Rob's blog of posts

Hope everyone’s holidays go / are going / went well!

Year End Survey
Stolen from Grey

1. What did you do in 2003 that you’d never done before?
I invited my girlfriend to live with me.

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don’t do the New Year’s resolution thing.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My friend Laura.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My cousin Catherine, and others.

5. What countries did you visit?
I stayed in the US.

6. What would you like to have in 2004 that you lacked in 2003?
A better job.

7. What date from 2003 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
October 31, the Village Halloween parade

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Lassoing me a wonderfully geeky and insane girlfriend.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not getting a better job.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing serious.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Time.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Fina, usually.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
President Bush.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Squandered on such luxuries as food and shelter.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Grey’s surprise party, the Renaissance Faire, the Halloween Parade, every 2600 meeting (except the last one, right Murd0c?)

16. What songs will always remind you of 2003?
“Homies” by Insane Clown Posse.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
Poorer financially, but happy.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Job hunting.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Procrastinating.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
I spent it home with my family, and on the PLA voice bridge with friends wishing strangers a merry Christmas at silly hours.

22. Did you fall in love in 2003?
Yes!

23. How many one-night stands?
None.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
As usual, a fluctuating four-way tie between “Doctor Who,” “MST3k,” the live-action “Tick,” and “Sealab 2021.”

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I don’t hate anyone.

26. What was the best book you read?
I couldn’t begin to choose one.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
The “Verve Remixed” series.

28. What did you want and get?
A new computer. I love my girlfriend!

30. What were your favorite films of this year?
I didn’t see enough movies this year.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I went to work. Then, I went to sleep.

32.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Keepin more in touch with the people in my life, keeping more in touch with the spiritual community I’ve grown friendly with.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2003?
Same sense of haute couture as usual, though I just switched my extra-long scarf for an average one, and got a priest coat.

34. What kept you sane?
Sane?

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
The Statue of Liberty.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Now, there’s a can of worms… I’m against Bush and his war.

37. Who did you miss?
Everyone.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Murd0c!!!

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2003:
Just because you are prepared for the worst, is no reason not to expect the best.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
From Shiny Diamonds, by Violent J:
It ain’t much going on but that’s where I belong
Because some of them days be shiny diamonds,
And it can’t be wrong,
Because some of them nights the moon be shining,
Like a world of gold, so much unexplored
And I be climbing,
Homies rhyming,
Heaven, I’m in.

If there’s one annoying thing about blogs, it’s the tendency for them to devolve into a bunch of drivel involving the blogger’s cats.

That said, please enjoy some photos of my cat Stinky making love to his favorite stuffed animal.

Kitty porn! You know you love it.

As much as I don’t like her singing, I think I may have just become a Lauryn Hill fan.

I just learned from Venadium’s blog thet they’re making a “Garfield” movie. The trailer has just killed my good mood. Why must they keep killing perfectly decent cartoon characters by mutating them into live-action movies??? Cartoons are cartoons for a reason.

Simple math:

• “Grinch” cartoon = good, “Grinch” movie = bad.
• “Cat in the Hat” cartoon = good, “Cat in the Hat” movie = bad.
• “Scooby Doo…” okay, crap either way.

I have a crawling suspicion the plot of “Garfield” will involve jewel thieves or bank robbers.

In other news, Grey Frequency continues to rock.

I’ve submitted two gif animations to b3ta’s “National Suicide Week” image
competition.

You need to know Star Trek to get this one.
You need to know Dr Who to get this one.

I must be on some kind of 70s music bastardization kick.

…I need sleep.

(23:00:33) Mister Murd0c: St. Joseph Missouri spawned me.
(23:00:37) Mister Murd0c: me and Eminem
(23:00:49) Mister Murd0c: in that summer in 86.
(23:00:54) Mister Murd0c: but not eminem.
(23:01:00) Mister Murd0c: he was born in the 70’s
(23:01:38) Rob T Firefly: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/graphics/art2/eminside.jpg
(23:02:13) Mister Murd0c: yeah
(23:02:15) Mister Murd0c: heheh
(23:02:25) Mister Murd0c: He was born in St. Joseph, at the same hospital as me
(23:02:31) Mister Murd0c: his mother and my mother played golf
(23:02:41) Mister Murd0c: his mother runs the St. Jo Cab Company
(23:02:51) Mister Murd0c: she is not a drug addict
(23:02:55) Mister Murd0c: or unstable
(23:03:00) Mister Murd0c: Eminem is just a fucking loser.
(23:03:29) Rob T Firefly: Heh!

So, US forces appear to have captured Saddam.

My pal Arbie said it best..

“With Saddam captured, the world is now completely safe from terrorists and suicide bombers! Oh wait, no it’s not.”

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to just pick a direction and start walking, leaving all my cares and worries behind me, not knowing what’s ahead. Then I remember that I live on an island.

