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Never forget that there

SO…there we were. Saturday night, not so much to do in this small town we call home. Crazy kids out looking for some adventure. In what way did our deepest wishes materialize, you might ask? Thats right folks, ghost hunting. Together with a group of friends, (Jen, Shannon, Chris Jackson, Ian, Nick, Erik,Bryon, my apologies if I am forgetting anyone) we set out from Ians house in search of some ghosts. Now..were not talking your mothers Casper the friendly ghost. NO, certainly not. The urge, the need, our hunger, that evening, was to be scared shitless. We wanted it all, open graves, spooky muzak, the works. Our first location looked promising. Old abandoned farmhouse, occultic symbols drawn on the walls in something looking suspiciously like blood, or kool-aid. But it was not to be, unfortunatly. Mere minutes after we arrived, a car drove up and the man driving announced “this is private property, you need to clear out of here” A bit dissapointed we pile back into our respective vehicles. And yet, in the back of my mind, I try to recall, was there anyone behind the wheel of that mystery car that has convienently dissapeared into the distance?

We pull over to the side of 90th street west, roughly between H and I. Our next target is located nearby, placed in the middle of an abandoned onion field. After much deliberation, we grab our flashlights and head out into the unknown.. Let me just say, underwhelming. While I was imagining werewolves dripping blood from a mouth filled to the brim with razor sharp teeth, the harsh truth was that this was a tweekers hangout. Spooky! Down the road we head. But what was that? a light on the side of the road? We turn around, and park on the soft dirt shoulder. Off a bit, in the distance, we see three, no..four men/boys/fantasy nerds. Ian at this point, decides he will be the first to greet them, and dives headlong into the indigenous brush, (tumbleweeds) only to find himself waist deep in the thorny beasts, and in need of a rescue. The rest of us, thankfull for ians haste, having saved us the surprise that found him, found a clear path around to them. It turns out, the four of them are ghost hunters as well. Their leader, a mountain of a boy named Ken, sporting a glow-in-the-dark Ankh of life around his neck, could apparently “sense” spirits. When asked how he had acquired this “power” we were informed that his father has a PhD in ParaPsychology, and he was “raised” on this stuff, so he just CAN. Right Ken…Right.. So now, we find our party heavier by four, and apparently, in the middle of an abandoned insane asylum. I claw my way around it, and find a jar of hoof and nail cream, clearly pointing back to the insane asylum theory. Ken and his posse tell us about a haunted house out in Quartz Hill, so we all pile back into the cars and head out. After a brisk walk downhill and some ungodly angle I cannot remember, we come to the house which, upclose, looks as though its in the middle of a renovation. Bravely, we enter. A short tour of the house, with a super scary “flashlights off” 10 seconds in the basement, and we find ourselves back outside. But suddenly, Ken feels something. Its either spirits or heart burn, so we head back in, quick on the heels of these souls with nothing better to do that flit around houses. