|
|
Sunday, 2-29-04. Partly cloudy and cool.
|
|
|
Thank our planet's 1/4 extra annual rotation for today! I put this leap day to good use, intentionally sleeping in until around 11 am. Also, after now having resided in my apartment for a good 5 months, I finally got around to cleaning my toilet and mopping my floors. Needless to say, the toilet was in rather dire straits before I inundated it with scrubbing bubbles and cleanser. I felt lazy for dinner so instead of making chicken teriyaki, I made a chicken pot pie. The pie could've been better.
German word of the day: Klage (f) - Complaint
|
|
|
|
|
|
Saturday, 2-28-04. Partly cloudy and cool.
|
|
|
Maybe it's a result of my having to get up so early yesterday, but today I've felt really out of it. I knocked around my place most of the day and then took some more sunset photos up on the ridge. In the evening I met up with my co-worker Justin to watch The Ring on DVD. We followed that up by playing card and board games with his little brother until around midnight. It was a good way to spend what would've otherwise been a rather lonely Saturday night.
German word of the day: Metzger (m) - Butcher
|
|
|
|
|
|
Friday, 2-27-04. Partly cloudy and cool.
|
|
|
I woke up at ungodly o'clock in the morning today to meet up with my co-worker Chris. He's putting on a concert band version of Metallica's "Fade to Black" and I'm helping out by playing the second guitar part. Thus far it's gone better than expected, though having to get up 2 or 3 hours earlier than I'm used to to practice with the concert band is not terribly enjoyable.
When I was coming home I must've been pretty out of it, as, for no apparent reason, I smacked my head right into the metal corner of my new neighbor Christine's rear hatch door on her subaru. Luckily I was wearing my wool cap, otherwise there probably would've been a considerable bit of blood. On a more humorous note, I did a Google image search for "hitting your head" and this was one of the first few links that came up.
Every day on my way to work, I have to take an expressway to get over to the freeway. The expressway follows a crescent-shaped ridge that, when driving home around dinnertime, provides stunning views of the sun setting. For a while now I've wanted to stop and take photos, and this evening I finally did. I will post later.
German word of the day: Klippe (f) - Cliff, obstacle
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sunday, 2-22-04. Rainy and cool.
|
|
|
After probably not playing along to it for at least 4 or 5 years, I broke out Metallica's black album in high nostalgic fashion this morning. Amazingly, it only took me one run-through to remember most of the parts. I remembered them as being harder to play, too... I think all that Fear Factory and In Flames I've been playing along to for a while has made my playing style and musical expectations a bit more complex.
Due to an excessively drippy nose, I've started knocking back the Dayquil. Unfortunately, either the cold medications in that gloriously orange sludge, just my cold by itself, or maybe a little of both have been leaving me feeling a bit out of it. I went down and visited the folks this evening. I set up all their electronic devices, helped to reassemble their office desk, and had some good local pizza. I drove back around midnight, and the golden gate bridge was almost completely empty... it was fascinatingly surreal.
German word of the day: Nostalgie (f) - Nostalgia
|
|
|
|
|
|
Saturday, 2-21-04. Rainy and cool.
|
|
|
Well, I'm now working my way through cold #4 of this wonderful winter season. It's not too bad though... maybe a 4 out of 10 in intensity. I went to a benefit concert tonight and helped a co-worker film the first couple of acts. My damned camera batteries were their usual unreliable selves and died on me halfway through the second band's set, but I think I got some good stage shots. I got randomly kissed by some drunk/stoned/maybe a little of both punk chick later on, then hung out with a cute brunette that turned out to be a freshman in high school. Ouch, my life is sad.
German word of the day: Sperrfeuer (n) - Barrage
|
|
|
|
|
|
Monday, 2-16-04. Pouring down rain.
|
|
|
Well, luckily for my sanity, my place continues to be my place. After a slight search on Sunday and a mad dash of a search in a rainstorm all day today, my father and I came up with just one candidate apartment... which I really didn't like. It was too big, smelled like a retirement home inside, was very isolated, and faced north. Maybe it was stress, but after coming home this afternoon I had an overwhelming feeling that the entire idea of moving out wasn't right, like it would mean going against the grain of the universe. I went to see the dog up north this evening, as she's temporarily staying with a couple we know. I thought about the whole moving issue on the drive up and back, so I stopped by my folks place to chat. To my surprise, we all agreed it'd be easiest if I just stayed put, and the pooch would simply move back in with them after all.
On a side note, I sealed and stained the half-sized TV cabinet for my folks on Saturday. Being pine, it was pretty tricky at times, but it turned out pretty decent.
Bush
distorts science? Nah, couldn't be. Whoever thought yeast
could be so soft?
German word of the day: Streß (m) - Stress
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thursday, 2-12-04. Perpetually sunny and warm.
|
|
|
The upper-level math tutor is on vacation this week, so work's been a bit slow. Today I helped a grand total of one kid on my shift, so in my spare time I drew a scale map of Europe that covered the entire classroom dry-erase board.
I finally motivated myself to finish the sanding on my folks' half-sized TV cabinet this evening. I did a test stain on some scrap pine using some sealer, and it looked alright. Apparently my folks had recently had the pest control folks stop by, because there were about a million dead ants in their garage. No joke, they were covering the floor in some places like sand on a beach. Quite nasty to walk around in there...
My fortunes may be changing in the near future. Our family dog may not be able to stay with my folks when they move, and I will probably have to find a new apartment soon. Wonderful, I just moved in here 5 months ago...
German word of the day: Ausdruck (m) - An expression
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thursday, 2-5-04. Partly cloudy and cool.
|
|
|
At work yesterday we were trying to help a girl write a last-minute paper about Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud. It was a last-minute procrastination on her part, so we began joking about how her teacher really won't read the whole paper, which lead us to suggest she just fill the last half with "BS." Some of said BS included how Albert Einstein was an accomplished basketball player, and how he invented the sandwich. My job is great.
An interesting tidbit for the stalkers: According to globeexplorer.com, my apartment complex is a vacant lot, which is exactly what it was about 2 years ago... I guess their satellite photos are a bit out of date? Additionally, if you zoom in, the picture gets older (notice the houses that were later torn down). It's fascinating to know that there was once a large tree where I'm sitting now...
Sometimes even jokes have plenty of truth in them.
German word of the day: Uhr (n) - Eye
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tuesday, 2-3-04. Sprinkling and cool.
|
|
|
Upon coming home for my lunch break today, I was presented with a puzzling situation. When I drove up to my parking space, I was greeted by a police officer waiting on his motorcycle. He rolled back so I could pull in, and, after some quick friendly small-talk, I went in my place. Occasionally looking out at him through my blinds, I found out that the officer didn't move from that spot for about a half hour, and that his eyes were focused squarely the entry to my road. Shortly after, a squad car pulled up along side of his position. The two officers talked for a bit, then left together. About a minute later, 5 or 6 squad cars and a fire truck barrelled down my road into the "Senior Living" trailer park down the way. Shortly after, a police helicopter also began circling the area. I had to take off, otherwise I would've stuck around to see what went down. I'm thinking it was a meth lab bust... those retirees get pretty bored living in those trailers, they do. On a completely unrelated note, I peacefully relocated a spider from my kitchen ceiling to the outer regions of the world this evening. A little good karma can never be bad.
It's really old, but I decided to put it up anyway. Behold, the first Beefpile.com promo banner.
German word of the day: Gefahr (f) - Danger
|
|
|
|