Kids Need a Stable Home

A lot of people talk about some sort of true meaning of Christmas, as though where it comes from has any sort of significant impact on the now. What is the significance of celebrating a day over and over again? How important is ANY holiday? I've found that culturally the holidays are extremely important as the exchange of product among people IS a foundation for an economy. It's amazing how much work that is for people to enjoy their leisure to such an extreme extent, and that work DOES translate into real world product of sorts.

But emotionally? Spiritually? Is there edification to be had for the mortal soul in such gross indulgences? Am I in effect a better perfect for helping the world around me thrive, or is there a principle difference where I am in fact better off for denouncing the excess that would make the community I live in and the country I am citizen of thrive? Is it excess to be the financial drive for someone with a dream, a dream to do nothing more in life than to dedicate the whole of their time to the creation of a fine candle, an item that would at first glance seem no more important to feeding a mouth than a pebble in a garden?

To be fair, Christmas, at one point in time, was a religious holiday, but that it is no longer a religious holiday, it boggles my mind that people get offended so much over the greeting or well wishing that comes with it. Is it somehow wrong that it no longer holds as much religious significance? I don't think so, I have to admit I am strictly in favor of anything that encourages the strong generosity and warmth of heart that a properly celebrated brings to each individual, and that is not tied to religion. I don't really care why the church picked December 25th, I'm told it is because it was a pagan holiday. I don't care why they picked that date, but the 25th is almost always cold, even in Texas, and during the coldest of the year there is no better time for warmth of any kind.

In short, I'm perplexed by the habits I've been trained with, holidays and the like, and why I celebrate them instead of simply working. Do I do the world justice by taking holiday instead of producing? It calls into question greater meanings of purpose, man given, and meaning. I have a lot to think about today, and tomorrow, but Sunday, when Sunday comes my course of action will be chosen, and I will follow that course wholeheartedly without question, because there is a time for questions, and a time for answers, and if you mix the two then there is no happiness.

Kids Need a Stable Home

Democrats in Power

I wasn't rooting for the Republicans, in fact, I didn't feel like voting at all this election because I wasn't really a fan of anyone, but I really should have voted third party.

First thing I hear after the elections is that the Democrat majority wants to raise the minimum wage. Wow, I’ve heard this before and I’m glad that bullet has been dodged until now.

It really ticks me off. If the minimum wage is raised, it decreases the value of my job, and the work I do by about half. HALF. It makes it possible for every teenager in the world to buy a stupid PS3 and it doesn’t do a single thing to improve the life of someone who can’t afford his or her living expenses. Their money is going someplace else, 9 times out of 10 I would bet on that. It really takes dedication to get stuck in a minimum wage job for life since there are so many companies that realize the value of paying workers higher.

What minimum wage does do? Inflation… devaluing the jobs of people who do earn higher than minimum wage, increases the cost of doing business in the US making the country as a whole less competitive in the world market. Pissed about companies moving their operations to India? Well raise the minimum wage and just watch how fast they run their operations over there after you increase their costs, because raising minimum wage will increase the cost for every single thing.

It just pisses me off that anyone thinks that forcing companies to pay people more will fix anything.

Give massive tax breaks to small businesses that pay their employees higher salaries, do anything like this. Pay for it by making massive companies actually pay taxes, but lord, just flat out making people pay more to people who don’t deserve it… that is flat out bad news.

Pictures!

Books

A young man, lost, with no direction and frustrated with an inability to excell anywhere struggles with wise sounding advice against reality and what to do with his life to find meaning. I don't know how it would end.

Muahahahaha

Angry Letters

I really need to vent here because I know that no one involved will read this. It feels semi private. I'm sick and tired of Tara. I'm tired of her attitude. I'm offended by her view of me, I'm really sick of her not fixing the things her cats have destroyed, and then complaining about minor things when every single post on the stair banister is destroyed.

