Mantis Style!

Ugh, I had a pretty bad hangover today. But it's nothing compared to what Ryan must be suffering. Allow me to break it down for you.

Playing Soul Calibur II (godly fun) at Ryans house with a gang of folks, Cara says that it would be a good idea to go and get drunk. It had been far too long since I've partied with my friends, so I agreed. As did Phil and Ryan. Ryan reported that he had to work in the morning, but that he would go anyway, as a show of good friendship. Upon getting ready to leave for the club, Phil weenied out, to nobodie's surprise. But more on that later.

The club that we had decided to hit was The Night Gallery, which is pretty much the biggest dive in the city that has found a nice niche for itself, being defined as halfway a club, and halfway condemned. I actually have no idea as to why on earth we would choose to go to this place. When we arrived, we realized that we were the only ones there, save for a group that was smaller than that playing Soul Calibur at the house. The booze was cheap though, so we figured we'd give the place the old college try. And we ended up having a lot of fun.

We met these two girls, Michelle and what's-her-face, and they were really cool. They both work at a casino, and knew of Adam, our resident poker champ and compulsive gambler. That was great. We drank a lot of beer, and did a lot of shots. I was doing great for myself, but at the end of the night I realized that Ryan had been drinking on par with me. With most people, that's not a problem, except that Ryan holds his alcohol like a little girl. It's kinda weird, because he's not a small man by any means, and Cara, a little girl, was doing better than the both of us. When we left the club, I realized that Ryan was doomed.

I called him at work today, and he was far from fresh. It would seem as though death would come as a favour to him. As for myself, I was able to keep my composure, with the help of tylonol, and tomato juice. I think that I heard somewhere that that stuff's good for hangovers. Thinking about it now, I guess that any food or drink with vitamins and nutrients would be good for you. So's coffee, I guess.

Does anybody else think that tomato-flavoured coffee might be interesting? I write this knowing full well that the idea will likely be stolen, along with every other million=dollar idea I've come up with.

So, Phil. He's a cool guy and all, but sometimes the kid is a real weenie. He was all up for getting drunk with us, up until the last second. It was almost as if the guy was leading us on or something. Whatever. I have little patience for waffling on decisions. Myself, when I'm faced with a decision, I like to do them quickly, and with confidence. I think that it was Sun Tzu who said that all decisions should be made in the space of seven breaths. It seems like good advice to me. I certainly wouldn't argue with a guy whose job was to win wars for people. That is what he did, right?

posted by Tay @ 10:47 PM

Well, I got everything worked out with the guys, so it's all good. We have plans to pick up and play Soul Calibur 2 after work tomorrow morning. It'll be great. Right now, I'm pretty pissed at Amusement Vision for a little thing called "Flat Maze". Shuu knows of what I speak. But he should be enjoying KOTOR by this time, I suppose. A confirmation email would be appreciated. I just don't really trust those mail guys.

posted by Tay @ 12:01 AM

Man, I gotta tell ya, I'm pretty pissed today. Before I left for the fire job, I had just purchased Knights of the Old Republic for Shuu, as he turned 20 at the 1st of the month. having been out of town, I asked for my friends Phil and Fat Mike to get the gift from my house, and send it to Shuu, who lives in Toronto. I have recently found out that it went unsent, and that the gift will now arrive nearly a month late. And that's just rude.

I'm not pissed because of the gift itself. Shuu understands the situation, and is cool with it. And the delay has allowed me to create a kick-ass birthday card to accompany the package. But it's the principle of the thing man. What I asked was a very simple favour from two of my closest friends. I was assured by them that they would take care of things, and that I need not worry. Surely in the three wekks that I was gone could they find the time to pull this off. Not only did they fail, but it did not seem that a whole lot of effort was put into their actions, or lack thereof. What does this say about them? That I can't trust them with simple favours? Lord knows I try my best to accomodate them. What do I do if I have something serious or important that I need their help with? Can I expect them to sit on their thumbs as they have now, and make excuses when shit hits the fan? I don't know. They could have been honest with me, and just say "hey, I don't think that I can do this, sorry guy". I would have been fine with that. All I'm asking is a favour, not invoking a wookie life debt. For now, I guess that if I want anything done, I'll just do it myself.

I woke up late today, played some Monkey Ball, picked up the game for Shuu that was in Fat Mike's possesion, fought with him for a minute, went to the hospital to visit the little brother, and then went straight to work. When I arrived, I realized that I forgot to eat. That's one of the things that I have to keep up on to not die, so I ordered a pizza and some cheezy bread. I only ate half, I'll have the other half for lunch with Aaron at the hospital, as they feed him crap. I gotta call work in the morning to inquire on some discrepencies on my paycheque that leave me short a couple hundred dollars. If I want to afford all the stuff I'll be getting soon, every penny will count. I still need to get a couple of birthday presents, one of which I am heading the organizational aspect of receiving donations for. The receiver of this gift may just read this blog, so I am not at liberty to say much else on the subject. I'll get that done tomorrow too, I guess. Then I'll go to ninjutsu, and have coffee with Fat Mike and Phil afterwards, and we can talk about this whole deal. Maybe we can work something out, where if one of us asks for a favour that we can't accomodate, we invoke some sacred rite of jackassery, wherein the asker of the favour just has to deal with it, and isn't left with any doubts as to the fact that he's on his own. I would be pretty cool with that. All we would need to do is come up with a really cool name for this rite.

