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| The Not So Suck ~ A Blog Just me... | | by: | |
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| Item Size: 198 Entries
Created: 2:20am on 09-08-2007
Modified: 2:25pm on 09-22-2009 | |
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My Journey, My Life
Welcome to the cornerstone of "Experimental Surgery午馬"  . Here is where I purge my anger, frustration, fears, and old demons from my youth. I blog to release these emotions, not to communicate with the world. Don't be afraid, though. It's not all doom and gloom in here. The misadventures of my day-to-day life litters this ole blog o' mine too.
I believe in God, but not in those who claim to hold the key to His gates. I have traveled America and the world since I turned eighteen and bore witness to the way religion cripples the ignorant. I truly believe that every single war throughout history has a link to religion, however obscure. But I also found God in those travels and find solace in my own private journey.
"I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all." ~ Ecclesiastes 9:11
"Forgive me Lord it's been a long day,
So tired from stress and too angry to pray.
The world is mad and I'm in the middle;
My faith grows weak in this earthly riddle.
Burdens and sorrow enough to fill a cup,
Let down and lies, so I throw my hands up.
Trails and tribulations from dusk till dawn,
But according to your Word, the battle's already won.
I do believe...yet hard to pull the weight.
Confused in the flesh a disturbed mental state.
Stay humble and wise that's the key,
So my tears pour out to release anger in me.
No magic pill for survival each day,
So instead of throwing my hands up
I'll fold them and pray. ~ c.r.stone; Hands
"A Letter For My Uncle"
"Life is cheap,
Bittersweet,
But it tastes good to me.
Take my turn,
To crash and burn,
That's how it's s'posed to be.
So don't rain
On my parade.
Life's too short
To waste one day.
I'm gonna risk it all,
The freedom to fall.
Sure looks good to me" ~ Alicia Keys; "Sure Looks Good To Me"
"My resignation"
"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so." ~ Douglas Adams(1952-2001); Last Chance To See
"Women..."
"Think of stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that" ~ George Carlin(1937-2008)
"Engineers Log - Earth Date:101420071150"
"Hakuna Matata, threatened but triumphant"
"I have a new philosophy on life. I'm only going to dread one day at a time" ~ Charlie Brown
"Engineer's Log: Earth Date - 031120071150"
"My Price Gouging"
"My Job"
"Hakuna Matata. It means no worries, for the rest of your days." ~ Timon, Pumbaa, and Simba; "The Lion King"
"So I'm in a meeting and-"
"My absence"
"I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives" ~ Green Day; "Holiday"
"My Theory on Unions"
"Why so serious?" ~ The Joker; The Dark Knight
 ![Playing with fire [#1462455]
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By: Not Available. |
My Blog |
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Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence. ~ Erma Bombeck
Well, I’ve just given WDC another hundred bucks of my hard earned cash. My membership was set to expire and I had to pony up the greenbacks. As they say in France, c'est la guerre. I don’t actually know what that means. I only know that Pepe Le Pew used to say it in all those Looney Tunes cartoons- great stuff that.
Those jerks I work for tried to ask me travel over fucking Thanksgiving for a site survey- the assholes. I didn't even know next week was Thanksgiving until I told that I planned on saying yes! It's the principle, ya see. I havent spent Thanksgiving at home for the past three years. I'm NOT missing this one.
On the positive side. I've another satisfied customer from "Lee's Website Shop" . Here is the new website!
I've been working on my book again, well doing the background stuff actually. I've found a new tool that helps me out a lot. http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/snowflake.php. It's called the Snowflake Method and it really works. I am about 60% done with my snowflake and I found all kinds of holes that needed filling in between the beginning and end of my story.
I've also worked out a new Character Development template. It's a hybrid from an old, old contest of Ariana  that I entered, a character development tool from writer Holly Lisle, and the snowflake method.
Although I'm extremly lazy- I like order. A place for everything and everything in its place. Like taking the fucking day off on fucking Thanksgiving. Grrrrrr, The Man is gonna make me change my 18+ rating if I keep it up.
