Equalization

I’ve been in a mildly unpleasant, uncertain, and anxious frame of mind all month. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I’ve been way too busy to pay much attention to it, what with lots of work, random visitors, and one minor communicable disease. Now I’m caught up on work and have a full weekend with no real plans to speak of. I’m almost dreading it, for fear I might start dwelling on every little thing that’s nagging at me right now…

And no, I’m not going to bore you with any of this right now. I’m also not going to promise that I wont do so later. But you can always change the channel…

I will, however, say that it has to do with the fact that I seem to have eliminated all the high and lows in my life for one comfortably monotonous mid-range. And I’m a little concerned that I’m not a little more concerned about this…

Dinner tonight at the Dead Fish in Crockett with Dan, Dan’s mom, and Jamie. We all took my mom there last fall when she was here for a visit too. And we really should eat there more often without waiting for semi-annual parental visits. You should too…

Trip Planned

I’ve finally booked my Christmas trip to my sprawling hometown. Yes, I know that it’s February, and that it will be April by the time I get there, but I’m running a little behind, OK? I’m very much looking forward to being somewhere that’s not San Francisco…

Side trip plans abound. To start with, I’m driving to San Diego and flying from there. In addition, I’m thinking of hitting both Atlanta and DC for a few days each, with assorted stops on the way…

Even better, I think I’m officially no longer contagious…

I’ve Got the Sick Hornies

Why is is that when I’m sick and too contagious to do anything about it, I am overtaken by the most raging libidinous urges and want to screw everything that moves? I guess it means I’m getting better, despite the fact that I’m not allowed to touch or breathe on anyone for another 36 hours or so…

Elton and Emmie

Disclaimer: I really couldn’t give a rat’s ass who Elton John sings with, especially when a joke like the Grammys is involved. That said, I found this article really annoying…

Neva Chonin, in all her squishy California sensitivity, completely misses the point. Of course Eminem is controversial. Of course a lot of people are complaining about his lyrics. Of course the moral outrage is flying free. And no amount of whining about “homophobia” and misogyny are going to change the fact that you just can’t get better publicity than this…

“Eminem…would be so much greater if he’d remember that those who need his voice most are the victims, not the victimizers.”

Wow, Neva. That one must have hit the poor kid pretty hard. Them’s fightin’ words…

You don’t fight a bully by saying “your actions are having a detrimental effect on my self-esteem”. He knows he’s not showering you with kisses. Poor Neva seems to believe that if she, GLAAD, and assorted women’s groups will just keep chanting “homophobia” and “that’s so hurtful” loudly and frequently enough, Eminem will have a miraculous moment of catharsis and apologize for his wicked ways…

It ain’t gonna happen. Eminem knows just what he’s doing and who he’s pissing off. And I suspect that he’s rather enjoying it. Face it: his target audience does not consist of middle-aged white liberals or Lesbian feminists. His audience is largely comprised of teen-aged white boys. He could sing “kill the faggot” à la Elmer Fudd and not forfeit one per cent of his profits…

You might as well try to get an intelligent and reasoned response out of Howard Stern…

I’m inclined to say “ignore him and he’ll go away” in this case. Some disagree. Maybe they’re right, but I can’t convince myself that all this whiny “ooh, you’re so mean and hateful” crap will do anything but provide lots of laughs for Eminem and his admirers…

Strep

The white spots have arrived, signalling the beginning of my annual case of strep…

I know there has to be at least one doctor reading this: wanna provide an uninsured web guy with a prescrpition for Erythromycin via email tonight, saving me from a day of pain and a hugely unpleasant trip to the South of Market Health Center tomorrow afternoon? I’ll make it up to you…

Annoyances

I hate what ever this little bug I seem to have picked up is. My glands are swollen, and I’m draggy and feverish, with a little headache thrown in for good measure. It feels like the onset of strep (with which I’m all too familiar) but it’s been three days and I have no little white spots. Whatever it is, it needs to go away…

I realized this afternoon that I get almost the exact same feeling of inadequacy from reading both personal ads and employment ads. I always find one ad which seems to be an absolute perfect fit until I read the one glaring area in which I don’t quite measure up. That’s probably why I read employment ads infrequently, and why I look at personal ads about once a year or so…

More annoyances for a Tuesday afteroon:

  • Idiots who stand about 15 feet behind the next person in line at a fast food counter, so you never know if they’re actually IN line or just wating for someone.
  • These same idiots when they get all pissy after you step into the line you didn’t realize they were in.
  • These very same idiots when they still haven’t decided what they want by the time they finally get to the counter (after staring at the menu for ten minutes from a considerable distance).

I’m going back to bed now. Tomorrow, we’ll discuss idiots who stand in lines using cell phones…

Inadequacy

I realized this afternoon that I get almost the exact same feeling of inadequacy from reading both personal ads and employment ads. I always find one ad which seems to be an absolute perfect fit until I read the one glaring area in which I don’t quite measure up…

That’s probably why I read employment ads infrequently, and why I look at personal ads about once a year or so…

I think I take the personal ads a little more, well, personally. After all, if I really had to, I could learn Flash or ASP, even though it’s the last thing I’m really in the mood to do right now…

It’s harder, though, to change personal characteristics. Especially since I’m not much motivated to do so…

Queer versions of “my type” (cute little punk rock boys, shaggy-headed types, non-believers in “gay culture”, and other assorted geeky guys) are hard enough to find to begin with, and the few who exist are rarely attracted to ill-tempered, meat-eating, cigarette-smoking, semi-hairy slacker hermits in their 30s…

I quite understand; I’m not much attracted to ill-tempered semi-hairy slackers in their 30s either, except as really good friends…

Maybe in a few years, when I become an ill-tempered semi-hairy slacker in my 40s, my expectations will catch up with my reality, and I might actually start being attracted to more people of the sort who are actually attracted to me. I might even start thinking more in terms of sustainable relationships than of romance and sex. But I have my doubts…

Duncan Arrived

I love it when Duncan visits. I have an excuse to go on long, aimless drives, and random things get fixed in my apartment. It has always been thus…

This weekend’s drives took us to San Jose (via the full length of El Camino) and all over Oakland (twice). And I now have a new showerhead, which allowed me this morning to take the first good shower of my eight-plus years in this apartment…

And there’s no one it’s more fun to watch Cops with on a Saturday night while avoiding the thousands of bears who have descended upon one’s neighborhood…

Woman speaks very earnestly to cop: “I am NOT a crack dealer. I am a prostitute.”

Coming soon: a cool new diner discovery in Oakland and more. Right now, I’m beat. I may be getting sick. I’m going to bed soon…

But I may take another shower first…

Stupid Microsloth

God, how I hate HTML-formatted email.

I especially hate certain HTML-formatted email generated by Outlook Express. Aside from the inefficiency of using 13KB to send one sentence of text (and a couple more quoted ones), the message is essentially unreadable using Eudora 4 and several other quite popular email programs. Damn Microsloth and its “we don’t need no stinkin’ standards” arrogance…