I’m sort of mixed opinions on this: on one hand, I’m thinking, “Pft, George Lucas just wants more of money.” And then part of me is like, “Star Wars! Big Screen!” and then part of me is like, “But it’ll be on TV in a few weeks …”
And another part of me is like, “Compared to the original animated Star Wars Clone Wars stuff a couple of years ago, this CGI stuff looks pretty well shitty.”
I’ll probably cave, because I know I’ve got nothing better to do with $10 then to make sure part of it winds up in Mr. Lucas’ pockets.
Today was such a beautiful day, although I had originally planned to stay at work a little later and use some flex time later in the week, I couldn’t resist and ducked out at the eight hour mark, swung past Giant, got some groceries, and after fixing myself an early dinner, decided to take a stroll through the National Zoo.
The Zoo is under construction: massive renovations to the Elephant House, which pretty much divide the Zoo in half. A lot of exhibits seemed to be inaccessible, particularly the ones on the west side of the Zoo: the seals and sea lions, etcetra. The bear exhibits. Sadly, I was very much looking forward to seeing the Big Big Cats: the lions, the tigers. A sign notified me that they were not out after 4pm. Alas! I did see the cheetahs, and a fishing cat (sort of), and some clouded leopards.
Those latter two cats were on Asia Trail, relatively new to the Zoo. I also spent many minutes fawning over some adorable red pandas, which inspired me to do nothing more than rub their bellys and scratch them behind the head. I doubt they would’ve enjoyed that much, and perhaps neither would I, but they’re just adorable creatures.
As were the clouded leopards: they’re a pair, and although I don’t know off hand how old they are, they behave almost like kittens, bounding off rocks and trees in mock, playful attacks against each other, chasing each other around their enclosure. Great, friendly, engaging cats.
I wandered towards the Bird House and the Aviary which is accessible, due to the construction, only through the Asia Trail. There’s a new bridge over what will be a hugely expanded elephant environment. Sadly, the Bird House was closed at 6pm, which meant I couldn’t get to the Aviary. There are birds in enclosures surrounding the Bird House, including a whole flock of Pink Flamingos. They’re actually not that far from my apartment, actually: turn around from the flamingo pen and you can see the red brick of my apartment building, maybe 200 feet away. Making my way around the Bird House, I stopped in my tracks: a deer, grazing, standing bold as could be on the pedestrian pass. I had a conversation with a passing Zoo employee who informed me at least six deer lived free on the Zoo grounds, and this one in particular usually had two fawns with her and I should be on guard lest she display her matronly traits. Also, since I wasn’t driving a car, I made the decision not to run said deer over.
Although I don’t exactly work in IT, that is my field of employment (um, sort of). Anyway, while working today, I came across this website:
“My [FBI] boss came out and yelled, ‘Who here knows anything about Unix?’ I grew up in Libya before the Six Day War, and I knew all about eunuchs. So when he came in, I didn’t know why he was asking about eunuchs, but I raised my hand. He handed me a file and said, ‘This is critical; we need to get right on it.’ I opened up the file and didn’t see anything about eunuchs in there.
Cracks. Me. Up.
(And the office: I e-mailed it to the entire department.)
I get the feeling I’m going to regret this, but I’ve got fingers crossed that Maiki worked out that anti-hotlinking defense. So, if you’re reading this and considering stealing this image, it’ll show up on your website as a giant sex organ or something. So, really, right-click, save, and host it your own damn selves. Thank you.
In any case: here’s the scoop, the lowdown dirty, the … y’know, the back of the box, at TVShowsonDVD.com. November 4th! It’ll be here before we know it!
I look at these big houses, devoid of personality, and I think, “Why the fuck would anyone want to live here?” Houses with big, empty rooms, perfectly clean big furniture, and expensive prints on the walls, and I think, “Who could be comfortable here?”
So here’s my design philosophy: comfortable, interesting, creative.
So, let’s see: an IKEA Expedit 2×4 unit, used primarily for DVD storage, but secondly, as an entertainment centers. On the shelves: seven wickerish baskets holding a couple of hundred DVD sets. On one shelf, only season sets of Highlander: the power strip which shares the shelf won’t permit the depth of one of those baskets. Above: a 22″ HD TV, the perfect size for this apartment, some lamps for mood lighting, a radio/CD player, and my CDs.
