Dream of Waking

I guess my Squadron Commander couldn’t wait till the 26th for me to get there with everyone else so he wants me there today. I don’t know what I will or won’t have there so if I can’t get online on christmas eve or christmas that’ll be why. I hope everyone has a non-crappy christmas and I hope mine doesn’t suck as bad as I think it might.

So my supervisor decided that he cursed too much so he decided that everytime he cursed, he’d do 25 pushups. I thought that was kind of stupid because in my opinion, cursing isn’t a habit you have to break your addiction from. It’s a pattern of speech. It’s not a matter of punishing yourself for cursing until you don’t curse anymore, you just use a little willpower to not curse. So my roommate decides to be a douche bag and start calling out my supervisor EVERY time he cursed. And then they’d get into arguements as to whether or not the pushups were done. So my supervisor decides that no one can curse anymore without doing 25 pushups. I don’t agree to this at all. I’m an adult. I can curse if I want. I try not to but I don’t force it on myself or stress over it. Now I’m being told I have to do pushups for saying “hell” and calling someone a jackass. Well fuck that. Fuck them and their fucking stupid ass rule. If there’s one thing I hate it’s arbitrary rules to get on other people’s nerves. I don’t need a fucking punishment if I wanna call someone a jackass for being jackass. So I’ve declared my goddamn office a free speech zone. I’m not talking to anyone in my section anymore outside this office unless I absolutely have to. Fuck them. They can go to hell. FUCK

So since I’m moving soon I got to open my christmas gifts 10 days early because I’d have to pack them up and I don’t know how long it’ll be before I get to them again. Matt’s was first because it wasn’t really wrapped but that’s cool. A Necron Lord for Warhammer 40K and Sin City on DVD, bad ass. Katie probably wants to strangle him for getting me the Necron Lord and probably initiating another expensive hobby but who cares!

Then Katie’s stuff, a huge tin of altoids, a George Carlin desk calender, tiny little books of The Art of War and The Art of Peace, a t-shirt from T-shirt Hell that’s tan and says “I’d Rather Be Fighting The Man”, Warioware Twisted for my DS, and Seasons 1-3 of SEINFELD!!! Now she figures I have Seinfeld on DVD now so she’ll never see it again and it’s true, I won’t be watching for two hours every night anymore when I get home but now I can surprise her by watching it in the middle of the day, middle of the night, anytime! Whee!

Then I got to open mom and Lauri’s and grandparents’ gifts. Now things get kind of hard to remember because I had to pack them up and didn’t get to play with them for long. I got books from the grandparents, Willaim Gibson’s “Mona Lisa Overdrive”, and Dan Simmons’ “Hyperion”, “Fall of Hyperion”, and “Ilium”. Lauri got me In Flames’ “Reroute to Remain”. Mom got me Evil Dead 2 Book of the Dead edition, the Aeon Flux DVD collection, and QUAKE 4!!! And before I actually got to open my presents, Frank sent me his copy of F.E.A.R. because he didn’t like it and he’s crazy because it rules.

So I got tons of fun stuff and then I had to pack it all up again and hopefully I’ll get to get into it soon after I move. I pulled out Warioware Twisted and Mona Lisa Overdrive and Hyperion and Quake 4 so that I’d have stuff to entertain me for the time being. I’ve finished Mona Lisa Overdrive already and it was outstanding. I think I’ve beaten Warioware Twisted but the mini-games are all replayable so I’m working on unlocking some of the hidden stuff, I’ve gotten well into Quake 4 and will probably finish it soon, and I just started reading Hyperion this morning. So even though being away from everyone at christmas sucks, I’m still having a good time here and hopefully I’ll get to put up the webcam on christmas eve and see everyone else!

Oh hell. Matt, check your old emails. It’s time for the annual “find yourself bored with Everquest” event. I give myself three days of it before I’m uninstalling.

In other news, Ruby on Rails has got me in a creative mood. Hopefully I’ll do something worth while before it passes.

If I’m REALLY enjoying this Postal Service CD (Give Up), does that make me a hipster?

http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/silenthill/

Why isn’t this out yet?!?! Why don’t I own a private copy? Why don’t I have an enormous movie theater to watch it in? WHY IS IT BEING RELEASED WHILE I’M IN IRAQ?!

(broken image link)
PS. I look awful.
PPS. Expect webcam hilarity in the future.

So all week all I’ve listened to at work and off work is Coheed & Cambria. I downloaded their discography before I left the states and never gave it much time but now that I’m spending large periods of time in my office working on various issues, I can give it a proper evaluation. But first, some poorly educated history. I know nothing of this band than what I’ve read from some Amazon CD reviews and a fansite http://www.cobaltandcalcium.com/. They’re described as a progressive rock band with emo-punk tendancies whose records tell an elaborate dark sci-fi story. Sounds lame right? I think the story is kind of hokey and the lead singer wrote himself in as the MAIN CHARACTER which is even more hokey but whatever.

Their first CD “The Second Stage Turbine Blade” is actually the second chapter of the five-part epic and kind of lacking. It’s not terrible but nothing really stands out. It makes good background noise and it doesn’t offend my tastes. If I were to hear that CD and base my opinion solely on it, I’d say I wasn’t a fan.

“In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth:3″ however, is MUCH better. It’s epic (the shortest song comes in at 3:54) and complex, with a couple of the longer songs changing timing and theme more than once within the song. And it’s full of upbeat tempos set to rather dark lyrics. I like this kind of CD because you catch new subtle nuances in the songs everytime you listen to them. However I don’t know what to think about my favorite song on the CD being the “hidden” track “21:13″. “21:13″ is the reason I listened to the CD over and over before moving on. I had to make sure I was listening to the same band.

“Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume 1: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness” has to be one of the longest CD titles EVER. I haven’t really listened to this one “in detail”. Like I have IKSSE:3. I mean I’ve had it playing while I was doing some work and nothing really stuck out but I’ve got hope. Once I’m tired of IKSSE:3 I’ll probably play the hell out of “Good Apollo”. I love how it starts though, a cleaner violin and piano rendition of “Second State Turbine Blade” that transitions into a rendition of the opening to “Time Consumer” called “Keeping the Blade”. It’s rather good.

So I guess what I’m saying is I like Coheed & Cambria.

So I was promoted last night from Private First-Class to Specialist. Hurray for more money and rank that’s beginning to reflect my level of responsibility (BEGINNING)! Now I begin the uphill climb to E-5 so I can drop my warrant packet and hopefully make WO1 within the next couple years.