October 28, 2000

So , as you may or may not know... Today I was diagnosed with having Chicken Pox. I dont have Shingles, so please stop telling me I do, unless you're a doctor and looking at me. I went to the doctor this morning, I was told to come right in. They put me on urgent status.
I am 21 years old, and have had chicken pox before, apprently because of my age and severity of the break out, this puts me at a very high risk for all sorts of things, which was enough for them to get me in within 20 minutes of my call. I dont know for certain all the bad things that can happen to me... strep throat, pneumonia, infections...other stuff... all I _KNOW_ is that I have a million little red bumps all over my body and they itch like HELL, they itch so bad that they HURT, there's been times today where I almost have to just sit down and force myself not to start crying from the pain... This is rather traumatic for me as I've always considered myself as having a fairly high tolerance for pain. I took tylenol, but that only got rid of the head ache, the burning itching PAIN linger on, so I took a vicodin... we'll see if that helps, lets hope so :)

In other news, my brother found a stray dog, took it to our moms house and washed it off, she's a cute little rot/small dog mutt puppy... named it beemer (we have a dog named boomer already..."cute" huh?),,,

What else.... not a whole hell of a lot, mostly since I have to stay home I've been playing motocross madness 2, or chatting on #everything... so I guess I'll go back to that now :)
-doug

11:46pm, previous day (tired)
Today I am going to The School's homecomming dance. I'm going with a girl named Amelia, who I don't know very well but seems like a pretty cool person. I was hooked up with her by a semi-friend of mine who I also don't know incredibly well named Nicole. Oddly enough i've been getting those weird psychic vibes and stuff about this.

1. Astrologically, my Venus is square to my Uranus. Apparently this is a good thing meaning a chance encounter and a long relationship, or something crazy like that.

2. I bought a perl book today, O'Reilly's Programming Perl. And the first two examples in the book that I saw involved the names Jacob (my name), and Amelia. Scary.

3. She was going to ask me out if I didn't ask her. Triple Scary.

I think today is shaping up to be a good day. Granted, After I do all of this homecomming stuff tommorow I get to worry about quickly writing an essay about the play Ourtown. But I can bs my way thru that easily, I think.

In other news,

Everything should pass 20,000 users today!

Ahhh...amusement. I'm a pretty hardcore lover of the IBM Clone hardware. I find macs to be over-simplified, annoying pieces of drek. But this is immaterial.

So, thanks to my wonderful job, I've the use of an i-book. This allows me to sit here noding while looking over the toilet-seat like screen at the movie I'm half watching, while my real computer sits in the corner burning a CD. I now have a kitchen table terminal. Yay me!

I will now be able to node from remote locations. Unfortunately not my classes, as they're all seminars, so I would probably be noticed. :)

And, in a fit of corporate whore-tasticness, I bought one of the E2 T-Shirts soon after logging on today. ;) nate, you go.

Damn. The t-shirts are cool. I was wondering how long it would take for there to be some real E2 merchandise although I imagined coffee mugs first. Maybe that's just the demon inside me speaking. Regardless, they are swell. Thank you for making them in medium. I am not built to wear skirts.

Today I discovered that Hobby Lobby (the local arts and crafts superstore) carries Penguin Mints. Yoon (that's my girlfriend, what the hell might as well bring a little fact noding into this somehow) was shopping for fabric for her Buttercup costume. It's a little scary since she looks a lot like Buttercup without any help at all. Anyhow, I stocked up on the magic mints and now the air is vibrating. Maybe I shouldn't have eaten the whole tin on top of all that coffee. Wow. I think I just saw God.

I made a pitstop at the nearby thrift store today looking for cheap, warm clothes for winter. I felt like walking right back out to make sure that I hadn't accidentally ventured into Hot Topic. There is something about the economically viable hipster buying up all the ironic clothing that someone with a frozen ass and no money might need pisses me off. Yes, my radical ideas about irony and the collapse of civilization have already occurred to others...