To the right: also an IKEA bookshelf, modern design: beech shelves, steel supports. On one shelf, my DVD player, too large to fit on the EXPEDIT. Heck, it’s too large for this shelf: it hangs over! Stacked atop the DVD player: the cable box, the game systems. On the opposite side of the bookshelf, my printer. Arranged on the shelf: books, board games, graphic novels, job-hunting references, a fan. On the far right upper shelf, a table-top bookshelf, stuffed with paper backs: Reynolds, Hobb, Puzo, Irving. Also: globe-bookstops, a skeleton Indiana Jones, a memento a pizza-coworker brought me from Egypt.
Mounted on the wall, above EXPEDIT: also from IKEA (noticing a theme?), a three-shelf wall unit no longer made called “ARTISTE”, I believe. I originally used it as a pantry in my first studio apartment. Primarily DVD sets held on here: Star Trek on the top shelf, Buffy, Lost, The Wire on the second, collector’s edition sets on the lowest shelf. For accents, a Bender wind-up, Gargoyles, a cigar box, a drawing model.
On the walls: posters. Not trying to overwhelm, simply not to let large spaces of pure white wall through. What can be more boring than that? Guide the eye, allow the eye something to settle on. Okay, and I’ve got a sword suspended through the Artist unit’s support. That too.
Frankly, I don’t even try to organize the books. The DVDs are at least sorted, somewhat, by title: eventually, I’ll get cardstock labels and mark the baskets: A-C, J-L, I’ve got a whole basket just for titles starting with S. But books? DVDs, at least, roughly the same size: books are not: hardbacks, softbacks, quality paperbacks. They look, I think, more attractive out of order: messy, disorganized, even. Maybe, someday, if you’re unlucky enough, I’ll share a picture of my larger EXPEDIT unit: holy mess, Batman!
My parents asked me last night, “Do you miss your car?”
Sold it to my dad, by the way: it’s still technically mine, the lien release only came last week, but the last day it was mine was July 4th. I’ve driven it once, since, to the Eastern Shore and back.
And the answer is, no, I don’t miss it. Not on a regular basis, anyway. I don’t need it to get to work: for the office job, I run the Red Line up into the county, and catch a RideOn shuttle. Reverse coming home. For the part time job, I run the Red Line two stops south and walk a block. Driving in this area is ridiculous, time consuming. Don’t get me started on parking.
They’ve been doing work on the Red Line this weekend and last. “Single tracking”, which means that either the north or south running track is closed off, and trains wait on the platform while others come in the wrong way: seriously, it’s freaky to stand on the platform and see a southbound train come in on the northbound track. Also: it takes forever. Usually, on the weekends, there’s a train every five or ten minutes: single tracking? Try twenty.
I decided to explore Dupont Circle a bit, motivated largely by all I’ve been hearing of the bookstores in that area, and made my way counterclockwise from the Metro egress. Second Story (west of Dupont on P Street) is nice and big, with an eclectic selection of pulp-paperbacks, to rare and expensive clothbound copies. DVDs, CDs, and LPs, too. Plus artwork — mostly old, vintage (super expensive) movie posters. Found a copy of the Backdraft soundtrack, I love orchestral musical scores, and I’ve always loved this film’s score. For $5 with 20% off, this was a no brainer.
Kramerbooks, on Connecticut, was cramped. Small store with a long line of people waiting table space at the cafe backing into the book area. Most of their selection seemed to be current bestsellers, the stuff I see every day at the Big Box Bookstore I work at. They had some “core” fiction and sci-fi titles, but I couldn’t tell if it’s supposed to be a restaurant in a bookstore or a bookstore in a restaurant.
Books-a-Million was a very nice, clean, big bookstore. By the standards of the Big-Box I work in, it is very small, but they had the registers full manned, and the shelves were well stocked. I glanced through the graphic novel section — no copies of The Dark Knight Returns? Only one Hellboy? WTF. A decent place, although it sort of had the vibe of a discount retailer: I think that had more to do with the dark carpet, the dark bookshelves, and the signage.