Since my gig at the arcade company has been dramatically cut down, I tried my hand at working at a gas station for two days. I learned that it’s really hard for me to both work at a place like that and enjoy being alive, so I’m not going back.

Job search continues.

Katrina is now an official New Yorker, with an ID and everything.

Her trip to Texas was postponed for a bit.

Also, I’ve started an NES rom hack. It’s a really useless hack of the original Super Mario Brothers, and I’ve changed half the graphics. I don’t know if I want to stop at just graphics replacement, or actually mess with the maps or gameplay.

I’ve got a couple of new quiz results up.

Pod-Six is jerks!

Friday was a very thin 2600 meeting. View some of the more useless activities Murd0c captured on video, on his site.

If you’re reading this, you’ve found my site’s new home! My years on Kracked were great, but those doors have been closed. However, Micah (the Kracked master) was a great host for a long time, and put up with a lot from me, and it was and is very much appreciated. Stay cool, Micah!

Now, I have the rocktastic Calimar to thank for my web space. Woo! And again, woo!

Additionally, I’ve split my “Sealab 2021″ page off of my personal site. It now resides at http://pod-six.net, and I have lots of good stuff planned for it in future.

The only downside… the move has caused it to lose its Google status as the #1 Sealab site (not counting the official one.) Ah well, I can now set my sights on reclaiming that title…

I was browsing some strangers’ blogs, and swiped this survey thing from one…

1. First Grade Teacher Name?
I privately thought of her as “Monkey.” In a cute way.

2. Last Words You Said:
“Okay, I’ll try back later. Thank you.”

3. Last Song You Sang?
“Jungle Love” by Morris Day and the Time.

4. Last Person You Hugged?
Katrina.

5. Last Thing You Laughed At?
The previous blogger’s answers to this thing.

6. Last Time You Said ‘I Love You’ And Meant It?
This morning.

7. Last Time You Cried ?
Last night.

8. What’s In Your CD Player?
Violent J, “Wizard of the Hood”

9. What Color Socks Are You Wearing?
One is black with a moon-and-star pattern, the other is turquoise with the same pattern.

10. What’s Under Your Bed?
Nothing, it’s a mattress on the floor.

11. What Time Did You Wake Up Today?
7AM

12. Current Taste?
Flour tortilla, plain.

13. Current Hair?
Thinning.

16. Current Clothes?
Green t-shirt, olive trousers.

15. Current Annoyance?
My job neglecting to inform me I didn’t have to come in today.

16. Current Longing?
A better job.

17. Current Desktop Picture?
Luke Meeken’s portrait of the Upright Citizen’s Brigade.

18. Current Worry?
Finding a new job.

19. Current Hate?
Mislabeled files on Kazaa.

20. Favorite Physical Feature Of The Opposite Sex?
A pulse.

21. Last CD You “Bought”?
A cheapo 1950s compilation.

22. Favorite Places To Be?
Home, my friends’ places, New York City, anywhere I haven’t been yet.

23. Least Favorite Place?
Work.

24. Time You Wake Up In The Morning?
As late as possible.

25. If You Could Play An Instrument?
Piano, so I could wrestle some decent tunes out of my big clunky MIDI keyboard.

26. Favorite Color?
Green.

27. Do You Believe In An Afterlife?
Yes.

28. How Tall Are You?
5′11″.

29. Current Favorite Word/Saying?
Antediluvian.

30. Favorite Book?
Way too many to list. Right now I’m reading “Beneath a Mountain Moon” by Silver Ravenwolf.

31. Favorite Season?
Winter.

32. One Person From Your Past You Wish You Could Go Back And Talk To:
My grandfather.

33. Favorite Day?
Friday.

34. Where Would You Like To Go?
I’d like to visit each of my friends I’ve never met in person.

35. What Is Your Career Going To Be Like?
It’s not important, as long as it’s not exceedingly boring and I can support my hobbies.

36. How Many Kids Do You Want?
None for me, I just ate..

37. Favorite Car?
I hate cars, but I like the “Back to the Future” DeLorean.

38. Type A Line You Remember From Any Book:
“There is no difference between Time and any of the three dimensions of Space, except that our consciousness moves along it.” (H.G. Wells, “The Time Machine”)

39. A Random Lyric:
“Way back when I was just a little bitty boy living in a box under the stairs in the corner of the basement of the house half a block down the street from Jerry’s Bait Shop… you know the place…” – Weird Al Yankovic, “Albuquerque”

40. Identify Some Of The Things Surrounding Your Computer:
A game controler, a pocket watch with a TARDIS key on its chain, stacks of CDs, some news clippings, a statue of Groucho Marx, Insane Clow Posse action figures, a cactus, video game posters, a model I made based on MST3k’s Cambot.