In casual conversation over dinner tonight a sort of friend found it hysterically funny that I am originally from New Hampshire. I agree that the state slogan "Live Free or Die" is somewhat extreme but I had to ask what the source of the hilarity was. "Oh, it just seems like such a quaint place to have grown up in," was all he could think to say. I really hope that I don't come across as like that. Neurosis is my area of specialization. Woo hoo.

I had an unfortunate round of name calling and temper tantrum throwing in the chatter box last night. My apologies to TinCanFury for lashing out at him. No excuses just "Sorry, I am cranky." It resulted in a user search downvoting spree that I blamed on him. After a little thought, it probably wasn't him. Oh well, apology to anyone who was bugged by my childish use of "Shut the fuck up" in the chatter box.

Today we go to DC. Chris, Gabe, and myself. Where in DC we do not know. The Mall? The movies? A muesum? A brothel? Whatever it may be, we're going to some how end up there.

I'm fairly pumped for it.

Earlier this morning (or last night, however you see it), I see Anna K in the hall. She's unusally affectionate and has kind of bloodshot eyes. Oh boy. But the gentleman I am, I pass up the opportunity and bid her farewell for the night. I end up hanging out in Gabe's and Rob's room watching anime for an hour or so (roomate went to bed early). When I come back to my room I hear giggling and sheets ruffling. From the light coming in through the window I can tell it's Anna K passed out on top of my roomate Edwin.

This is the difference between porno movies and the real life soap opras of a geek.

As it is the real life soap opras of a geek, I pretend to check on something real quick and then immediately leave. While waiting out in the hall it hits me that Anna K doesn't like Edwin, it's Pete (my other roomate) that she always flirts with heavily. (the plot thickens) Now do I wait until Pete gets back from the party, only for me to stall him from going inside or leave and come back pretending not to know anything?

It's cold outside. I really like Fall weather. The brisk chill really sharpens your senses and mind. My brain automatically switches into nostalgic-reflective-ponder mode with me being alone and chilly and at night. I decide that I need to confront Claire about what she wants: stay good friends or see where it goes?

After an hour or so I end up back at my dorm and she's gone and Ed's snoring.

--

About ten minutes after I left, Pete came back, but was too wasted to notice anything. So Pete's fast asleep on the bunk above Ed and Ann. But it wasn't until thirty minutes later when she left. Ed said nothing happend and Pete doesn't remember a thing (which is really good). Man, life would be so boring for people who don't drink if other people didn't drink.

2:00 pst

Sleep beckons. But before I collaspe into slumber, a hint if you will. If you get the chance, watch The Matrix on a IMAX screen. Aside from seeing latex clad heroines or heros (whatever floats your boat) the sound was stunning. Every shell as it hit the ground, every pane of glass as it shattered, every beep of a dialer, all of it, in glorious 3d Dolby ringing in your ears. Simply audio orgasms.

---

The plan for awakening:

Shopping in the morning, then meeting factgirl in the afternoon and Wintersweet in the evening.

Of all days to write about in my immediate past, I don't know why this one. Relatively uneventful. I awoke late this morning (having spent a lot of time last night seeing Godspeed you black emperor! play live. I made a short trip midday to buy some shoes. A dark violet colour, canvas Converse shoes. The look smart. My return home marked my reading a part of the Aeneid, and a part of my newly purchased 3rd edition AD&D players handbook. So I'm a geek, I admit it. Later in the evening, I visited my girlfriend and attended a halloween party with her and my friend Matt... ... ... We had a good time at the party, and then left for home, and I find myself face to face with the screen of the computer and the subtle tones of Tindersticks to soothe me. I go to sleep now.

27 hours without sleep.

I got to DJ in Miami Beach early this morning. What fun!

My Miami friends are wonderful. They're always preparing for the next party. The island parties are the best, especially when we can get a boat. This one was in a small club at the bottom of a hotel right on the beach. We were late as usual. My friends love to 'bang it' but getting there is usually an adventure.

There were three rooms. The main floor which progressed from tech house to hard acid techno. A "VIP" room with psy and goa trance and a chill room with ambient. That is where i played. Scaring folks with harsh ambient sounds. I didn't deserve to be there. But friends are cool and mine like variety.

