks.
- along with waking up at 6am, I have to try to sleep earlier. less time to spend with Mike.
- my slacking off on cleaning causing friends' allergies to act up. I'm sorry everyone... I should've cleaned up better.
- always forgetting to take pictures of the parties at my house. I rarely ever remember to take pics at our parties. After the night (and morning) is done, I think about what a shame it is that I don't have anything documenting what happened.
- siblings who act like they can step in and do something better. I'll elaborate on this later.
- suicide.
Loving:
- going out to the wine bar and Shokudo with Mary and Mandy & her visiting twin sister. Maybe Randee. Should be fun.
- getting my eBay purchase for my photo junks. I ordered plastic sheets to store negatives and Photo CDs (which have a slot for the index prints, too). I brought a few things with me to work, so during down time I'll start sorting my negatives.
- leftovers from the party. Jambalaya is yummy! I had some for breakfast today. I also have lots of curry left, so that might be lunch for tomorrow.
- The Dark Knight. great movie. it makes me sad to think about it being the last we will see of Heath Ledger, but at the same time... what an end! superb acting. They need to keep The Joker locked up in Arkham Asylum for the rest of the Nolan Bros. Batman films... no one could replace Ledger.
- buying Queens of the Stone Age items on eBay. yeah, yeah, I know... lay off the eBay addiction. Whatever. I got a B-Sides CD and the CD single with the song "The Fun Machine Took a Shit and Died." if you want to hear "The Fun Machine..." you can listen to it on the QotSA Official Website. An audio player pops up and plays it. I'll share it later, when I get the CD. Oh yeah, and a t-shirt.
- faxing my info to the State of Hawaii. it's good to get it out of the way and not have to think about it right now.
- designing business cards for myself. I'm still debating on whether I want to do this or not because MOO makes business cards using my Flickr photos. I want to make them, but at the same time, I don't exactly NEED it.. do I?
- the fact that it's almost lunch time. It's taken me a while to finish this entry... working and browsing while trying to finish it.
How do you travel to and from work - personal vehicle, bus, subway/train, pedal power? What does it cost you per week in gas or fares?
Submitted by Jan.
I drive to work Monday through Friday. I'll make myself cry if I try to figure out how much gas it takes. I drive about ten miles one way, but 1-3 times a week, I go to the gym with my mom... and that requires picking her up, going to the gym, taking her home, then going home. Then, Tuesday nights I have community band practice, which adds on another 10 miles total for the day.
if I go out, I like to drive because I get car sick pretty easily and driving prevents that. I'm not gonna think about the gas involved.
I missed Tuesday again. oh well, here goes.
だいきらい
- being told, "We're going to switch the work hours from 8am-4:30pm to 7am-3:30pm." Sure, that makes sense since the construction world normally starts at 7am, if not 6am... but still, that means waking up earlier, which means going to sleep earlier, which means less time spent with Mike.
- having DVDs that can't be "backed up". You know what I mean.
- not being able to turn down curry. If there is curry in the pot, I will eat some. and I'll probably end up eating more. and more. it tastes too good to pass up, but it's not good for wanting to keep the weight down.
- fleas. and other biting insects. I think we have fleas, and the PetMeds haven't come in yet.
だいすき
- being one step closer to having a secure job. maybe. do I want to go from one boring job to another?
- going to the movies with Mike. We went with Nick and his sister Emily to see Hellboy II: The Golden Army. It was a great movie. Beautiful, like all del Toro films.
- lunch time. I can get out of the office for a break!
- cheese. because it tastes so good... especially on pizza for lunch.
- my dad's approval to play a different instrument for gagaku. My main instrument is the shō (mouth pipe organ), and he usually makes me play that instrument. Now, I think there are enough shō players strong enough that they don't need my help. So now, I get to play ryūteki (bamboo "dragon" flute) and komabue (Korean flute).
- new toys to tinker with. Nick let me borrow his Sony Cybershot DSC-F828. Digital Still Camera. Not really meant for action shots, but it will be fun to toy with, especially for macro shots.
- preparing to organize my photos and negatives. I bought some plastic sheets to store my negatives and also CDs with digital photos. It might take a while, but I really need to do it. I gotta take some time to look over old photos, even ones from when I was a kid.
- did I mention going to see Hellboy? Yeah, I liked it.
- having parties at our house. I don't like having to clean up for it, but I like the end result of the cleaning and hanging out with friends.
