Hello

So I haven't written in a few days. It's not because I don't love you, it's because I'm tired and cranky. I started my new job today. I didn't actually do anything today, but I will tomorrow. It wasn't as terrible as I was imagining it in my head, but I don't think it will be a walk in the park either.

We shall see how things go. I will write more as time permits. Perhaps I will talk more about my trip. I have other pictures.

My trip

I suppose it's time to stop being anti-social and post something. I recently took a trip to Maryland, so I suppose I'll write about that.

I left Thursday the 18th and arrived at night. It's a two hour drive from the airport to the house I was staying at, and we kind of got lost on the way there, so we didn't arrive until around 11pm or so. I was so tired. I'm not a great fan of flying because it gives me a nasty headache most of the time, so being tired AND having a headache didn't make the first night too enjoyable.

Friday rolled around and I wasn't feeling much better, but fortunately, it was raining pretty much all day, so I could just relax and sleep the day away. In the evening when I was feeling a little better, we attended a little walk through thing called "The Ghosts of Sotterly" (I think I misspelled the name). It was kind of like walking through a bad high school play, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. It was somewhat interesting. We followed a guide and took stops around the little town. They had people dressed up like ghosts who would share little bits of history about the place.

Saturday was a long day. I had to wake up early because we were going to head to Washington DC, but our ride wound up being a couple hours late. I don't blame her. It WAS a little too early to be doing things. Anyway, we took off for DC and wound up arriving around noon or so. It was very dark and cloudy in some spots, but it never rained. We saw the Washington Memorial, the Capitol Building, the Lincoln Memorial, the World War II Memorial, the Reflecting Pool, the Vietnam Wall, the White House, and the Museum of Natural History. All were quite cool, but the Reflecting Pool looked awful. Green and moldy and covered in geese poo.

Sunday was slow. We went to church in the morning and then stopped at a few places around town before heading back to the house and relaxing.

Monday was very long. I woke up early, took the two hour ride back to the airport, waited another hour, took the two hour (and delayed) flight back to the Florida, then spent another hour+ getting back home. Then I had to head to bed so I could get up early and back at work the next morning. No fun!

That was my trip. I know I didn't get too much into detail, but I will later should time permit and should I feel like sharing.

I have returned.

I'm back from Maryland and I got the job I interviewed for last week. I start November 5th.

Title? Hm. No.

I had my interview this morning and now all there is to do is wait. It seemed to go well, but you never know. On the upside, the lady that called me to schedule the interview (not the one that actually interviewed me) told me that if for some reason I'm not hired or the position just doesn't work out with me, she has two other positions available that I might be good at. That was encouraging. It's nice to see that people look out for you.

That's all for today. I'll be busy washing my clothes and packing things up today. I'll try to hop back on a little later. I need to read a certain Star Trek blog!

Goodbye, freedom

I have a job interview Wednesday morning...



In other news, I'll be gone from Thursday until Monday night. So don't think I've abandoned you all. I'm just going on vacation for a few days.

A Monday afternoon

I woke up this morning determined to clean up the mess I had made over the weekend. My bedroom was a mess. The kitchen was a mess, too, but the majority of it was a result of my bedroom being a mess. I decided to give my room a thorough cleaning, so I moved my computer out to the kitchen so I could clean my computer desk. This resulted in me not having any room on the kitchen counter. Ergo, stuff began to pile on the dining table. It was a bad ordeal.

Well, to make a long story short (which isn't like me at all), I accomplished my mission. The kitchen is clean, the dishes are done, and my room is immaculate. My computer is back where it should be and I finally have a moment here to rest, relax, blog, and fiddle with a few crossword puzzles.

My picture today is my crossword puzzle book. For a while, it was the bane of my existence. Now it serves as an enteraining challenge. I no longer feel horribly stupid if I can't get an answer because most of the time I got 90% of the other clues. It helps that a lot of the puzzles contain clues from other puzzles. Even though they use words that could mean something completely opposite from the answer they are looking for, you learn the context in which it's being used because you've seen the word before. Quite frustrating at times, yes, but quite gratifying when you finally finish one without cheating or asking someone else for help.