UPDATE 9:22 Uhh- that thing between my teeth? That's my foot. I may have jumped the gun. My boss wrote "I need you to travel Monday through Friday." Naturally, I thought he meant next week, seeing as he gave no dates, but an earlier emaiil thread between him and another manager had the date of November 30th- after Thanksgiving.  My bad!
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“Using rhetorical questions in speeches is a great way to keep the audience involved. Don't you think those kinds of questions would keep your attention?” ~ Bo Bennett
Have you ever asked your significant other a rhetorical question, not expecting them to answer, and finding yourself in a less than pleasurable scenario? Well, that happened to me this weekend. My brother is the defensive coordinator at Gallaudet University, one of the youngest DCs in Division III Football. The Bison had a road game in Massachusetts last weekend. With me being the one to live my football fantasies vicariously through my brother, I decided to make a road trip. I called the wife while still at the office. Manly plans are precarious at best and thoughtless at worst when the man doesn’t get final clearance from the ole lady- so I decided to let the household’s Minister of Finance know what I planned. The conversation went like this.
“Hey, mama.” All men call their women some weird nickname(s) rather than by their real name. I call the wife one of the following: mama, booboo, mumu, baby, or hey woman!
“Yea?”
“Lil’ John has a game in Massachusetts, I’m going.” Although my younger brother is approximately six inches taller than me, I still call him Lil’ John- and no, not like the rapper.
“Wha- when is the game? How’re you getting there?”
“I’m driving the Golden Teddy. I’ll leave early in the morning, watch the game, and drive home.” The Golden Teddy, or GLDN TDY if I get off my lazy ass and get the tags changed, is my car- I finally bought the car I actually wanted rather than one that was only good enough to get from point A to point B. I figured after two years of slumming in Saudi Arabia, that I could finally get something for me. Doesn’t this conversation sound simple so far? Now here is what we writer’s like to call the plot twist-
“Why don’t we drive tonight, get a hotel room, and drive back tomorrow.
“Uhhh- did you want to go?” Guys- here is where I take full responsibility for the events of the weekend. Remember, and pass this little known fact to our colleges and Man University (dubbed “Man U” by its graduates) Never- ever ask your woman a rhetorical question
Long story short, we agree to drive to Mass together. Now, the wife got home before me. Do you think she had our bags packed, dog fed, and house locked up? Of course not! It’s a seven and half hour- SEVEN AND A HALF HOUR drive from Virginia to Massachusetts and I know, deep down in my soul, that I’m gonna be the one driving. I had hoped that the prep work would have been done before I got there, after all- she did ask to come right. Right?
So after I pack the car, feed the poots (my nickname for the dogs) and change clothes, I begin the long drive up state.
Six and half hours later, around 2AM, I’m bitching because we’ve spent at least twenty five dollars in tolls. To make matters worse, there are no back roads going from state to state. You are forced to use the turnpikes and interstate highways to get around. And I’m pissed, in my mind I say, “You mean to fucking tell me that I HAVE TO pay to use roads that taxpayers already paid for back in the fucking Eisenhower days? AARRGGHH!”
We lose, 23-6. It was a lot closer than the score indicates, but then again, don’t the losers always say that? So It’s about 3PM, I ask the wife, “Why don’t you take the first two hours and I can grab a quick nap?”
You know what she says? You know what she says? “Hmrp, you invited me.”
I want to scream- and strangle her- because I swear that I did no such thing.
Seven hours later, it’s around 10PM, we’re twenty miles from home, and the wife wakes up from long nap. Exhaustion has curbed my earlier anger, but unlike most men, I am perfectly comfortable expressing my true feelings. I turn to her and say, “Look, I’m not mad anymore, but you could’ve taken those two hours for me.” She doesn’t say anything- in my mind I fantasize her silence as acquiescence, but we all know that ain’t true. Emboldened by my overreaching imagination, I continue my lecture. “And next time I ask you if you want to go somewhere that doesn’t sound very fun to you, you need to realize that it’s a rhetorical question.”
