dunno

Since I have yet to add a hit counter for this site, I honestly don't know if anybody even reads it. But iF you are, then people do, and to you, my unknown audience, I must state that I am moving today, and as such I will not be updating for approximately one week. At least, potentially two weeks. Hopefully in that time I will come across something interesting to share.

Couple random thoughts.

The first is that moving sucks. The fact that I am going to be out of Upstate NY is of course exciting. But the process of packing and getting ready to get the fuck out of dodge is tedious as hell. I'M not sure how much room I'll actually have to use as I have to leave one seat in the van for my brother to sit in on the ride back, Right now I'm just hoping and considering what I can leave behind.

The second random thought is To actually tell the people reading this That I hope you have had, and continue to have a pleasant if not downright giddy Holiday season.

Reminder

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Run now

There is now a growing concerted effort in the United States to cut back on our basic liberties and rights. This is the land of the Free? The home of the brave? Every day we consider curtailing our liberties we come closer to being the "Land where we bravely stay prisoner in our own homes as talking heads tell us we're free."

An old quote that I don't know the origin of comes to mind.
"The extent to which you resist is the extent to which you are free."

Video Games

I went to a movie tonight with a friend of mine. Killing time beforehand we happenned to run into each other in the mall arcade. While in said arcade we happenned upon a game which looked as though they just put new software and a sign on Area 51... It was essentially the same game, but you fought terrorists instead of Aliens.. White Terrorists with machine guns and RPG's.. Apparently the game manufacturers were going for all audiences. They rode the Anti-terrorism hysteria bandwagon AND the Politically correct anti-stereotype taken too far bandwagon.
We had fun and I consistantly scored better than him at a shooting game so I feel a bit better about myself.

Ahhhh, birthdays,

My youngest little brother just turned 16 yesterday. I'm so glad I'm going to be out of the state so I don't have to worry about meeting him on the road when he gets his permit.

x-mas

My grandmother is having trouble figuring out what to buy my brothers for Christmas, I offered to pick up some stuff for them for her, but she wouldn't hear of it.
G-ma"I don't know what to get them."
Me: "I'll run and pick some stuff up for them if you want"
G-Ma: "No, that's ok." (In a sort of untrusting tone)
Me: "Come on, it's not like I'd buy them porn"
G-pa: "Well, they've got to learn sometime."
G-ma: "What?"

About my spelling

When I type these I generally don't run spell check, or even look them over all that closely. Why? Do I just not care about offending the aesthetic and grammatical sensibilities of my readers? Binog. I figure if I can't piss you off with content, I'll do it with style.

A few thoughts

Inadequate, delapidated housing
High incidents of on the job fatalities and injuries
Low wages
Inadequate safety equipment
Drug abuse
Systematic discrimination

A picture is probably in your head from the preceeding images.
Is it a ghetto neighborhood with corner filled with pushers and hookers straight from a movie?
A third world country where the only people with a decent living standard steal international aid to line thier own wallets?
A Trailer park in an economically depressed rural communitee where the local family farms have all either gone bankrupt or were sold to multi-national companies in a last ditch attempt to keep the family fed and housed?

All three are too common, but I was thinking of another group of people. I was thinking of the United States military. Of course they have a couple advantages over the other groups. They have medical coverage as long as they are actively serving their country, and they are highly trained in one of the two professions that always seem to survive regardless of changes in governments and social mores.

More and more often the government is turning to the private sector to provide housing for our troops and their families. Long term contracts are signed and houses are being built and renovated around the country. I'm just wondering what will happen to these houses when the bases close.

It might be because I am by nature a collaborative person, but I would hope that we could provide the people who are risking their lives on a daily basis adequate housing on base, where their families are in a community that understands the fears and joys of a military life, reassignments, extented tours, the daily uncertainty, the triumph of loved ones returning from a successful deployment or taining exercise. The elements that only other military families are familiar with.

Perhaps I'm just romanticising the situation. To me, however, the community of military families sharing their experiences is more powerful than:

MILITARY SPOUSE. Bob has been overseas for 4 months, so far he's been lucky, but they go into an occupied city tomorrow.
CIVILIAN SPOUSE. I know how you feel, Rodger was in Vegas for 2 weeks at a conference, and the hotel didn't even have a casino attached to it.

where's the point?

My internal clock has been thrown completely off by not having to wake up to go to work the past souple months. I keep finding myself still awake at 6 or 7 in the morning, then sleeping into the afternoon. I add about an hour a day to those numbers. Hopefully I'll be able to get my timing switched around before I find another job.

Getting out of here.

I fdeel like Timmy Trapped in a well awaiting the end of my lease in this upstate hell. A couple of weeks, a holiday and then I'm out of the state and into the middle of nowhere, but it's not here, and that is the important thing.
I realized tonight as I decided to head out to a local inebriety establishment that all of the people I used to go out with have now either moved or are currently working late nights on weekends.
There were several mixed emotions fighting for control of my body. One was relief that I wasn't going to spend money I don't have on alcohol, the other was a sort of sadness as I really miss the nights of pool games, darts, and buying more drinks than I could really afford.

Revenge of the Suck

In an attempt to passify the countless Star Wars fans dissapointed with the last two Star Wars movies LUCARFILMS(tm) has released this Statement about the next installment.

"Fuck Continuity, it's all about merchandising."

Thought for the day

The same part of the constitution that Keeps Arnold S. from becoming President also keep Jim Carrey from running. That crazy canuck.

Proud mary keep on turnin'

Today, (well, technically last night, but I'm going by mmy own internal combustion biological clock) I took my Mom and youngest little brother to see a musical. I should point out that the number of musical which I have seen and wholeheartedly liked numbers exactly 3. (Sweeney Todd, Hedwig and the Angry Itch, and Woody Guthries American Tale.) The rest of the musicals I have liked I have either only seen on video, or haven't seen yet, so they don't count.
It was a big day, It was the first Show at Syracuse Stage which I have seen since I stopped working there, and it was my youngest brothers first professional show. We saw Huck Finn: the Musical, or as the ads would have you believe "Big River". We were runing a little late and my critique of it is as follows.
Overall, A good musical, not Soundheim, but good. The musical numbers were well performed, and the cast had an energy which is hard, if not impossible, to fake. Characters were fully developed and, for the most part, as believable as a character who suddenly burts into song in the middle of a street can be.
On the technical side, the set is one of the best I've seen at Syracuse Stage with a couple little choices I disagreed with. One of the spot operators is probably getting reamed out right now as they had a tendency to focus the light on the actors shoes instead of their faces as they sang, but it was preview, so they've got two more performances before the show actually opens.
Like most musicals it's a fun night out, with a couple really poweful moments and musical numbers surrounded by a lot of fluff.
Overall: ***
Musicians:****
Acting: ** (It's a musical)
Technical: ****
Script: * (Again, musical)