I need to get a haircut today, tomorrow, or Wednesday. My hair gets curly when it gets long and I'm not a fan of curls.... especially on me. Yuck. I did manage to shave today. I was sporting a full beard for about a week. Not that it looks bad, but it's nice to be back to my normal goatee. Much more manageable and not as hot. Facial hair and 100+ degree weather does not mix well sometimes.

Anyway, I'm off for now.

n00bs r U

Two minutes pass. You remain perfectly still, listening intently to your surroundings. You hear the faint whirling of chopper blades in the distance, but you pay no mind; it's moving in the other direction.

You inch forward toward the edge of the hill, making sure to stick closely to a large boulder to your left. Your guille suit blends in well with the surrounding foliage, but you still make an effort to move slowly and not bring attention to yourself or your position. Below you in a small valley lays a compound covering no more than an acre of land. Through the scope of your sniper rifle, you take note of a lone soldier leaning against a supply crate stacked next to a helipad. After a quick scan of the rest of the area, you set your sights on the soldier once again. He had crouched down behind the crate to tie his boot.

A bead of sweat trickles down your forehead and drops onto your nose, but you ignore the sensation and wait siletly and patiently for the soldier to stand back up. He does. You take a deep breath and put your finger on the trigger of your rifle. You begin to pull the trigger, but stop at the sound of a jeep roaring up the hill, it's horn beeping loudly and its occupant screaming at you to hop in. Trying to ignore the jeep, you peer back through your scope. The soldier down below picked up his weapon and began to look in your direction. Idiot, you mutter to yourself as you crawl slowly backwards and away from the hill's edge.

The jeep comes to screeching halt at the top of the hill and beeps loudly at you. The driver, your squad leader, yells at you to hop in and continues bashing the horn with his fist. You grit your teeth and look back down toward the compound only to see the soldier raise his weapon and begin to fire. You curse under your breath, quickly move back to the hill's edge, aim and fire, taking the soldier down with the first shot. Your squad leader, oblivious to the fact that he had just blown your cover, continues to shout at you and beep the horn.

You begin to stand up, but stop at the sound of chopper blades. Looking over your shoulder, you are shocked to find a Chinese WZ-10 attack helicopter racing toward your position. The soldier must have radioed in your position. Or the helipcopter heard the incessant beeping of the jeep's horn. You quickly forget the ignorance of your squad leader and jump into the back of the jeep, mounting the .50 caliber machine gun in the back. You open fire at the chopper, but the driving skills of your squad leader leaves something to be desired. You weave wildly, making it impossible to hit anything. You keep firing despite the lack of accuracy, hoping that a stray bullet might force the chopper to veer off for repairs. You have no such luck. The chopper's gunner blasts the area around you with a barrage of 20mm rounds. The gunfire did a good deal of damage to the jeep, but the driver finished it off by veering sharply to left and colliding with a massive oak tree.

Shaking off the disorientation, you quickly jump out of the jeep, not really caring at that point that your squad leader is running in the opposite direction you are. You do pause for a moment, however, and watch as he runs out in the middle of the roadway and screams something about "haxs!" before being cut down by the chopper's gunner. You turn and run deeper into the wooded area, feeling somewhat less annoyed by the crash because it had put you beneath the trees and out of the view of the WZ-10.

Moving quickly between the large trees, you hear the crackle of a radio coming from behind you. A Chinese voice barked an order and gunfire splintered the branches above your head. You quickly dive down to the ground, but you're not equipped to fight a close range battle. You reach down and grab the pistol holstered on your waist and find a large tree to hide behind. Bullets rip apart the tree's trunk, but a lull in the fire a moment later provides you with an opportunity to fire off several shots and make a dash for a building a little ways off.

You nearly make it to the building unscathed, but a sharp pain in your leg forces you to fall down. Fortunately, you manage to fall to your right and land just behind the wall of the building. You're injured badly, but you manage to free a grenade from your supply belt and toss around the corner of the building. A blast a few seconds later and the accompanying scream let you know you found your mark and are hopefully safe.

