I still don’t know what happened to them. I remember wearing them while driving to Applebee’s for lunch, and then not wearing them on the way into Wal-Mart afterward. The three most likely possibilities are that we left them at Applebees, I dropped them in the Wal-Mart parking lot somehow, or Sarah threw them out the window onto the street to be trampled in the traffic. Sarah strongly denies the last option, but I think she might have been jealous, supposing I loved those gloves more than I love her.

So, I have new gloves. They’re the same style, but different colors. The old were black and grey, the new are brown and grey. It didn’t seem right to buy an identical pair, you see. It would have been disrespectful to my old gloves.

In other news, I’ve been practicing the guitar. I’m getting pretty bad at it, but I suppose that’s better than terrible. I still prefer the bass, though. Yeah. Anyway.

I have nothing else to say to you.

Thanksgiving Tree!

Our Thanksgiving Tree, posted for Lehsa

Anyway.

It’s September now. Sarah and I have been married for over a year. It’s funny, though, it feels like we’ve always been married. Maybe I just block out too much of my life. I wonder what it would be like to remember things…

We’re going on vacation from the 15th to the 26th. Except, we’re not actually going anywhere. We’re just taking off work for two weeks. Earlier this year we decided our vacation would be buying a Wii and taking time off to play. I think that means we need to buy some new games in the next few weeks. I wish somebody would pawn their copy of Super Mario Galaxy so we could buy it cheap, like how we got Super Paper Mario. I don’t really want to pay fifty bucks for a video game.

Sometimes I wonder if my life would have been better had I gone to college. And by better, I mean, um, in the future, as I would have only just graduated a few months ago… ugh. Horrid idea. I don’t know why I hate school so much, but I do. I’m smart, I like learning, I write well, and for what classes I did take I have a 4.0… but the idea of taking classes all day and having papers and projects due, and getting loans and having to work part-time jobs instead of having one full-time job… it was too much for me.

Of course, the big thing was picking a major. I have no idea what kind of job I want. I work with computers right now, but I don’t know if that’s the kind of career I would want to study for. What does a Bachelor’s degree in computer science get you, anyway? If my brothers who had theirs at 19 are any indicator, the answer is debt and a Pizza Hut car topper.

I’ve considered joining the army, but the idea of the army I’ve had for so long doesn’t really fit with who I am. I’m not much of an out doors person, and I don’t really want to shoot anyone. I mean, yeah, only a fraction of the armed forces actually is in combat, I could easily be support troop, but somehow it seems like it would be wrong to join the army with the intent of not being a soldier. Then, of course, there’s the issue of it being a giant pay cut.

Sigh.

It’s not like we’re having money problems or anything. Sarah and I have no debt, we’ve got plenty in savings, and we’re both working steady jobs. But, we want to buy a house and have kids. Buying a house isn’t really a problem, as we would just switch from paying rent to making payments on a house. But, having kids would mean we would need to get medical insurance, which neither of our jobs supply, and Sarah and I both want her to be able to stay home with the kids until they’re old enough for school, which would mean less income.

Sometimes I wish we had state-provided health care like in Canada… but then I remember that I really don’t. Ok, ok, revised wish: I wish all our local downtown businesses would form some sort of a union so they could provide health benefits at a reasonable rate. If that would work. I don’t know.

Well, back to work I go.

Anyway, life is good. The boss family is out of town for three weeks (next week is the last week without them) so the office has been pretty relaxing. Good stuff, good stuff.

We picked up Super Paper Mario at a pawn shop the other week for $25. Even though I loved Paper Mario Thousand Year Door, for some reason I wasn’t expecting too much from Super Paper Mario, but… it’s great! I realized after playing for a bit that it wasn’t just Paper Mario with the word “Super” on it, but it’s actually, like, the love child of Super Mario and Paper Mario. Yep, good ol’ fashioned side-scrolling platform-jumping shell-kicking Super Mario action, now combined with Paper Mario to make it crazy good!

