Smitten by the X-bug

I know that it has been awhile since my last entry, but fear not, I am still alive...if you can call barely subsisting on ramen and energy drinks while staying up ungodly hours playing one more round of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on Xbox Live "living"? If so, then that's what I've been up to.


And for those of you concerned for my mental welfare, I have yet to degenerate into an illiterate gaming veg-machine! I recently finished reading "The Rule of Four", by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason, and it was absolutely amazing! That should have been the book I read immediately after "The Historian", as it is very similar in tone and content.

Ah well, I'm glad to be back here blogging about my aimless endeavors for the entertainment of strangers...it really is the thing to do!

Music to Help with Bored-Frustration

Lately, my ears have been glued to some Norma Jean. They're basically my go-to band for when I'm both bored and filled with a little angst. Right now is just such a time, as I'm searching for work, and waiting for my tax returns...which you could translate as: I'm waiting for my Xbox 360 money to get here!! So, with all this pressure to "hurry up and wait", I felt it was time to break out with the CD collection. It was better than simply breaking stuff.


Anyways, the CD I'm rocking most is "O' God the Aftermath", which is their second release as Norma Jean (they were previously called Luti-Kriss, but changed to mitigate confusion with the rapper). I just love this band! They don't use computers in their studio when recording, so the music really carries that raw and powerful "Live" feel, but without the sucky sound. This is a good introductory CD for this band, along with their latest, "Redeemer".

The Inhumane Society

Recently, my Brother and his Girlfriend came to spend a few days with us, and brought their two pet cats Gizmo and Buddy along. I remember seeing these two young'ins as they were mere babes, holding them in the palm of my hand! They were simply adorable!

Gizmo had a habit of coming early into my room (sneaking in under the door) and waking me up by jumping on my chest and massaging me with her little paws. I couldn't think of a better way to start the day! But, alas, I will never again enjoy the bliss of waking to a Gizmo-massage: she's been murdered by the Humane Society.

See, Gizmo and Buddy loved to run around outdoors, without a leash, and have done so since their birth. My brother used to let them frolic and play outside of his own house, and so expected that they would do the same over here. Well, what neither of us knew, was that the Humane Society had set up animal traps in various places around our complex, perhaps for some of the foxes and raccoons that have been seen in the area. One day, as Gizmo and Buddy played, Giz wandered off...we didn't see her again for days. All of us grew worried, wondering if perhaps a neighbor had picked her up, or if she'd been hit by a car?

After a few days, one neighbor asked if we'd checked the traps? We hadn't heard of any traps, and so she showed us where some were, mentioning that the Humane Society had secretly put them there months earlier. The trap was empty, but this got us to go down and visit the Society and see if little Giz was there. And she was. Ahhh, sweet relief we thought...but no, the cruel fiends of the Society gave us no relief. Instead, in a move that would make Hitler cry, they demanded a fee of about $60 (which my brother couldn't afford at the time) and kept poor Gizmo there until we could pay it! Sadly, as my brother was unable to pay, little Giz was put to sleep a few weeks later. All because she wandered into a trap nobody knew about.

How can the so-called Humane Society get away with this? I could understand if we'd taken Gizmo in to them and asked them to take her. But we didn't ask them, nor did they ask us! She was downright Cat-Napped!!! And I feel they should be treated just like a person would who kidnapped someone's child, because little Giz was a part...not only of my brother's family...but of my own as well! If someone took my brother's daughter away, held her for a fee, and then killed her when we couldn't pay; would they not lock them up? From now on I'll be calling them the In-Humane Society, and exposing them for the House of Murder that they really are.

Back on the Book-Wagon Again!

Last year was an abominable year for reading. Sadly, I only pulled off one whole book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which I finished in a day and a half. Very good for Harry. Very bad for me and my Reading Ego.

So, it is with great jubilation and pride that I announce my return to the book wagon with the reading of The Man in My Basement, by Walter Mosley. I haven't finished as of yet, but I'm almost half way through it...having just begun today. Its the first book by a black author that I've read in a long while, the last one being the Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, by Ernest J. Gaines. As a black guy, I suppose its expected of me to read more books by black authors, but I just don't get into them. To be honest, I don't truly identify with the usual themes of racial struggle in mostly white settings.

I grew up in a mostly white town, and had mostly white friends, some of which tossed around the "n-word" with a casual "you-know-I'm-just-joking" way. Sometimes it was funny, other times it stung. But such was life, and I dealt with it. But this book doesn't really play on the "race" angle, and I think that's what's drawn me into it.

At any rate, it feels really good to be back on my reading game. I'm one of those creatures that keeps track of all the books I read in year, and I compare notes on the previous years, like some sort of autistic bibliophile. Scary. In 2007 I only managed to trudge through 1 book, but in 2006 I had 9, and in '05 there were 18...yet '04 only saw 3. So, every couple of years I get into a reading slump, which I absolutely hate. Although, is it really a slump if I'm still reading, just not whole books? I mean, I still get lots of Blog reading in, as well as news and magazines. Just not books. I'm sure the book police will fine me if I'm in violation.

Well, here's to a new year full of finished books with lots of new literary friends to cherish!

So the Empire Has Struck Back?

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The Journey Begins...

Have you ever stayed up all night, letting your mind float effortlessly along the stream of consciousness, well past that last safe harbor for launching toward sleep-land? Was your mental boat fueled by caffeine in its never-ending quest to absorb as much information, conversation and meditation as that sleep deprived brain of yours could allow? If so, then this blog will resonate well with you!

Here is a nice little place where minds inebriated by caffeine, or the simple thirst for knowledge and experience, can come to discuss all things that tickle the soul. Books, music, politics, religion, entertainment: they all have a place in these pages, ready like ships to carry us to lands full of adventure.

So, pour yourself a cup of your favorite mental stimulant, and together let us drink deeply from that vast ocean of Ideas from which humanity has been imbibing for ages!