Gnarler's Blog - October, 2003

		Friday, 10-31-03. Sprinkling and cool
		Once again, it's time to break out the pants... the season has finally changed. We got a cold front that came in last night, apparently originating in the Gulf of Alaska. It's quite chilly, sprinkling rain, and it's damned beautiful. The frostiness of the air hits you as soon as you go outside, bringing hints of wood smoke from recently dusted-off fireplaces around town. It's Halloween, and the weather has finally brought something other than unbridled sun and temperatures in the upper 80's. Primarily because of the weather, however, the trick-or-treat situation was abysmal this year. I went over to my folks' place to help pass out candy, but we didn't have a single person come by all evening. I've been meaning to write new blog entires for weeks, but, to mirror my general mood this month, I've just felt horribly uninspired to elaborate on my notes. Suffice to say, I finished my bookshelf on the 12th, on the 17th I saw Bubba-Ho-Tep with a co-worker in the theater, this is too good to be true, and Jack Elam will be missed. German word of the day: Langfristig - Long-term
		Friday, 10-10-03. Perpetually sunny and warm
		I tried to save a fast-moving little red spider yesterday afternoon, but my next door neighbor walked by as I was outside trying to get it out of the glass I trapped it in. I hadn't met my neighbor yet, so my attention went to him for a brief moment. During that second or two that I was distracted, the glass rolled over on its side and crushed the spider. Fucking hell... stupid. I did, however, manage to expel a large black one that was settling into my kitchen towel cabinet this evening. I've been surviving my grand experiment well. As a result of not having cable (and inexplicably not being able to recieve any of the network stations) I've spent considerably more time listening to the radio, surfing the net, and reading. I've also been eating well, and even rode my bike to the market to get a new watch band, as well as a water spray bottle for my new cactus. The bookshelf project is almost complete. I hand-drilled about a hundred shelf peg holes over the last couple of evenings, and tonight I nailed on the backing board. If all goes well I'll be spraying on a couple clear coats of lacquer over the weekend and it will be done by Monday. Then I can actually start unpacking some of my books, the boxes of which are taking up most of my living room. German word of the day: Kaktee (f) - Cactus Creatures relocated from my apartment today: 1 spider
		Tuesday, 10-7-03. Perpetually sunny and warm
		Arnold won... sucks. All I can say is at least he's a moderate... I got my digital camera's flashcard reader to work on my folks' computer the other day. This means there might actually be some fresh examples of my incredibly amateur photography posted in the residues section in the near future. German word of the day: Armut (f) - Poverty Creatures relocated from my apartment today: 1 spider
		Monday, 10-6-03. Perpetually sunny and warm
		My brief excursion to the homeland last weekend was nice, though a bit rushed. Lack of sleep and endless driving/flying aside, my friends' wedding on the coast was quite the event. Visualize a celtic folk band, Mandarin formal wear, and the wedding party arriving in an Arabian-style decorated pickup truck. The fog on the drive back was so thick you could almost take a bite out of it, and though my sister isn't the best driver, we did make it back to town intact. I was also jazzed to hang out with the crew a bit, though I wish my appearances could've been more frequent and lengthy. The brunch-that-should-have-been-lunch was memorable, as was Cherz kicking supreme ass with land mines on the X-box at a late-night CHS convergence. Since I've been back, I put some work into my bookshelf, drilling the shelf pin holes for one of the sides, as well as finishing the fashionably late 5th shelf. After getting home and settling in tonight, I was re-visited by an elusive spider that plagued my computer nook last week. Strangely enough, just as I nabbed the beast under a glass, another appeared on a neighboring wall. Additionally, just a moment ago I found yet a third arachnid, intrepedly climbing the wall behind my desk. All were successfully transplanted back into the wild. German word of the day: Kugel (f) - Ball, bullet Creatures relocated from my apartment today: 3, all spiders
		Thursday, 10-2-03. Partly cloudy and warm
		Ah, those snippets of life that define existence. Since I got my own place again, I've discovered on numerous occasions that, living by myself, there are many things I'm going to have to re-learn. Most of these things involve food and the reality of passing time when one is busy. For instance: Bacon only lasts about a week after being opened, oranges only last about 5 days unrefrigerated before turning into masses of mold, bakery rolls only last a week before turning into rocks, and salads and fruit are good to eat. I didn't eat very well living with my folks, at least in regards to having a balanced diet. On average, I've been relocating to the outdoors about 1 or 2 spiders or large bugs a day since I moved in here. I'm not entirely sure where they're coming from, but most of them I've found in the kitchen. Today I found a spider and a cricket... and in some cultures finding a cricket in your home means good luck. So now that I've had my bike stolen, I've got good fortune on my side? I'm glad to have a blog now that I'm on my own again, as last time I lived by myself I didn't really write much about the experience itself and the quirky particulars. I was probably too busy trying to figure out how I would be able to afford eating on $50 for a month... German word of the day: Erinnerung (f) - Memory

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