Well, were still friends, and I’m over it. I take it as another life lesson from that book- you know the one, Men Are From Earth, Women Are- Not 
On the book front, I’ve just finished a great series; Kingdoms of Thorn & Bone by Greg Keyes. It’s a four book series. I read all four books over the course of two weeks. I also finished an excellent book by Douglas Preston, who happens to be one of my favorite authors. It’s about a giant super computer that tries to replicate the moment of creation, only to find something it doesn’t intend. Buy it- read it- love it!
I finished editing "Symbol of the Order" for an anthology. I still need to mail the contract  Don’t they have fax machines in Great Britain?
On the politics front, I have three things I need to get off my chest.
#1- Nothing Obama does should be a surprise. Hell, the dude campaigned about these changes for two years. What should be a shock is that someone is actually trying to accomplish what they said they would do. 
#2 – This racism stuff is a load of B.S. Look, this fringe stuff is nothing but a business- and both parties have them. You had morons on the left criticizing Bush for purposely allowing 9/11 to happen so he could go to war. Now you have morons on the right criticizing Obama for being a Kenyan-born, socialist, communist, Nazi, Muslim, undocumented worker and welfare thug who hates white people and kills grandma. It’s all a business guys- and because we have a non-white in the White House, the business of racism is booming. These race groups don’t care about the GOP, or its values. They just see a way to expand their message and their membership by exploiting groups opposed to the president. The major news organization love sensationalism. So they seek out the biggest crackpot they can find, give them some air time, and present it as mainstream. I just wish I wasn’t the only that appears to see it that way. It’s hard being the Shining Beacon of Intelligence- but I try 
#3 – As long as the crackpots stay in the news, Obama will continue to have the power to push through his legislation. Look at our health care debate. The cost of his plan is not making news, making a reasonable cause of disagreement to his policy a side-show to other fanatical attacks on his person. He’s a Chicago politician who realizes the power of the independent voter. As long as we’re not talking about the deficit, he will be able to push his agenda. Long story short, by appearing above the fray, while allowing this garbage to continue, he wins in the end- and wins big. I wont have a problem with that, as long as I don’t have to pay higher taxes.  But hey, I’m selfish that way- the #1 thing on my mind is me and mine.
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There is no such thing as an underestimate of average intelligence. ~ Henry Adams
Well, Ive been back in Virgina, at the job for three days, and I haven't busted a grape at my cube. I have no work to do and I've only seen my boss twice this week. I've done one thing positive, figured out a way to backdoor the government network by jumping on the corporate network so I can browse the internet with a little more freedom. It was a simple thing. Ya see {e:puts on geek glasses} There are two network switches in the LAN room, one for the governement and one for my company. Because of the contract, we normally hit the web via the government netowrk. However, to access corporate websites, ya know timesheet, HR forms, and the like- your connection jumps to the corporate network prior to hitting the internet. As long as you go to a corpoate site, then go to- let's say, WDC, then you dont have to share the bandwidth with people doing REAL work. Pretty cool, huh?
Still haven't figured out what to write on my bio for that anthology. Maybe I'll work on that today. After lunch I can write the last chapter of my latest story and do the  editing before I plunge into the sickening black hole of publishing- the horror, the horror
A good friend of mine, Becca - getting ready for Nano  just sent me a new writing tool called the showflake method at http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/snowflake.php. I plan to try it out after I finish up "Fallen Empire" . I have three or four, maybe more, projects with beginings and ends but no meat. I think this tool will help. I mean, it's Marine proof (I.E. so easy a Marine a could do it- like the Geicko Caveman) and it helps fill in a gap in my workmanship- a gap called laziness.
Well, I figured it out. I've emailed my edited story and my bio- here it is-
L. D. Dailey hails from Virginia, where he is a telecommunications emgineer by day and an aspiring writer by night. This anthology marks his first publication. You can find more of his work at http://http:\\duggadugga.writing.com
I'm a man of few words!