I also made a possible connection to hang my blacklight paintings in other clubs. This is a good thing.

It was a positive evening. On the way home I shared the backseat with a speaker. The morning sky changed from gray to red to orange to blue. The clouds to the north looked like mountains on the horizon. I don't know if it was lack of sleep or the chill of the highway wind, but I got goosebumps as I looked out the window and watched the urban sprawl race by. Everything looked so magical. The car's shadow on the wall dividing the north and south bound lanes. The sun's reflection in glass buildings. It's rays turning everything yellow and red.

I won't go on because I can't possibly explain it. The driver was blasting psychedelic trance. Each time the mix climaxed, I felt little more sleepy. A little more euphoric. It's been a long time since I felt this way.

Sometimes when it feels like it can only get worse, it gets much better. I am about a foot from my bed, so it is much much better.

Exercise doesn't seem to fit in with my Friday and Saturday nights. But I exercise 5 nights a week, so I guess that's ok. At least, I seem to still be progressing; I should be able to do 50 pushups at once by the end of next week. I'll consider that a milestone.

Last night, I hung out at a friend's house. Noding from there as I write this. We smoked a bunch of homegrown Vermont weed and played with turntables. He's a big hiphop fan. I'm not, but it's still fun to play with, especially when stoned. We actually recorded a couple tracks, one of which was truly profound. It wasn't so much hiphop at that point, but more of a negativland-esque track involving strange noises and a guy reading off the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Spooky. Afterwards, we kept hearing strange noises, and I was paranoid to think that maybe we'd summoned some evil monster with our blasphemy. Cool!

So, our solution to that paranoia was to watch Doctor Phibes Rises Again, a truly bad horror flick that makes little to no sense even when sober. It was an odd night.

Tonight, I go to the costume party. I'm a little stonedover, so I'm not really motivated to do anything but sit around and eat, but tonight should be fun. Besides, that girl I like will be there.

Today is beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. It's a perfect, crisp fall day, a slight chill in the air, colors abounding, a rainbow projected on my bedroom ceiling (reflected off a CD-R on the floor), no responsibilities, just a pleasant day around the house.

I should probably keep away from the computer, and pay attention to my SO. On the other hand, Everything2 beckons...

I do not understand why Scour Exchange is so buggy. Surely they've had enough time to iron out the problems it has... I'd highly appreciate it if every time I was 95% finished downloading various South Park episodes, the thing wouldn't crap out on me.

I think I'll get a pumpkin today.

See my dreamlog writeup for today for more.

Today will be the mulitplayer trial run of my Unreal Tournament LAN Server. I've got a lot of friends comin' over today for this.

Checklist:
TV for the Bored Wives
Card Tables
Frozen Pizzas
Hubs
Cat 5 (strung all over the place)
Extra Chairs
Beer
Surge Protectors
Extra Monitors

So far we've got 5 computers over here for this. Jimmy's, and the only four of mine equipped for this kind of gaming.
Just two more hours to go... This is gonna Rock!

Woke up at about 11am. Had to do some work, then went out to the post office to mail some shit and McDonalds for food. Post Office was okay, nothing of note, but McDonalds, what a bunch of morons. First of all, how long does it take for you to throw chicken, lettuce and tomato on a bun, it seems that 15 minutes is "fast food" to these lackeys. Then it turns out that they slathered it with mayo when I specifically asked for it without. So they had to make another one, if people I knew weren't there too I woulda been like this:

"You notice I'm not smiling right now. In your commercials you seem to love to see me smile, but guess what, the people in your commercials aren't fucking morons who have no future in life! Now how hard is it to follow a simple direction like no fucking mayo for chrissakes. Give me a refund, I'll take my money elsewhere."

30 minutes later I had a crappy chicken sandwich, cold fires and a watery Coke, horray. Then I come home to find a shitload of my relatives over, at least they brought donuts, then they all left to see my sister performing in band. Also everyone is bugging me to reinstall Windows on our family computer, but we don't have a CD, I'm not buying one and my friends are still sleeping. Perhaps I'll get out my mom's Compaq Armada and use its IrDA port to transfer some stuff onto my new DEC laptop later today, maybe even get the ethernet working and put Debian on.