posted by Tay @ 6:04 AM

Just a quick note. If you havent already seen the movie "Rushmore", do. I found it to be quite excellent, but I can't really say why. I like movies like that. I can't really say why.

posted by Tay @ 4:24 AM

Man, it's been a while since I've done a proper update here. I guess that I should start by explaining where I've been these past 3 weeks. You may or may not have heard of the Lost Creek Fire deal that's been going on. I was there to take advantage of the situation. My security company was payig a pretty penny to those who toughed it out away from town, and i went for the long haul. By tough it out, I mean brand-new rental vehicles, damn-near goumet meals, and residence in a quaint bed and breakfast. Not everybody who came had such posh living, so I guess that I got lucky.

Now that I'm back, I'm doing my old job at the movie studio, which is where i am now. I gave my game boy to my little brother, who is unfortunatly laid up in the hospital with a broken hip. Poor guy has nothing better to play than the crappy N64 games that the hospital provides for kids. You'd think that if that was the best system they could come up with, they could at least have the decency to get Goldeneye.

More notes on the topic of videogames. I prepurchased Soul Calibur II, and picked up the limited edition strategy guide that comes with the soundtrack. It rocks. The preorder also allows me entry into the EB tournament. I thank god that staff is prohibited from entry, as that would mean instant defeat from either Ryan, EB Mike, or R. Kevin. These men have limitless skill, and know no mercy. My greatest concern now would have to be my friend Sam. He's asian, which means that he was born with the inate ability to kick my ass at fighting games. The tournament doesn't take place until a week after the games release, so that gives me time to practice. I hope to have my Kilik up to speed by then.

I also went and did something stupid. I went and purchased Monkey Ball 2. I don't know what I was thinking, as I will never be able to finish it. That was the beauty of when I would play it with Shuu. For the most part, we were both able to beat all of the levels that came our way. however, on occasion there are the odd levels that only one of us is able to beat, and the other breaks down and cries when forced to attempt. So now I'm stuck on Launch Pad, swearing loudly, and not accomplishing much. Good times.

We're once again trying to make an arcade machine. The plan is to have all the parts ready and programmed for reading week in November, which is when construction would commence. We want to have a crappy computer that would run MAME, and MAME only. It would run through a VGA-to-TV adaptor, where we would get a crappy 20-inch TV for the screen. For joysticks, the current plan is to invest in the X-Arcade. There is a store that i know of that could print up a bitchin' custom graphic that we could stick over the entire side panels. For the art, i'm thinking that i might draw a picture of Pac-Man flipping out and cutting off the head of a ghost, with a couple other ghost corpses in the background,while the last ghost is running away screaming "Oh Shit, Ninjas!". Classic. We have decided to dub this project 'Deus X Machina'. It will rock, if we can get it off the ground.

I need to stop buying magazines. They're bad for me. I have a habit of buying GQ and Esquire, and then cusing myself for not being a millionaire. I sit and sift through hundreds of pages of advertisements that tell me what thousand-dollar siut i should wear, to read the articles that advertise what thousand-dollar suit I should wear. The rest is interviews with celebrities that I hate, reviews for products that I can't afford, or overviews of books and movies that I never care to read nor see. So from now on, I won't buy these dumb rags, until I become a millionaire and these sorts of things apply to me.

Move over Jolt Espresso, make room for my new favorite pick-me-up. They call it Bawls, and it actually tastes good. It does the trick on those long night shifts too, so it's an all around good deal.

There was a picnic today for the whole dojo today. It was really fun. It rained at first, and not many people showed up intil the end, but it's always great to hang out with the ninja crew. I made a large batch of my special burgers, which Sensei suggested I call "Ninpo Burgers", after the dojo. I'm not one to disagree with a 7th degree Ninja Master, so Ninpo Burgers they are. The conversation went around to how i would market them, and now I am writing some scripts for commercials, which the dojo's eccentric Shauna would professionally film and send to various festivals.

My concept for the commercial is this: being that these are Ninja related burgers, they should incorporate some element of ninjutsu. The first character used in spelling the word ninjutsu ("nin") translates to 'patience'. My burgers do indeed recquire such patience, as they are topped off with chile and sour cream, which will make quite a mess if you aren't careful. So, the slogan would be something like "Ninpo Burger, do YOU have the patience?" The commercials would feature a man lacking such patience, hastily biting into his burger, only to get a mess on his shirt. A ninja would then promptly appear to kill him in various ways. The commercial would then cut to a montage showing how the burgers are made, with ninja slaughtering the cattle, mixing the beef, and using a sword to cut open the burger to reveal the deliciuos cheddar cheese and bacon that is cooked right inside the patty itself. The whole creation is actually quite ingenious if I do say so myself. Just don't ask for my secret recipe, as that is going with me to my grave. unless of course i CAN market these bad boys, in which case I will sell out faster than you can say "Hollywood".

posted by Tay @ 1:05 AM

I make my triumphant return tomorrow. Much cash will be spent, much fun will be had. You'll hear from me, as I have many stories to tell.

posted by Tay @ 8:32 PM

We will say for now that I am tentatively scheduled to return sometime around the 20th. Things are just getting to be an organizational circus around here. On the plus side, I have been moved on up to the position of night-time supervisor, which allows me to drive around all night with little care for how much gas I'm using. Also, it means even MORE hours, which ecquates to more money, which is great.