You grab your radio and yell "Medic!" but receive no response. You groan and remember that one of your squad members is a medic. You call out for a medic on your squad channel and a receive an acknowledgement. A moment later, a jeep pulls next to the building which you are laying by and the driver beeps the horn. A soldier jumps out of the back and looks at you. It's the medic. You look at him. He stares back. "Um... medic?" He stares at you blankly, raises his weapon and looks at you again through the iron sights. He crouches down and stands back up a few times. You call for him again, but he doesn't respond. Instead, he puts his weapon down, draws his combat knife, steps back a few ways and pretends to stab at you. You sigh, debate shooting the buffoon, then decide it's better to just get in the jeep. The driver is still beeping at you and yelling "Get in! Hop in! Let's go!"

You do as your told and climb into the jeep, surprised to see your medic teammate filing in behind you. Apparently he DOES listen and respond to commands. Just not yours.

The jeep drives away from the building and down a small road. You realize you're heading back toward the nearest allied outpost and decide the driver is the only sane member of your squad. You lean back to relax, but notice a pack of C4 explosives stuck to the door of the jeep. In your haste to get in the jeep, you had failed to notice this. Another pack lay in the middle of the hood. Aw geez, you groan and despite the injury to your leg, you jump out of the jeep.

Sure enough, a few moments later, the jeep encounters a Chinese tank and rams into it. The driver detonated the C4, destroyed the jeep, himself, and the buffoon of a medic that was riding in the back. The commander of your entire unit called out over the radio and said something about teamkilling, but you're too busy grabbing the now-crispy medic's gear and administering first aid to yourself to pay any attention. Finally, you feel better and, having grabbed the medic's gun, are now better able to defend yourself in a close range fight.

To your luck, a small, but quick, buggy parachuted down toward your location. You look up and spot a supply plane zooming away and perform some maneuvers to evade the WZ-10 attack chopper. You say a silent thanks to your unit commander for recognizing your situation and doing something to help. The buggy lands and you detach the parachute. It fires right up once you jump in and you rev the engine a few times before racing down the road. You look behind you and shake your head at the charred remains of the Chinese tank, your former jeep, and flame-broiled squadmates.

Listening in to the radio chatter, you determine that the battle is going well, but one last stronghold remains. You stop a few times on your way to the last remaining enemy encampment, picking up two more allied troops to aid your cause. You pass an allied tank and see a Cobra attack chopper hovering overhead.

Finally!

Order! People working together.

Your sniper position was compromised, your squad leader had failed his drivers' test, your local medic was nothing short of a high school dropout on LSD, and your second jeep driver was a pyromaniac with a death wish.

The attack on the final Chinese base commences and chaos ensues. There's a good 20 minutes of intense battle, but when the smoke finally clears, your unit has emerged victorious. You have cleared out the remaining Chinese, save for one, lone soldier. The combined forces of your unit sweep the area, but come up empty. You call for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle which can give you a bird's eye view of the area, but your commander doesn't respond. A moment later he calls over to the radio, letting you know he found the enemy and had dealt with him... with an artillery barrage. He failed to mention that the Chinese man was still in your immediate vicinity.

Artillery rounds rained down on top of you and your allies and as everything fades to black, you manage to grab your radio and utter a single word.

"Noob."

I wrote this story because it was very close to an experience I had while playing Battlefield 2, the online PC FPS. Don't be a smacktard, kiddies. Don't be noobs. My squad was a group of unintelligent oafs. My commander was a teamkilling glory hog. Every time I asked for ammo or medic help, I either received no response or the person that could provide one or the other stared at me, his mouth slightly ajar, and drool dripping down his chin.

Don't whine about hacks. They aren't hacking, you just suck. Don't stand there like an idiot when someone near you needs help. Don't drive into trees. Don't drive for that matter. Don't load up your jeep with C4, ask for people to jump in, and then ram it into the side of a tank. Yes, you blow up the tank, but you teamkill the 4 saps that were stupid enough to get in with you.

Play the game. Have fun. Don't be a noob. We are watching. We are blogging.