Can feet shrink?
It seems that every time I go to buy shoes I'm a size smaller. Today I bought a pair of size 8's with plenty of space. Made me smile a little after crying my eyes out in the restaurant over breakfast.

There's a lot of stuff going down for me this weekend and right now Ani Difranco is so perfect. I almost cant help moving my chest in a rhythmic syncopation to her voice. Her mix of angry, sad, honest words and melodies are holding me in check, keeping me sane. I picked up Dilate and Little Plastic Castle before breakfast, I think it's time to hear them on my stereo instead of the little laptop speakers she's poring from now.

Yesterday, I went to the doctor. Sane Guy was nice enough to go with me. I'm glad that he did because if he hadn't, I would have been crying the whole day afterwards.

They are telling me now that they think I don't have an ulcer, but problems with my gallbladder. They are going to do another ultrasound, and then do an EGD. That's when they stick a camera in a tube down your throat and take a look at your stomach, maybe even doing a biopsy. To most people, this isn't a big deal. But it is to me. I'm still pretty upset. And I'm sure then ten pills that I have to take everyday just to be able to get out of bed aren't helping much.

But whatever.

So Templeton, briiiiian, and I made it back to Templeton's apartment at three a.m.  We'd just made the drive from Jackson in good time, but at that point, it had been a long day for all of us, so instead of partaking of the nighttime wonders of New Orleans we all just crashed.

I was awakened firstly at around seven by the light coming in through the window--and promptly turned over so that it didn't hit my eyes and went back to sleep.  At around nine they began to set up the stage.  Templeton's apartment is right across the street from what I think is some kind of church, based on the fact that the building has a cross on it.  Behind it, there is a large open area--a parking lot, more or less.  And evidently, they were going to have some sort of concert in it.  The stage itself was unremarkable, as I recall, although I only saw it briefly.  I was drowsing during the setting-up process, and the things that it entailed.  Occasionally, I would wake up totally, but I was soon drowsing again.

Around eleven, I decided to get up and take a shower.  So I did.  (I just put this paragraph in so that you would all think of me wet and naked.)

I lay back down, and drowsed some more.  But at around eleven-thirty, they began the sound check.

ONE.  ONE, TWO.

ONE, TWO.  TWO, TWO.

ONE, ONE, ONE, TWO.  TWO.

It was loud.  And it lasted at least until the three of us finally left for the Voodoo Music Festival an hour and a half later.  This was, to say the least, annoying.  How long does it take to check a fucking mic?  The damn thing sounded fine to me the first time.  Grr.

And then the festival!  It was absolutely wonderful, I must say.  We got there a bit late, and so missed the local bands that played first, but we were quite in time for Blues Traveler.  The only problem (and that soon went away) was that it was ickily hot, so I went off and got a couple of bottled waters, one to drink, and one to pour over my head.  When I came back, Templeton and briiiiian were both like, "Oh, yeah, I'm thirsty too."  So they wandered off to grab drinks.  I never saw them again within the festival.

Blues Traveler soon finished, and I waited around for the other two, but we'd evidently lost one another.  Not really a big deal, but I kinda wish it hadn't happened--I didn't know anyone else there, and concerts are always more fun if you're jamming with people you know.  Which is not in any way to say that the whole thing didn't rock anyway.

After that, the day moved quickly, including (for me) the wonderful music of Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, Live, Cowboy Mouth, Counting Crows, and Stone Temple Pilots.  After the next-to-last, I actually did run into some people I knew, Jeremy and Christie, who'd both graduated from Ole Miss this past May.  Jeremy's in law school at Tulane, and I wouldn't be at all suprised if the two of them get married--and rightfully so; they are so beautiful as a couple.  But anyway, I digress.

briiiian and Templeton were worn out, and went back to the car after Counting Crows, I found out later.  I stayed for most of STP, but cut out a bit early to avoid the mass exodus, and found the two of them waiting.  And the day having tired us out, what with the sun and rocking, we just went back to the apartment and crashed again.  I was asleep within five minutes.