I was going to go grocery shopping today. There are a couple of family markets near me, both north in Cleveland Park proper, and south in Woodley Park. They’re good for the staples, but expensive, although not mind blowingly so. I usually go to these places for milk: $4.50 is expensive, but the same milk is $4 at Giant. Speaking of Giant, I use the Giant Food at the Van Ness Metro. It’s a ridiculously tiny grocery store, but very clean, beautiful, and while it doesn’t have the range of stock or bulk of the larger country stores, it’s got everything I need, and a friendly courteous staff, to boot. In any case, after waiting on a train for ten minutes stopped on the platform waiting for a southbound train to “single track”, I decided to wait on shopping until Monday night, and walked home, detouring without much thought into the National Zoo.
I actually haven’t been to the Zoo since sometime in early April. That day, a weekday, was cloudy and damp and cool, the Zoo was nearly empty: not only of tourists and sight-seers, but also of animals. There were some Polish horses I saw, and half an elephant through a door in the Elephant House. I write this, mind, sitting on my couch, feet up on a wood chest, looking out my windows at the Aviary. So, I spent a few minutes looking at a sleeping Cheetah, then, having had enough with the crowds, walked home.
You don’t need the acceptance of your peers, but it sure is energizing when it comes. Tonight, your appetites are full strength. Indulge yourself to some degree to avoid being distracted and obsessed.
And here’s the birthday horoscope:
You are determined and on purpose this year. Your career takes off when you discover that what you thought was a limitation is clearly an asset. You play hard through September and have a partner in high jinks. Passionate emotions rule the winter holiday season. You’ll be appointed to lead and protect in January. Libra and Virgo adore you.
Curiously, I am interviewing for a supervisory position at the office job on Monday. I don’t think I’ll get it — there are four others going for the spot, too, and they’ve all been there longer than I. On the other hand, the company is expanding the staff by 50% by October 1st, which means there will be three other supervisory positions opening between now and then. Now, maybe I’m reading too much into this …
… and I probably shouldn’t put this much attention to horoscopes, anyway. I’ve spent too much time tonight trying to figure out what limitation of mine is actually an asset. If nothing else comes true, though, I’m really hoping the “passionate emotions” take the form of an attractive woman.
So, today’s my thirtieth. I spent last night with some friends from work and from middle school drinking at Ireland’s Four Fields in Cleveland Park. Hungover as I was today, I still managed to clean my apartment pretty thoroughly before my parents came over and took me out for dinner. We wandered down Connecticut Avenue and finally wound up at a little cafe/bar (Woodley Cafe? I think) where — yum! — I cannot say enough about their garlic mashed potatoes served as a side to their seasoned pork chops.
I’ve been thinking about the changes in my life since March, when I got this day job. Let’s see: I moved to DC, sold my car, work in an office. I can’t believe I’ve been working this job for almost five months: that’s a real trip. Want to know what another trip was? The letter I got from the United States Postal Service saying, “Hey, buddy, y’know, you’re totally eligible to still work here, y’know, if you want…”
See, a few years ago, I tested for a position with the U.S. Postal Service. I’d been looking for a quote-unquote “real” job for some time, but I never heard back from them. Eventually, my inability to find said “real” job pushed me back to school, which led, eventually, to my current residence in the District. And then, hey, the Postal Service would’ve hired me! (Alternatively, they could be so strapped for employees they’re digging into the reject pile.)
The long and short is this: I’m thirty, and I don’t feel markedly different from when I was twenty-nine. I’ve alternated this whole week between dreading being thirty, and rejoicing in it. My twenties kind of sucked: but I think my thirties are looking bright and awesome.
So I’m working the downstairs Info desk, and there’s a stack of Christmas music CDs on display. So a customer wanders up, and wonders: “Why do you have a stack of Christmas CDs on display?”
“Christmas in July.”
“It’s August.”
“Tell that to Ann Arbor.”
And that’s it in a nutshell, sort of the problem with any company that gets so big and unwieldy: why exactly do we have Christmas music being pushed in friggin’ August? Goodness! I hope people who work here don’t wonder why this chain is in trouble.
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