Saturday

I slept in until 10am. I hate sleeping in, but I hate going to bed at a decent hour, too. I need to just give in, give up my late night cartoons (haha), and go to bed! Then perhaps I can wake up at 7-8am and be ready to go and not feel like killing the neighbor's dog. Then again, the neighbor's dog is the most annoying hairy rat in existence. Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip! SHUT UP! Every morning for a half hour, it won't shut it's mouth. I get mad and throw things at the fence and yell at it. I'll yell at the dog even when the owners are out in the backyard and can hear everything I say. I think they finally realized that the dog needs to be quiet before I arrange an "accident."

So far my day has been pretty unproductive. I need to wash my clothes and clean my room, but I can always do that tomorrow, too, can't I? I might as well wash my clothes today, though. Nothing else is going on, so there's no time like the present. I've more or less spent the morning watching TV and being lazy. Much like I am every day, I think. Perhaps I'll play some Battlefield 2 today. Or more Guild Wars. We'll see. There's another hockey game on TV tonight. Not sure if I'll watch it because I don't like seeing the Florida Panthers, but I do like the Tampa Bay Lightning (though they aren't my favorite team). I'll see what I feel like doing once that time rolls around.

I spotted a snake yesterday. First time I had seen one in a while. I wanted to take a picture of it, but by the time I got camera and went back outside, it was already gone. It was a little thing. A Black Racer, they are called because they are all black and can move quite fast. They have a cousin that lives in the north called a Blue Racer, but they kill their prey via constriction. Funny how they are the same species, but different color and they eat things differently.

Ah, well. I might write again later tonight. Who knows. My creative juices have not been flowing as of late. I'm having to struggle to think of something to write. Fortunately, I'm not being limited to just a few sentences of a paragraph, but I'm not putting out to 12 page essays I've been known to do either.

Well, that's all for now. I know I don't have a picture, but maybe I'll come back and edit one in later.

*yawn*

I can't sleep. It's 2:19am and I'm watching some show on TV about some people who are trying to make some new islands type deal off the coast of Dubai. I lost interest when I spotted my book of crossword puzzles. I failed miserably. I'm too tired to think, but not tired enough to actually fall asleep. It doesn't help that it's so stinking hot in here. Then again, it doesn't help that I have my TV on, my computer on, and my bedroom light on.

(I actually just stopped writing for a minute to unplug the lamp.)

Last night was a good night for hockey. I watched as the Buffalo Sabres smashed the Atlanta Thrashers 6-0. It was a beautiful game as I'm not particularly fond of Atlanta and would much rather see Buffalo win. Someone has to oust Ottawa from the number 1 spot. On a side note, my favorite team, the New Jersey Devils, lost once again. Oh, well. I'm still with them. Winning or losing. They're my team.

Today is Friday! Good. I like Fridays. The end of a long, hard week. Well, to those that work anyway. I'm still in need of a job. I still like Fridays, though. (Kind of a weird subject change going from hockey to my love of Fridays, but like I said, I'm tired. I can do what I want to do.)

The flower in the picture used to be in my backyard, but has since withered away and died. Heat will do that, you know. It was very hot yesterday, as normal, but we got some rain later on in the evening that helped to cool things down for a few minutes before the humidity rose back up. Fortunately, I was inside at the time and enjoyed the air conditioning. Yay, modern technology.

In other news, I learned my numbers today! Well, my Swedish numbers. En, två, tre, fyra, fem, sex, sju, åtta, nio, tio, elva, tolv... Okay, so I'm only up to 12. Sue me. It's hard to learn a language that no one in the States teaches. It makes me wonder, though... why can't everyone just use the same bloody numbers?! Everyone writes them the same way. 1, 2, 3, etc. But no one spells them out the same way. Blast it all.

Anyway, I shall try to go to sleep now.

Lizards!

So I walked outside with the intent to take a picture of something (because I haven't been posting many pictures lately that actually anything to do with the blog) when I stumbled upon this little lizard basking in the warm sun. It seemed a worthy shot. Thus, I present my picture. "Lizard on a Stick." Okay, so I'm not great with titles. It's a good picture, though, I think. You might have to view the full picture to get the clarity of the lizard.

