Axis' Blog - April, 2004

		Monday, 4-26-04. Perpetually sunny and hot.
		We've had an odd heat wave lately, so I've had to break out the shorts again. Today was an odd day, as I randomly woke up at 7 am, full of energy. Using this to my advantage, I finally wiped a cluster of large errands off my to-do list. I finally took my extra armchair and a few other things to the Salvation Army, and then took my old twin-size bed to the county dump. I can now see my bedroom walls again. I discovered today that the bottom hinges on the TV cabinet I'm building allow for more space between the hinges and the wood than the top hinges. This was not a positive discovery, as I now have to compeltely re-design the set-up for the top doors. Something tells me this project won't be done before Mother's Day... Well howdy-do, Iraq has a new flag. Lose a tooth? Grow a new one. For this month's finale, here's a highly amusing art/movie site. German word of the day: Irrtum (m) - Mistake
		Tuesday, 4-20-04. Perpetually sunny and warm.
		I went to Trader Joe's this morning to exchange some shrimp gyoza for the veggie kind. There was a difference of 80 cents, but instead of giving me 80 cents of change the customer service lady gave me a whole dollar. I thought that was pretty cool. After the Gyoza was taken care of, I bought the new Fear Factory record. I've only heard it a couple times all the way through and already I'm firmly convinced it's one of their best... very much a return to their original sound. It comes with a DVD of interviews and a video for free. Go buy it. They're doing testing at the high school this week, so we only had a handful of students come in today. As a result, they cancelled work for the rest of the week. I need to start looking for a new job... German word of the day: Furcht (f) - Fear
		Sunday, 4-18-04. Cool and sprinkling.
		I stayed at my folks' place on Friday in anticipation for the full drive down south to see my sister yesterday. While down there we saw my grandparents, were verbally assaulted by a short, pregnant, homeless girl, had some good Japanese food, then saw a midnight showing of Army of Darkness, complete with a Q/A session from the film's star, cult movie hero Bruce Campbell. The next day we all slept in and had breakfast at noon. On my way back through the city, I tried throwing in $5 of gas at a Shell station. This turned out to be a big mistake, as the attendant screwed up and entered $4 into the pump. I had to argue with him for about ten minutes before he finally fixed it. He didn't speak English very well, so that didn't help. I found another extra-large-sized spider meandering near my desk today. I think they're in some sort of a competition now. Briana sent me this. It's a pretty rad art site. I bought some new Vans a while back. After seeing the old ones, it's pretty clear why I needed to be a good citizen and buy a lot of stuff. German word of the day: Möbel (pl) - Furniture
		Monday, 4-12-04. Perpetually sunny and warm.
		Yes, indeed, I finally updated Über onion with two recent shots. I just came back from visiting my sister and her boyfriend over the weekend. They live way down the coast, and though the drive is a big on the lengthy side, the scenery is great. I got some interesting visuals while driving down 280, it was intense. I ended up taking 2 naps after I got back today. This was a direct result of the slightly-less-than-comfortable futon I slept on, and the whole having-to-get-up-at-7:30-am-to-meet-them-for-breakfast thing. Stop snickering, we were up watching a movie until 1 and I'm OLD. I finally ended up buying a new office chair rolling pad, as my old one as been shedding 2-square-inch sections of itself daily for the last couple of weeks. Rah. German word of the day: Herrschend - Dominant
		Saturday, 4-10-04. Perpetually sunny and warm.
		This morning, as I came out to my kitchen nook to nab breakfast, I was greeted by a surprise. Climbing slowly up the wall behind my filing cabinet was, you guessed it, Spidey. Again, I tried nabbing it in my spider-catching glass, but it flew off the wall and fell to the side of the filing cabinet, which then required me to casually use my fly-swatter to shoo it out into the open. From there, I finally got it under the glass, where I kept it until I'd finished my breakfast, just as it kept me the day before. I even took a photo (which is defracted by the glass). Then, because this is the second time I've caught this beast in my place, I released it into some grass way down the hill and around another building. The war is over. I think I might have a sinus infection or something, as it's been almost 2 weeks since I picked up my cold and I still am constantly congested and coughing. I think a trip to the doctor might be in order next week. German word of the day: Nasenloch (n) - Nostril
		Friday, 4-09-04. Perpetually sunny and warm.
		This has been a bizarre day. For some reason I slept about 10 hours last night, then was woken up by a maintenance crew unlocking the door of my apartment to check my blinds (they were checking everyone's in the complex). I had to feverishly throw on a pair of pants, then waited a good 5 minutes while everything was inspected, dazed and wondering why I slept for so long. Spidey declared war today. This afternoon I got up from my computer to make a salad, when I noticed that a 2-inch-wide black hairy spider was perched atop my collection of business cards and pens on my kitchen counter. I tried capturing it under my spider-catching glass, but the thing moved so fast I couldn't even see which way it ran. After a small search I gave up trying to save it, as it had hidden itself under my AT&T phone from the 70's. As soon as I got the vacuum nozzle within 10 inches of it, the crafy beast flew off in the direction of my desk and disappeared. I wasn't too keen on this creature climbing across my arm while I was typing up e-mails, so I unplugged my computer and slid my entire desk and filing cabinet out to try and flush the spider out. I vacuumed all the nooks and crannies and inspected every possible place the beast could've hidden itself, but came up empty on all counts. After saving the lives of countless dozens of these idiots, this is what I get? I think possibly the spider was sent from god to make me vacuum up the dust on and behind my desk. Anyway, this evening I made banana bread. I took some cool shots of the recent full moon, here's one of the more interesting ones. German word of the day: Lebewesen (n) - Living creature
		Friday, 4-2-04. Perpetually sunny and warm.
		I seem to have picked up a cold... again. This is #4 of this cold season, and hopefully my last, otherwise I may be tying or breaking my all-time record of 5 colds in a year (set the first year I worked for the college computer labs). I've been feeling odd lately regardless of the cold, feeling slower than a sloth in molasses in the mornings, and then oddly manic in the evenings. While doing some woodworking over at the folks' yesterday, I came up with a little saying: "Your skeleton keys won't work on me." I liked it, as I thought it described my personality at least partially. Just before hitting the sack, I was listening to NPR news reporting this story being run just before midnight. I thought to myself that it had to be an April Fool's joke, and this morning I discovered I was correct in assuming so. German word of the day: Shier - Sheer, pure

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