My satalite chair smells like cat urine. There are dart holes in the wall. About a third of the crap food on the counter was hers. I know the fruit cups weren't Mike's and Marcia would have mentioned them when she mentioned the ramen noodle she was saying I could have.

I'm glad I'm getting out of that house with her because it took every strength of my being to preserve my decency and maintain my self control when her explicative boyfriend Adam called and started yelling at him.

Calm was maintained despite the complete gall and absolute backwards mentality of everything he said. I could go on for just an hour about that. But I did it. I bit my tongue, and I hung up, and I deleted his voicemail without incident. I'm still restraining myself from urges to email her with bitter and resentful words, scathing and representing my feelings.

She is a messy room mate. Her cats are destructive and uncontrolled. And she is a drunk and a pothead.

It really feels very good to have some place to let that out. I saw the way she kept her room, while she was complaining about the rest of the house. Trashed, clothes everywhere, books strewn about, not just her room, but the entire area outside her room, which was completely free of anyone else's influence. Marcia said it's because she didn't have enough space.

Well, let me ask it out loud to myself here, if HALF of a 2 story house, an entire floor, mind you, isn't enough room for JUST YOUR BEDROOM stuff, then how much space is it reasonable for you to live inside of?

/rant

Random Day

Random Day

Went by my house in Kingwood last night and did some cleaning up, grabbed some kitchen utensils that I left behind, took some photos of some things. Kevin came along and let me use his digital camera.

Pics

A Lot

There’s a lot that needs to be said, and I have the time to say it, but I never think to do it till after I don’t have the time anymore. Right now I don’t have the time, but I need to start updating every day again.

Link of the day: www.youos.com

So wicked awesome!!!

School

So, it all started today. I had a good time; I got a professor who I really enjoyed for government I. Anyway, it’s off to a good start… 11 am is always a good start to the morning. It was only about 10 minutes short and there is NO parking by that time in the day.

Anywho, I’m looking at bottling for my sauce. I need to begin actual work on it VERY soon. Roasting needs to be done by Friday. I really would like to also be moved out by then too, that would feel good.

Habanero-Rose

Here's the logo for something I'm working on:

Sometimes...

Sometimes…

I feel like a lousy human being.

Going Away

Going Away

Steve, Chris’ brother, is moving away on Saturday. I’m going to help him throw a good going away party on Friday night, so, everyone who reads this start looking forward to those awesome fajitas.

It’s really sad when a friend moves away, but he’s going to be starting his University time and working towards a doctorate. Go Steve!!!

What is it

What is it?

Why, why, why?!

I’m just up in the air today
Like some kind of balloon
Spinning off the fingers
Of a happy little child

Twisting through the air
Spinning about
A possession of the breeze
At the fancy of the wind

Oh, just let me fall

Mint Julep Ribs

Mint Julep Ribs

The Rub:

2 teaspoons iced tea mix (made with sugar, not artificial sweetener)2 teaspoons granulated sugar2 teaspoons dried mint (peppermint or spearmint)2 teaspoons sweet paprika2 teaspoons coarse salt (kosher or sea)

The Glaze:

3 tablespoons mint jelly3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice3 tablespoons butter1/4 cup bourbon2 tablespoons sugar

Sauce:

1/2 cup ketchup1/2 cup chili sauce1/3 cup mint jelly1/4 cup bourbon2 tablespoons cider vinegar2 tablespoons brown sugar, or to taste1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce1 teaspoon liquid smokeSalt and freshly ground black pepper to taste


Mint Julep

Crush fresh mint into tumbler
Add 1.5oz of sugar syrup
Generous 1.5oz of bourbon
Fill tumbler with crushed ice
Mint on top
Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar

Rabies

Rabies

Well, we get closer and closer to George’s wedding. Rehearsals are on Friday evening, will be interesting, I haven’t been to a wedding since my dad married Marry Ellen. That was a really good day, I expect this Saturday will be just as good.