Florida is infested with these things. These are anoles, a common house-area lizard. They only live about 18 months (36 if they are really lucky), but they breed like rabbits. There's nothing wrong with the lizards. They are good for the area by eating all the bugs and spiders and whatnot. They are just quite plentiful and can pop up unexpectedly at inopportune times. The guy in the picture is relatively small compared to some of his brothers. I've caught many lizards twice as big, if not more, than he was.

Yes, they bite. Yes, they can draw blood. How do I know this? Because I pick up lizards and they bite me. Simple as that. Most of the time all you feel is pressure where they're biting you, but some of the bigger ones have sharp little teeth. The bite itself doesn't necessarily hurt, but they tend to lock their jaw and make it quite difficult to pull them back off of your finger. You have to wriggle them back and forth and kind of slide them off which makes their teeth leave little scrapes on your finger. Depending on the size of the lizard, yeah, it can draw blood.

You know what else can draw blood? Snakes. lol Yes, I've been bitten by a snake, too. A non-venomous snake, mind you, but it still hurt. That one made me think twice about grabbing snakes out of the pool with my bare hands. It left 4 little fang marks in my hand for a few days. It was really kind of cool and to be completely honest, I kind of wondered how it would feel to be bitten by a snake. I see now the error of my ways. The moral of the story today, kids, is don't let snakes bite you.

Oh, before I forget, a little note to Dufva, my new reader: I responded to your questions via commenting on the previous blog postings. I could have just put them in this blog, but I didn't. I thought it would be easier to have a dedicated place for my responses.

That's all for now!

Lyrics

Kent - Berg O Dalvana

(There is some controversy over the title. I have seen both Dalvana and Dalbana. Perhaps someone could correct me.)

På vägen tvättas spåren bort

en olycka blir minnen blott

Rusningstid strax innan Jul

så glömmer nån ett varningsljus

När Jag blir grå

När Jag faller

Orkar Du för två?

När idag blir igår

Kommer Du att älska mig

ändå?

En gammal sång får en helt ny text

en äcklig röst som billig sex

& Jag har inga vänner kvar

Visst är livet underbart

När Jag blir grå

När Jag faller

Orkar Du för två?

När idag blir igår

Kommer Du att älska mig
ändå?

Det spelar ingen roll

om Du håller mig hårt

Ingen kommer att

minnas om 100 år

Jag är rädd att man glömmer

glömmer allt

Som vi glömde att vi

älskade varandra

Håll ut Jag behöver dig

Håll ut Jag behöver dig

Håll ut Jag behöver dig

Håll ut Stå ut med mig

Stå ut med mig

Jag behöver dig

Jag behöver dig

Stå ut med mig

Jag behöver dig

Jag ... dig

Stå ut med mig

Jag behöver dig

Stå ut med mig

Jag behöver dig

*gasp!*

*gasp*

*shock and awe*

What the deuce?

Someone actually reads what I have to say! It's amazing! Truly so! There is hope in the world once again. The dark cloud over my blog has been pushed aside and sunlight can once again warm the ground beneath. Oh happy day! Or something to that effect. Believe it or not, that wasn't sarcasm (which is another shock). That all being said. Greetings to my extra reader. I shall try a bit harder now not make a complete idiot of myself, but I can promise nothing.

Right now I'm watching an NHL game in the beautiful clarity of Hi Definition. Is there any other way to watch it? No, I think not. Well, I guess there is, but is that really watching it? Is it really enjoying everything the game has to offer? Never! Right now it's the Tampa Bay Lightning vs the Florida Panthers. I hate the Panthers with a passion, but I suppose intra-state rivalries are fun to watch. (Or so the NHL has told me.) The schedule of the games will never cease to baffle me. Why on earth would I want to see my own bloody division teams 32 times out of 82? Where's the fun in that? I want to see the other teams, too, you know. *sigh* I suppose I should be happy to see any hockey. Some countries don't have the liberty of seeing them. Or some countries don't have them air until quite late at night. Blasted time zones.