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Can you smelllllllllllll, what The Rock- is cookin'? ~ The Rock WWE Wrestler
Well, I've been notified that I have to write a bio for this anthology, in the third person. First off, there's nothing particularly interesting about my life. I didn't go to some fancy writing school. I don't have any publishing cred. What the hell do you write about yourself if there's nothing to say? Secondly, how do you write in the third person without sounding like The Rock?
Lee enjoys short drives to the grocery store where he procures a case of Yuengling, from time to time, while running errands for the ole' lady. He loves football, trucks, guns, swords, and other things one would deem manly. Lee has a disdain for stupidity, and indulges in laying the smackdown on those leaning towards stupid. Lee loves his dog, a mutt named Curry. Lee has a job.
And that's about it....
To Be Continued...
Well, I finished the first draft of the next chapter of my little novella "Fallen Empire-Chapter 8 ~ Culmination" . Not as long as my usual stuff. I need to add a bit of meat to it. Unfortunately, I said all that I wanted to say. My gut tells me to combine it with Chapter 7 and rewrite it from a different point of view...well, lets see what a semi-good night's sleep will do.
Good night's sleep is over. I just finished combining my two new chapters into one- it looks a better, a little more meat on those bones. Chapter eight has been relocated to "The Attic" . I never- ever throw stuff out.
My manager came over to "check on me." I broke off a piece of woop ass and told him how I felt about being left out to dry in Texas last week. He didnt have a reply, I think my frankness shocked him. Now, now- I know you guys think I'm some asshole because I blog like one. But, I'm not. I'm usually pretty tolerant to other people, their feelings, beliefs, and views- but not when their stupidity interferes with my peace of mind  or is that piece of mind?
Guess what boys & girls. I'm going back to Texas after Labor Day. HOORAH!!!!!! I put in my travel request. I'll bet you guys a merit badge that it wont get approved 'till Friday afternoon. I betcha!
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Holy dog shit. Texas? Only steers and queers come from Texas, Private Cowboy- and you don't look much like a steer to me, so that kinda narrows it down. Do you suck dicks? ~ R. Lee Ermey as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman – Full Metal Jacket; 1987
There are many stereotypes about Texas that I want to clear up. First, I didn’t see any cowboys. I saw a lot of guys with cowboy hats, but no cowboys. Secondly, I didn’t see a lot of steers- or queers for that matter- maybe I was in the wrong side of Texas. It is a big ass state.
Let’s back up a bit- like Stephen King- who starts a story in the middle and works you to that point through a bunch of flashbacks. (Must be a horror genre thing  )
You know most of the background. I was scheduled to fly out on Sunday, travel not approved ‘till Friday night. Check my last blog.
Anyway, I land, get into the rental car line with many soldiers coming from Iraq. There is an Army base in El Paso- I guess a major thoroughfare for deployments- and the officers were getting cars for the trip. Anyway, I noticed a lot of interracial goings on in the airport- not that this stuff bothers me- 'cause it doesn't, I was just shocked to see it in Texas. I mean- It’s TEXAS for cryin’ out loud. Ya know, the most racist state in the Union- or so I thought. I mean the people here really just mind their own damn business. So- there’s a third misconception off the books.
Well, I wound up getting a Chrysler PT Cruiser, the sales guy was like;
“Hey, I got a deal on an upgrade.”
“As long as it fits the budget on that quote, go ahead.”
“Oh- PT Cruiser it is, then.”
I brought the wife’s GPS with me, seeing as my company left my ass out to dry. I drove by a nice, inexpensive extended stay on the way to the hotel. Now why the hell didn’t they put me up in there? I wondered during the trek. I arrived and noticed that, aside from mine, there were four cars in the hotel parking lot. I assumed that one belonged to the girl at the front desk. Needless to say, I had a terrible fantasy about some Ese’s ( uhh how do you spell Ese?) breaking into my room wielding rusty machete’s. Why I imagined my death- I don’t know. Why I imagined my antagonists as Hispanic- I have no freaking clue. Perhaps its one of my many stereotypes carried over from a troubled youth. The lady at the front desk was nice, and gave me a room with two locks. After checking under the bed, the shower, and the closet for illegals, I felt safe.