The Producers

The Producers

Just got it in the mail and watched it again the other day. I REALLY love this movie, but I should only see it once every six months or so. Six months between viewings leaves me remembering enough that I laugh till my face hurts still, few jokes spoiled. Twice in a month leaves me enjoying myself a lot, but for the more subtle goodness about the movie.

Actually, I did this on, like, Thursday, and then on Friday I watched Drumline. I really liked it quite a bit. Orlando Jones played a character that I really liked and respected, the story was okay, pretty average stuff, but it’s still helped by the aspects of the story based on a real person.

Today, I watched In Her Shoes. It was so good, it had parts where I laughed, and parts where I cried, and parts where I hated a character one minute and loved and sympathized with her the next. That’s a new favorite of mine.

Last night I saw Scanner Darkly. All I can really say without breaking into a full on rant is that it was everything I’d hoped for deep down in my heart.

On Saturday I spent all day with almost all of my friends helping Justin move, it was one of the coolest days ever, even though more than half of it had 0 A/C. It really helped to go swimming afterwards.

Hehe, well, that’s too much to write about, it all feels so incredibly condensed, like a weekend in extreme brief. Next weekend will be worse/better depending on which angle you’re viewing it from.

NJ Continued

NJ Continued…


Well, after getting to NYC on Saturday we popped out around 32nd and… 7th I believe, maybe 8th. Walked all the way up to Times Square, and then spent most of the day bouncing between there, 44th at 7th and 60th at 5th. Around about 4 in the afternoon we got tickets to see the 8 o’clock show of The Producers, a musical comedy I’d seen for the first time in its film translation last December, and which was definitely surpassed by the live Broadway version.

We also ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp, a very good restaurant both times we were over there, I wish we had one down here in Houston, their Bourbon Mahi Mahi was downright fricken awesome. Mike wasn’t adventurous enough to try any of the tiny interesting places we saw around the place.

There was an impressive wedding going on in one of the cathedrals we saw the inside of on the streets traveling between one place and another. The gothic style was extremely impressive.

Two stores that were totally unimpressive: Nintendo Store and Apple store. The Apple store is open 24/7 365, something difficult to appreciate till you need a Mac on Christmas Eve, which, I didn’t since it was early July on a day when places are supposed to be open anyway. Moreover, the selection was still way too similar to the local Mac store in the Galleria mall.

I was incredibly hyped about the Nintendo store till I got there, some very nice displays where out, but when it came right down to it I couldn’t find a single thing worth buying that I couldn’t get anywhere else, no custom styli, or even games that I couldn’t get anywhere else. They had a very interesting little GameBoy museum, but nothing really special about that, it was locked in a case, I’ve seen pics from it online aready. Ultimately a disappointing experience since every single Toys R Us, WalMart, BestBuy, Fry’s, Gamespot, and Eb Games has the same selection, nothing compared to online shopping.

After the Broadway show we took the train back to Morristown, and Sunday was spent recuperating. Neither Saturday nor Monday had very good dinner because of how everything up there closed so early, same with Sunday night. I’m not saying that the hours are horrible, but you definitely have to be prepared for there being times of day where there is literally no where to go get food from if you haven’t eaten yet, meaning keep your fridge stocked.

The second trip to NYC started later, and we saw the Guggenheim, and the Metropolitan museums. The Metropolitan is incredible, I could spend a month there, days on each exhibit studying everything in it carefully and drawing. The Guggenheim not so much, I just wasn’t really impressed by the only exhibit they had, even if most of the side halls had some very good work in them.

We left shortly after the Museums though, Mike was hesitant to go for a walk in central park, so I missed that and the zoo.

Tuesday was also very cool, spent it looking at Ellis and Liberty Islands. I could have skipped Liberty Island completely, but Ellis is a lifetime memory. I can’t think of a better place in the entire world to spend the fourth of July than where so many people spent their first moments in the country. I can only imagine what it was like to pass through there at the time when it was used so much. It rained on us as we were taking off from Liberty, got a little damp.

