rob vincent dot net

Happy birthday to me! As of 3:58 AM EST, I have reached the crusty old age of...

27

A couple of dear friends invited me to go to Salem, Massachusetts for a few days. Woo and yay to my first Witchy tourist mission!

I may not get online during that time, so I'll probably catch up with you all later.

If you post me a comment.. I get automatic spam comments whenever I post (thanks, Technorati!) and have had to start filtering out comments containing hyperlinks. So, when you post one, leave off the http:// or whatever. I am fully capable of cutting and pasting a URL.

Stay pink, soft, and oily!

Just saw "The Machinist" with my friend Netta. It's not a bad flick at all, even if the "twist" ending is telegraphed to no end.

If you saw "Fight Club," "A Beautiful Mind," or "Memento," I've ruined the surprise just by mentioning them here. Still, you would have figured it out in the first act, too.

But even if you do know the twist, the flick is definitely worth it. It's great eye-food for anyone who really loves movies, who can appreciate the direction, the cinematography, and the fact that Christian Bale is so batshit insane that he destroyed his own body just for this role. Check out the (spoiler-free) behind-the-scenes clip on the movie's official site, for a look at what this insane idiot did to himself just to entertain you.

1. What is the geekiest part of your music collection?
The whole thing, I guess. However, the fact that I burned my own MST3k mix onto CD scores extra sad geek points.

2. What do you eat when you raid the fridge late at night?
Usually I throw something on a flour tortilla.

3. What is your secret guaranteed weeping movie?
"A.I."

4. If you could have plastic surgery, what would you have done?
I wouldn't.

5. Do you have a completely irrational fear?
Police officers.

6. What is the little physical habit that gives away your insecure moments?
I think I get darty nervous eyes.

7. Are you a pyromaniac?
I used to be. These days I've usually got a candle going, but that's as far as it goes.

8. Do you have too many love interests?
There are so many different brands of hot pepper sauce out there....

9. Do you know anyone famous?
Here and there.

10. Describe your bed:
It's got a thick comforter on year-round, and too many pillows.

11. Are you spontaneous or planned?
Depends.

12.Who would play you in a movie?
I've been told Jack Black.

13. Do you know how to play poker?
Yes.

14. What do you carry with you at all times?
A pentacle.

15. What do you miss most about being a kid?
Not having to support myself.

16. Are you happy with your given name?
More or less.

17. How much money would it take to get you to give up the Internet for one year?
The amount of money it cost to build the Internet.

18. What color is your bedroom?
Blue, which you can barely see for all the junk hanging on my walls.

19. What was the last song you were listening to?
An Information Society megamix

20. Have you ever been in a play?
Several.

21. Have you ever been in love?
Yes.

22. Do you talk alot?
It has been known.

23. Do you like yourself and believe in yourself?
I do.

24. Do transient, homeless, or starving people sometimes annoy you?
No more or les than any class of people.

25. Do you consider yourself to be a nice person?
Most of the time.

26. What is your ideal marriage location?
Earth.

28. Which musical instrument do you wish you could play?
Piano.

29. Favorite fabric?
Spacetime.

30. Something you love and hate?
Love: "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Hate: "Enterprise."

31. What kind of bedding do you use?
Leaves, twigs, and shredded paper.

32. Do you tell your friends about your sex life?
Not especially.

33. What's the one language you want to learn?
Japanese.

34. How do you eat an apple?
Quickly.

35. What do you order at a bar?
Water, or hideously overpriced soda.

36. Have you ever pierced your body parts?
I took a chunk of window glass to the wrist once.

37. Do you have tattoos?
No, but I'm designing a couple of prospects.

39. Do you drive a stick?
I drive a broomstick.

40. What's one trait you hate in a person?
Apathy.

41. What kind of watch do you wear?
If I have a watch, it's a pocket watch.

42. Most frivolous purchase?
I oce bought a "nothing" from a friend on eBay for the easy feedback.

43. Do you consider yourself materialistic?
No.

44. What do you cook the best?
Experiments.

45. Favorite writing utensil?
Clicky pencils.

46. Do you prefer to stand out or blend in?
There are times for both.

47. Would you ever go out dressed like the opposite sex?
Why not?

48. What's one car you will never buy?
Any.

49. What kind of books do you like to read?
As many as I can.

50. If you won the lottery, what would you do?
Pay off my family's bills, start a decent-sized business.

51. Burial or cremation?
Strip me for anything donatable, burn and scatter the rest.

52. How many online journals do you read regularly?
My friends list plus a couple.

53. What's one thing you're a loser at?
Phone.

54. If you don't like a person, how do you show it?
I leave, if possible. Otherwise I go into backhanded-compliment mode.