Yeah, so, Mario 64’s been being neglected. Even though I’ve made a nice bit of progress, it’s just… not so hot. It’ll probably be a while before I finish it.

So anyway, I was looking online for easter eggs or whatever for Mario Sunshine, and I learned about this thing called “Action Replay” that everyone besides me probably already knew about. I kind of want to get it to see some of the weird stuff it can apparently make available in different games, but I fear it would be a purchase too much like SimAnt or SimCopter which I got a few months ago and haven’t really touched since the week I got them. You know, some things just SEEM like a really great idea, but then… aren’t.

The Blahnimation is back! Now all his fans may rejoice once more for his glorious mood swings.

I’m getting the ac in my truck fixed, and it’s gonna cost around $300… just for air. Ah well, if I ever sell it, the buyer will want air. I should probably get it painted, too… and, you know, actually wash it and get it waxed or whatever after that. If only my papa had been alive long enough to teach me how to take care of a car… oh, wait, he was alive. Hmm.

We missed The Middleman Monday. We need to watch that online so we’ll be ready for the next one. It’s a pretty gosh-darn rootin’-tootin’ good show, if I do say so myself.

…and that’s all for now!

Alright, so, here’s the deal: …um, ok, there’s not really a deal. Sorry.

So, Sarah and I got a Wii! Whoo! I mean, whee! Err… wii! Um. I don’t know. So far the only real Wii game we’ve got is Mario Kart Wii, but we’ve also got a bunch of old Nintendo stuff on Virtual Console, like Super Mario Bros 1-3, Super Mario World, and Super Mario 64. I keep telling myself I’m gonna finish Mario 64 before we buy Mario Galaxy. The problem is, I played Mario Sunshine before Mario 64, so the 64 bitness is a downgrade to me, rather than an upgrade from the ol’ flat Nintendo games of yesteryear (and todayear for the portable systems).

Which reminds me, I was on Nintendo’s website the other day, and I saw that you can get Myst for the DS. At first I was like wha? until I realized it’s actually realMYST minus half the name and the pink box. It’s nice to know Myst is still alive somehow.

Tomorrow is the 4th of July Eve, so it’s a Thursday Friday! So Sarah and I are going with Bill, Pixy, Brad and Libby to Olive Garden and to see Hancock. Yay for Italian food and Will Smith!

Today I logged onto MySpace to send a message to a former coworker only to find… she wasn’t on my friends list anymore! So, naturally, I assumed she must have lost her account somehow. Imagine my shock to find that she still had an account… but apparently removed me as a friend! Needless to say I’m still recovering from that one.

Oh, I never got around to mentioning it on here, but, thank you, Paradox, for pointing out the Google badware thing about my blog. I didn’t even realize there was a problem until you mentioned it. And, even though I already thanked you in Cyan Chat, I figured I’d reward you with the fame and fanfare associated with being mentioned in my blog. Ta-da!

Speaking of movies (a few paragraphs ago) Sarah and I saw Indiana Jones, which was pretty good; Prince Caspian, which was ok; Kung Fu Panda, which was tremendous; and Wall-e, which makes me feel happy in a way I don’t quite understand (ooh, creepy!).

Ok, well, I’m out of time to blog right now. Oh, speaking of blog, whaddayathink about the new design? Eh? Eh?

For some reason, lately I’ve found myself not really having anything to say. I don’t know why. I think it may have to do with being married. I used to write a lot of stuff about how desperate and lonelyto25 I was. I also wrote whatever I happened to be thinking about that day. Now I just say stuff when I think about it.

Well, let’s see… what’s some stuff I’ve said lately…

I want to learn to play chords on the guitar. I’ve been able to do notes for, like… a long, long time. I’ve been playing bass for a couple years now. I’ve had plenty of people think I could play the guitar. One kid even asked if I could teach him how. Still… I can’t really play the guitar.