I drove around El Paso a bit. With the GPS, I didn’t worry about getting lost. I drove through some neighborhood and had to do a U-turn. A side read, This way to Juarez, Mexico. I went the other way, I don’t think the Border Patrol would appreciate some tourist trying to cross the border without his passport.
El Paso is like other metropolitan areas, except mostly Hispanic inhabits the slums, and there are no black people. I mean I was an inkblot on a clean canvas. I went into Walmart, the center of American middle class culture, and stood out like a sore thumb. However, after my exploits in Saudi, I think the other people felt more at odds than I did.
I also noticed that the kids here are mostly bi-lingual. That’s a very cool trait that goes unnoticed here. With the right education, who knows how far these kids can go. That’s a fourth misconception gone away. Hispanic’s here are mostly bilingual; they simply choose to speak to each other in Spanish. I don’t have a problem with that.
A fifth misconception is that everyone here loves the Cowboys. Shockingly, there are a lot of Redskin fans out here. I got into a conversation with one of the cops out here about Jason Campbell (QB for the ‘Skins) and about how much he sucks. I gave him the same argument I will now give you:
“Look man, if your receiver is 5’7”, and you have to throw over a 6’2” lineman, you’d have trouble too. He cant see his damn receivers.” (I have a problem with short receivers. I could give two shits how fast you are- if the QB can’t see you, how can he throw you the ball? Imagine you throwing the ball to a 9 year old with your significant other blocking your line of sight…) But I digress-
I went to see Inglorious Basterds during my trip. Great, great movie. You should see it. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, ya know- all that happy shit. Tarantino deserves an Oscar.
If you notice, I haven’t mentioned work. I refuse to mention work. I wont tell you the long story about how my blood pressure jumped to 140/102 during my trip. I had a headache for three days because my pressure was high. I’m not gonna externalize my feelings about my management. I’m okay- really.
On a positive note, it appreas that one of my stories is going into the WDC anthology. I got an invite to the "Farspace 2 Authors" . I don't know what that entails asside from the obvious. Hell, I don't even know which story I entered into the contest. But I'm pleased nonetheless.
I just finished- again  Chapter seven of my little mini epic "Fallen Empire" and I'm working on chapter eight. I'm kinda giddy about it. This is going to be my first submittal for money. i can't wait for all the rejection letters
Let's see, what else. Oh yea, I found another good fantasy genre author. Her name is Morgan Howell. She's got a clever publisher that allows for free Kindle downloads of her first book, which hooks you into buying the last two books of the series. She pulls off the whole female hero bit without turning the woman into some physcho bitch with man-like powers. The heroine uses her brain, which I think it pretty cool. I've also read Greg Keyes The Briar King, another freebie that forces you to buy the series.
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Dogbert: "Well you know what they say, when life gives you lemon, make lemonade."
Dilbert: "But i'm allergic to citrus."
Dogbert: "Well you know what they say, when life gives you lemons, swell up and die." ~ Scott Adams, "Dilbert"
I know I bitch a lot about Saudi Arabia, but at least you knew where you stood there. You were hated because you were an infidel. Cool! No problems! I know my boundaries. But here, back in the corporate world of the United States of America, it’s incompetence on a whole other level. I have never- and I mean never- worked with such a group of incompetents in my life! I’m so mad I cant even see straight
The lowdown: we have a project, a measly $100k project down in Texas. I agreed to fly out on Sunday to start work on Monday. The travel request, I submitted a week ago, was approved at 0810 (that’s 8:10AM for all you non-military types). That gave the travel people downstairs all day to make my travel arrangements.
But wait- there’s more. I had to fill in my flight, hotel, and rental car information for the travel agents. What the hell is there function if I’m doing the damn leg work?!
But wait- it gets better! I go down there at 1600. I ask the lady if she has my ticket ready. The other agent tells me that I’m not going because my boss didn’t send the travel request to her. Confused? So was I. Two agents share one office. They are literally four feet from one another. Gary Coleman couldn’t sleep in the space between them. One agent didn’t forward the approval to the other- didn’t do shit from where I’m sitting. Hell she could have told her that a request was pending.