I'm thinking of buying a suit. I've never owned a suit, and never really had reason to, but I think that it might be cool. Maybe its just the fact that I've been wearing the same outfit for 2 straight weeks now that have triggered this need to dress up. We'll see when I get back.

Ugh. A coupla days back, I was working road closures, which has you paired up with a partner. I have no idea why the need for 2 people, unless management simply can't fathom that we are able to keep ourselves awake. Anybody who can't simply stay up for 12 hours does not deserve this job if you ask me. Anyway, the guy that I was working with was a real nutcase. He's one of those guys who blames somebody else for all of their problems, which I just can't stand. And this guy had a LOT of problems. I myself am not much of a talker, so it was pretty much 2 days of 12 hours of this guy bitching and moaning about his girlfriend, his jobs, his parents, his life. I wanted to run him over, and would have, except that he had some pretty cool CDs to listen to. My Tahoe has a bumpin sound system, so it was awesome to put in some NWA, and just crank it.

This whole money thing has got my head all messed up. I don't know what I want to do with all the extra money I will have. I know that whatever it is, I will have to purchase it quickly, so as my folks don't convince me to put it into savings and crap. What I need is a sword. Or an elephant. My options are pretty open, actually.

posted by Tay @ 8:10 AM

Y'know that you're in a real dive of an internet cafe when the computer that you sit down at is not chosen by how fast that it is, but by how much filth has accumulated on the keyboard. Yuck. So, I have made a decision regarding how long I will be staying in this crap town. I will be back in a week, on the premise that there will be cool shit going down back at home. I am talking like a cool party, or everybody going to the bar, or something in that vein. If this is not the case, and I am assured by my friends that everything will be boring, I will stay for and extra week. The cash made by that week would go toward buying something totally bad-ass, that I have not decided upon. My options are pretty open. I could get one of those swords that Sensei has been pushing on us, or I could get some keen new prescription shades, or maybe a CD player for the car that I am tentatively buying. Also, I could instead round out my Gamecube collection, or go on an internet buying spree. With a thousand bucks, I could get a lot of T-shirts, or Thinkgeek crap. Maybe I'll blow the whole thing at the GAP. The new commercial with Missy E and Madonna kicked ass. I am now convinced that they are dedicated to making me a customer, and buy using some of my favorite celebrities no less. That is just simply good advertising.

Y'know what? Screw it. After listing off all of the cool shit I could have on top of a car, I am gonna stay in this shit town for as long as possible. The max would be a 5 week stay, after which I would go back home to school right away. But think of all the cool shit I would haev! I'll be rich! No party is worth the kind of coin that I'm making here.

So in closing, screw you guys, I'm staying here. If I do miss anything totally sweet, be sure to tell me, cuz it sucks being here, but its worth it. I may not stay the full 5 weeks, but it will be at least 2 more weeks before I return.

posted by Tay @ 7:48 AM

I'll first apologize for the terrible spelling, I am on stolen internet right now and i can't afford to spell check. this transmission may end abruptly, and i have many things to say.

first off, i should say one thing. This fire is off the heezy. every night in the distance i can see the glow from off the mountian. it really is crazy. To get to this town, the security company rented me a vehicle. Because this whole operation is being funded by the government, we spared no expense on the ride. What I got was the 2003 chevy tahoe, which i think is in the luxury tank class. This is the biggest thing on wheels that I've ever driven, and I only wish that I had remembered my camera so I could take pictures of this and the many other ludacris things I've witnessed here.

I am getting paid a lot of money. i estimate that each week i spend here earns me $1.2K. I am signed on for 2 weeks now, but I may extend my stay to 3 or even 4 weeks out of sheer greed. It would all depend on how I feel after each week, I suppose. But I'll say right now that if it weren't for the dojo, there would be no need to go home.

The food they feed us is awesome, and free. Last night we had ribs and potatoes. SO good. One of the great things about this job is that it cuts my spendings down to zero: all the food that I'd pay for is free, and there's nothing else in this one horse town worth buying.

So, what do I do here? My security task here in Blairemore is twofold: 1)protect the firefighters tent-city from interlopers, and 2)try not to cut yourself on that damn fruit cup. 50% isn't so bad in this situation, i figure.

Security on the tents might SEEM like a good idea, save for the fact that half the town has already been evacuated, I assume it was the half that did not recquire walkers to get around. This town simply lacks the physical ability to interlope. and I oh shit someone's coming i'll try and update later i gott

posted by Tay @ 2:45 PM