55. Do you cry in front of your friends?
Just one.

56. What kind of first impression do you think you give to people?
You don't make your impressions, other people do based on their perception of you.

57. What's one thing you like to do alone?
Walk.

58. Are you a giver or a taker?
Both.

59. When's the last time you cried?
A few days ago.

60. Favorite communication method?
Face-to-face, or email.

61. How many drinks before you're tipsy?
I don't.

Photos of nerds!

This phone was in an ancient temple known as Round the Clock.

Fina's and my Halloween photos aren't back yet, but our good pal Tetesuro sent me his...

Click for gallery!

Went to the 2600 meeting today. It was a bit less dead than last time. It seems since the infamous "outdoor meeting" we've been slowly regenerating. At this rate, things will be back to their normal level of insanity by Spring.

My Halloween photos are still not developed. Blame Fina, she has yet to drop the damn things off. As soon as I get those photos back, I'll get them posted and write a bit about the parade.

Until then, check out my pal Dernyn's photos from the evening. I'm in the third photo in the second row, posing with a wisecracking puppet and a cool stranger dressed as Leeloo.

Samhain party tomorrow night. I pass out now.

Good things about voting last night:

• Amusing my fellow voters, and one poll attendant, with my genuine "NIXON/AGNEW" campaign badge from the 1960s.
• Upon leaving the booth, I apologized to the attendant, claiming I couldn't get the thing to flush.
• Voting my conscience
• Earning the right to bitch about the way things are, a right which people who can vote but refuse to do so, do not have
• Getting my shits-and-giggles protest vote in by voting Abe Hirschfeld for Senate
• The nice Pagan girl on line behind me
• Seeing my old elementary school looking just as I remember it, only much shorter
• Seeing a He-Man doll with one leg missing in the school's "lost and found" box - some things never change

Bad things about voting last night:

• The large amount of uncontested people in the running - I refuse to give them the dignitiy of a lever click
• The voter on line in front of me whose registration was somehow screwed up, leaving him without a vote, and needing to go through some sort of Board of Elections nonsense
• Strange dreams that night about finding out who won.. including one wherein I hugged Dr. Phil
• An outcome which I suspect will make things more difficult for me... but not impossible... which will probably make the experiences more valuable to me in the long run... maybe this should go under "good things?"

To my newer blog readers.. Yes, I am a Witch. It's my belief system, it's my faith, it's my lifestyle, it's the way I live and work, and so on.

If such things actually offend you, then you probably would benefit more from not reading my blog.

I have this one altar I meditate my way to often. It's a stone altar, with an eternal flame burning in it. I can throw anything I want into this flame, releasing it to the Gods, Fate, the Universe, the Divine, Spirit, whatever you wish to call Him/Her/Them/It. I do this when I want to release things for whatever reason, pass them on to higher power, or just rid myself of them. It's very useful.

It's no surprise to anyone that this election was hitting me much harder than any election in all my life. I released Bush to the flames. I released Kerry to the flames. I kept releasing anything election-related I could come up with.. newspapers, websites, eventually an entire globe (with political maps.) I turned all this over to the Gods, because they know more than me. I had played out my role to the fullest, having voted my conscience as well as trying to encourage as many people to vote as possible, and to vote with their hearts as well, whether or not that agreed with mine. I joked around and amused people at the polls with my authentic "Nixon/Agnew" campaign badge from the 1960s. I did everything the way that felt right to me.

Now, I declared, it's in your hands. May the highest good for all concerned come of this, under grace and in perfect ways.

So, things turned out differently than I had thought. But, it's happened under the guidance of my Gods. I may not understand why things are going the way they are, but I do accept that there's a reason everything is happening the way it is, and it's all part of the plan.

I just wish I knew more about the hows and whys. My inner control freak is going batshit.

I later asked Spirit, in so many words, what the fucking deal is. The reply I got back was a pat on the head, a sort of 'Don't worry about it, it's all being taken care of. Besides, this may come as a shock to many,. but the other fellow wouldn't exactly have made everything rainbows and butterflies all of a sudden.'

I will say one thing - and this is public record, feel free to call me on it at any point in the next four years - I do not feel that Bush will completely serve out his final term, at least not in the way everyone expects. I don't know anything special, it's just a hunch.

Just got back from the parade. It was fabulously fun, but it's left me completely drained. I pass out now.

I'll post a review tomorrow after work, and should have some pics in a few days.

Thanks to all who paraded with me! I had a great time.