After the islands, and the rain, not knowing how soon or if the rain would come again, also having nothing to sit on other than wet grass, we decided not to wait for 4 hours after browsing the island museums to see the fireworks so we went to Mike’s apartment and watched some recorded shows that we hadn’t seen before. Wednesday was spent on breakfast and general relaxation before hitting the airport. It wasn’t possible to visit Jason, he just didn’t get in contact with me in time to make plans, I wasn’t even able to talk to him till Monday night, which was just way too late, I didn’t even go back to NYC after that let alone the state. Maybe next time he’ll call me.

I’ll probably go back up again in the not too distant future depending on the outlook, the total for the whole trip was maybe 500 to 600 dollars tops including the plane flight. Next year I’m going to San Diego, lets see how that goes.

Bourbon Sauce

Bourbon Sauce

½ cup butter
3 cloves chopped garlic
1/3 cup Dijon mustartd
1/3 cup hot sauce
1 tablespoon fresh ground pepper
Brown sugar
½ cup Kentucky bourbon

So I've Failed

So I’ve Failed


I used to write journals every single weekday. I really succeeded for a long time, and then I suddenly quit after I was running two journals at the same time. I feel that this really hurt me, and I need to get back in the habit.

Last weekend started Thursday evening and ended late Wednesday night. It was such an incredibly awesome vacation, I flew up to New Jersey, the furthest I’ve ever traveled on my own before, I felt more grown up than anything has ever made me feel before. That’s sad because I’m 25 and I still feel like a kid all the time. Everything is still so scary and new that it’s insane.

The flight up was uneventful, the plane landed and left on time, everything went smoothly, and it was also incredibly dull. The service was just average; everything was just sort of okay at best. The flight back down, however, was an entirely different story, it left two hours late, leaving me at the airport in uncomfortable conditions for a total of four hours, but everyone was even tempered, and once aboard the plane, the captain gave funny announcements even though it was 30 minutes of being taxied before takeoff, and the crew was much more helpful. I was sold headphones to watch the in flight movie, I wasn’t even given the opportunity on the first flight. It was a really good movie too, called something new.  The food was better, and I even had an extremely good book to read during the flight, which was so awesome to contemplate over while I listened to classical music over the headphones, very soothing music, after the movie was over, never ever fly without headphones. Freakanomics is the name of the book. It’s insanely delectable.

I hereby cease to use the word “insane” any longer within this narrative; it is no longer necessary, even though it will contain two trips to NYC. I arrived around about 12:05 in Jersey, and Mike met me at the baggage claim. It took a while to get home after a freak wrong turn, and we stopped and ate at Whitecastle, probably the most dreadful fast food I’ve ever had in my life. After that, sleep commenced at about 2 or 3 in the A.M., and we woke up around 8:30 or 9:30, and had breakfast at a place Mike has been bragging about, and rightfully so.

Perkin’s is a superb breakfast joint. I’d pick them over IHOP any day, I wish they were 24 hours. Their hash brown pancakes are simply mouthwatering, and all their other food was delicious. We made a habit out of breakfasting there, except for one day that it was too crowded so we went to another place called Vermont’s, or something similar, but which was a far cry from Perkin’s.

After that we barely missed the 10:28 train and ended up having to take the 11:24 to NYC for the day. While we were there, some things immediately disappointed me, like Times Square. I really expected more than just a mass of really big stores. None of them even seemed to have the collection of merchandise of other local stores except the classical section of the Virgin Megastore. The day went on like this, store to store, with lots and LOTS of walking for most of the day, a total of slightly over 200 blocks all together for both days inside of NYC.

I have to break for now, I have a lot of work to do, and I probably wont get finished before I have to leave work as it is. I’ll write more tonight or tomorrow.