Anyway, I guess I'll rant on the NHL. Actually, I really have just one question. Why do you keep screwing goalies? Why do you keep punishing goalies for being good? The basis of my question comes from the fact that the NHL keeps saying it wants more goal scoring and it will do what it needs to to get it. Why? Why punish goalies? Goal scoring is down because goalies are getting better! I mean, why not let baseball players hit the ball off of a tee because the pitchers pitch too fast? It's the same thing. Why punish goalies for being good at what they do by making them wear smaller pads and trying to increase the size of the nets? It's stupid. I'd rather see a hard fought 1-0 game than a 9-8 circus show.

Speaking of circus shows, I guess it's time to address fighting in the league. To put it bluntly, it's part of hockey. You may think it's dumb and want it gone and think it's nothing more than a circus for goons and thugs, but the fact of the matter is, it's a part of hockey. Deal with it. When you're playing such a fast paced, hard fought game, tensions get high. Someone hits your teammate, you stick up for him. Need someone to put a spark under your team? Punch someone. It's a morale booster not only for the team, but for the fans of the team. MOST people don't have a problem with fighting. To those who don't like it, why are you making such a fuss about it? If you don't like it, don't watch it. Don't such sit there and complain about it. Really.

Oh, well. There's nothing I can do about either one except complain about the idiots that ruin the game or rather, the enjoyment of the game. People who whine about fighting and lack of goal scoring are almost as bad as the drunk guy who sits behind you at the arena yelling obscenities about situations he knows nothing about.

Deal with it, people.

Anyway, that was fun! I haven't had a good rant in a while and a recent comment made me decide that hockey just might be a good subject to post something about.

Something else to rant about... when the heck does the new Kent album come out?! Not that I can get it, seeing as I'm not Swedish, I don't live in Sweden, and the bloody US has something against putting Swedish music on their store shelves, but it would be nice to know if it was out. Maybe I'll find a way to get it someday... legally or illegally. Either way works for me. (Okay, so the US doesn't have any issues with putting foreign music on the shelf, but they don't carry Kent music.) I want it!

That's all for now. I'll post the lyrics of the song I'm listening to here in a second.

(For anyone wondering about the duck... I have no clue. Just a random picture I had on my hard drive.)

Hm..

I didn't specify WHICH morning. Ergo, I am free of your harassment. It's not, however, morning. It's the afternoon. Petty details. So sue me! I have better things to do than cater to the wants of my three readers. Make your own blogs. Write your own stories. Surely I am not your sole source of entertainment. Pity.

Once again, I have no picture. That's a shame because I like pictures. There's really nothing to take a picture of, though, and I have nothing good left on my computer hard drive to input.

So what's up with me? Nothing! Well, possibly nothing. Possibly everything. One never knows until things are up and upon us. I'm heading to Maryland in 9 days. That's always exciting. I've never been there. I hope the temperature will be a bit more bearable than it is down here. Not sure what all we'll be doing there, but it should be a nice time.

I was informed of a job opening by a guy at my church and sent him my resume today to give to the boss. It's a data entry position for Quality Distribution, which is, I assume by the name, a company that distributes things. Not the greatest job or the greatest pay, but right now, it's a good thing to attempt to get just to have a flow of income. That's what's important right now. I can at least work and should something else later on down the line come up, great!

That's all for now.

I'm still here!

I'll post something in the morning. *yawn*

Happy October!

Sadly, I have not written in... *gasp*... a week?! Okay, so it's not my fault. Nothing worth writing about ever happens around here! It IS, however, already October. I leave for Maryland in 18 days. I can't wait. Despite the fact that I've been unemployed going on 7 months now, it'll be my first vacation in 3 years. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to getting out of Florida for a few days.

October: a time of changes in the weather, a time of leaves turning all shades of browns, reds, and oranges, a time when you start preparing yourself for the end of the year (which WILL be here before you know it). It is a happy time. In your state.

Not in Florida! 90+ degrees outside. Our leaves are turning brown, but it ain't because it's fall. They are dying from the drought we are going through and because they are being burnt to a crisp by the scorching heat! BAH! I want seasons! Hot, hotter, and hottest do not make seasons. They make one long continuous "summer."

Poo on you, Mother Nature. Poo on you.