So here it is, 1623 on a farkin’ Friday and I don’t have travel arrangements for a Sunday flight. What kind of Mickey Mouse, Fly-By-Night operation do I work for?
It’s like an old Dilbert Carton:
Some guy: “how’s the project going?”
Dilbert: “It’s a steaming pile of failure.”
But wait- there’s more. The company is too cheap to give me a company phone, but I have a seven mega pixel camera to take photos of the site. WTF!!!!!!!!
Why do people hate me? What did I ever do to deserve this?
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“To understand the world one must not be worrying about one's self.” ~ Albert Einstein
Well, here it is; 1310 (1:10PM for all you non-military-time-keeping-liberals) on a Friday, and it's quiet as a tomb. My co-worker is having a great time. He's running a job in Texas that's so bad that the subcontractor is threatening to wak out. {e:roflmao} Me? I'm here- in my cubicle- feeling like Dilbert in all those comic strips. I got a series of emails about doing time sheets on time. As if that's the major concern of the day...maybe the higher ups are so clueless about Texas that it is a major concern. I just realized something- something deep and profound. I'm used to working for people smarter than I am. Now, I'm only 31- just turned last month. I've always been self conscience (is that how you spell that?) about my "lack of experience" when working for/with someone older than me. I dont have that problem anymore.
I did my first every Employee Self Evaluation today. Check out this question-
Briefly describe the areas which require improvement by you in order to fully support your success in the company. Identify suggested improvements or training required to meet those goals.
Now check out my arrogant reply.
I strongly believe that I am one the most productive members of our division. Aside from my attendance, I do not believe that I require improvement in any area.
“Many people consider the things which government does for them to be social progress, but they consider the things government does for others as socialism” ~ Earl Warren
You may not know it from my calm, understanding, sensitive, humble demanor, but I'm a bit of a political junkie. The "more links" section of my blog TOC (that's Table Of Contents for all you non-corporate lingo speaking neo-conservatives) is filled with political links. I like to know what's going on in the minds of people who control our world and everything in it. I watch MSNBC because it aligns with my views. I watch Fix Noise (Fox News for you neo-cons) when I want a good laugh. All this talk about helth care is starting to freak me out. I watch Fix Noise and I hear that Obama is a Kenyan born-Socialist-Communist-Racist-Muslim-Nazi who wants to take our guns and kill old people (with the confiscated guns? who knows?!). Now I'm not the brightest bulb in the box, but I'm sure all those labels don't belong together. My real question is- who are the idiots that actually believe this stuff?
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On the keyboard of life, always keep one finger on the escape key. ~ Dilbert
10:38AM ~ Man, my WritingML sucks now! It is NOT like riding a bike. I keep forgetting to use the "{" thingie.
Guess where I'm at? At work, in a cubicle- not doing any work. It's not because I'm lazy. It's because I'm too fast for these clowns. Working 70 hours a week and always being behind has trained me to do things rapidly. I'm like Flash freakin' Gordon now that I'm back in the states. I think I'm gonna work on one of my books now.
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“People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals / that is, goals that do not inspire them.” ~ Anthony Robbins
Wow...it's been a long time since I knocked the dust off this blog.
I've found a new job, a big cut in pay, but heh it's better than most people can say.
I bought a new car and sold my old Saturn to my little bro for $1.
I have high blood pressure and I could probably stand to lose 50 pounds- a little present from my stressful times at Saudi Arabia.
My wife's dog is an idiot...
And I need to get back to my love, writing...
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My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram, or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation. ~ Arthur Conan Doyle
No, not a real publishing credit, not one that gets me paid, but it still kicks ass Aphelion is an e-zine that publishes fantasy stories.
http://www.aphelion-webzine.com/shorts/2009/03/SymboloftheOrder.html
I've learned something recently. My life is exceedingly normal and dull. I really don't have much to blog about these days. I don't really mind that fact- it's certainly better than the alternative.
Well, I'm off to get a haircut and go to work. See ya guys later.
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