I printed off a simple chord chart before I left work Friday. I took it home and tried playing a few chords. Like, one at a time. And couldn’t really do ‘em. In one of them, either C or F, it shows 1st, 2nd, and 6th string being held down on the first fret. Am I supposed to do that with one finger while I hold the other three frets for the other strings with my other fingers? Really? I couldn’t get that to work… and I have no idea if I was even pressing on the strings with the right fingers, or with the right parts of my fingers.

I should just do the unthinkable and actually (gulp) take lessons. I wonder what guitar teachers charge. I also wonder if my music appreciation teacher gives lessons in Leavenworth or if he only does that in whatsthattownsname where he lives. I also wonder how long it would take to memorize the zillions of chords there are. I also wonder if I would resent myself for not being more specific on chord sheets I’ve typed for the bass. I also wonder if any feeble-minded bass players have ever gone into a Bass Pro Shop, bought strings, and tried to put them on their bass. So many questions…

We need to actually do stuff with other people. Sarah and I, I mean. We used to hang out every week with Brad and Libby, but they’re, like, trying to get an education or something. Like this world isn’t too educated as it is! Well. Ok, so maybe an education’s a good thing.

I told Michael, like, a month ago that we were going to invite him and Susan over for dinner sometime, and we… never have. It’s like, I don’t want to invite them until we know what to make. And when I say we, I mean Sarah, ‘cuz I mainly make breakfast foods and stew. Stew is good, don’t get me wrong, but I dunno if it’s appropriate to invite people over for dinner and say, well, here’s stew… and bread… I dunno.

I found a recipe the other week, and with it Sarah made a pretty good chicken scaloppini. I guess we could do that. I know we all like Italian food, anyway.

Having friends as an adult is so weird. It’s almost like you have to have same-aged kids to be friends with a couple. Otherwise it’s like… oh hey, you’ve got kids… and we don’t. I mean… I dunno. Our apartment isn’t really too kid-friendly, so it’s hard to invite friends with kids over and have them bring their kids. Going out places is kind of hard to do with kids as all the out-places to go are at least 25 minutes away, and you can’t really just leave the kids one place and do stuff once there, you have to tote them around and stuff. So, if we can’t do stuff here, and we can’t do stuff out, then the only place left is at the couple-with-kids’s home, and there’s no good way to invite yourself over to somebody else’s home unless you already visit frequently.

Frequency, that’s another thing. It’s all fine and dandy when you’re already established friends with someone and you ask whenever if they want to go wherever and they say whatever. When you don’t know someone as well, though, it’s, like, awkward.

Maybe it’s just all social interaction altogether I have a problem with. It’s like, every time I see anyone I know, I need Jiminy Cricket whispering in my ear what standard social procedure is. Yeesh.

Well, that’s all the blogging for tonight. I need sleep.

Bullet point summary:

• The jury found me innocent on all charges
• I found my car right where I left it, in Mexico City
• My modeling career is really taking off
• My twin brother got a scar on his face, so people are no longer confusing us

Hmm, I desire… to write a blog post! I’ve tried several times since my last one, but to no avail… but, I trust the fortune cookie manufacturers’ writers whims, so I know, today is the day.

Fortune cookie from a week or two ago: “Rely on long time friends to give you advice.” … with the popular addendum, “in the bathroom.”

This actually happened at my wedding. Sort of. At the reception most of the “it’s your wedding day, so here’s some advice” bits I got were in the men’s room. Of course, they weren’t all exactly “long-time” relations or “friends” (not to say they were enemies, but they held somewhat different, but still positive positions in my life) but they were giving me advice in the bathroom.

Men should hang out in the bathroom more like women do. Like in that episode of NewsRadio.

Anyway, life is good. For my birthday last month (yes, you forgot) Sarah–and by Sarah, I mean I myself acting on Sarah’s behalf–got me–myself–a couple of GameCube games (oh, right, we have a GameCube now, since David and Lois got it for us for Christmas), namely MegaMan Anniversary Edition (all the old games!), Paper Mario Thousand Year Door (haven’t played it yet) and the crown jewel of the collection, Super Mario Sunshine.

As you can tell from the whole “crown jewel” comment, I really like Mario Sunshine. Really. When I read the description of it (stuff about cleaning up graffiti) I thought it might be kind of lame (what is this, Sister Act the videogame??) but when the two Mario games arrived and this was the one not sealed in plastic, I decided I’d play it first, and it turned out to be the best decision I’ve made in my entire life (except for the ones that were better).

I know it’s an old game now, but, to me, it’s New City. It’s pretty rockin’ awesome, with sweet real-time 3d graphics (the water is pretty), plenty of fun-and-funny interactive NPCs (Non-Playing Characters, for the formerly-ignorant), a variety of missions (from easy to cat-throwingly difficult), and that great-ol’ underlying Mario theme; save the princess! It’s the feel-good (or feel-terrible if you’re stuck) game of the… um… right now.

Anyway.

My wife and I recently agreed to lead the 5th and 6th graders’ group at church. It should be interesting, seeing as there’s never been a group for that age group before, and we don’t even know how to refer to it (children’s church is little kids, youth group is older kids, what do you call this? Tween’s Group??). But, it’s all good. At least, it should be. Hopefully we’ll actually be good at it, and won’t be remembered as part of a long list of failed group-leaders as the youth group boasted back when Sarah and I were in it, before the current (awesome) leaders stepped up (yes, I end sentences with prepositions at).

Well, time to get back to work. The wide world of price guides won’t survive with me on lunch all day.

Or would it? (dun dun dun)

I wish they had, like many others have, release notes easily accessible from the page where you download the new version. I’d like to know what the big difference is.

Anyway, for lunch today, I had a half chicken parmesan from Mr Goodcents that my wife brought me. She’s not working today because there’s tons of snow outside. Now I’m drinking some soda, I believe it’s cola. I don’t know.

I haven’t updated much lately. I really have had no idea what to write about.

Ben was born last month. That was pretty rad.

Uh, Myst Online is shutting down. Yeah, lots of posts about that. How do I feel? Um… not suprised, really. Uru just… isn’t that awesome as a subscribtion-based game.

Of course, I wasn’t part of Myst Online this last time around, but I imagine it was muchly the same as the first time, just with a little bit of extra content. A new place to explore here and there, some episode action once a month, yeah, yeah, sure. But, really, if I were to somehow download a copy of what’s available now, I doubt it would last long.

Honestly, I liked the expansion pack idea. Yes, yes, I wish we could all still meet online with our expansion packs. It was lonely in D’ni with nobody there (hehe, I made a pun!)… but at least it was game, y’know?

I remember the excitement of new ages being released back in Choru. It was great, yeah… but after a while, new small areas just don’t do it for you much. It was the big updates that were rad. New ages full of puzzles, that kind of thing. Extra corners of D’ni, honestly, blew. It’s like… oh, hey… I couldn’t go inside this building before.. oh, look… some tables… and stairs… and blockades.

To be even more honest, whenever new content said hello, socializing said goodbye. No more “Hey, chum, let’s play some ahyoheek!,” but, instead, outta my way, I’ve got exploring to do!

Who really wants somebody else solving the puzzles for them, anyway? Or telling them what’s around that next corner? Or pressing the buttons before you? Not me.

Myst 5 rocked. It was buggy, though. But apparently only for me. I would draw random stuff and it would solve the age for me. I got across one place once and it all went like ba-ZAM and it was done. But it was fun.

Wandering around Uru waiting for new stuff to show up, and then finally getting a little tiny bit to do… that’s not fun. I’m the kind of guy who waits for the show to finish the season and then gets the DVDs. I don’t like having my entertainment rationed out for me.

I dunno. This is just what showed up on the screen when I started typing. I’m not looking to write a book about what Uru should be or anything.

Thoughts?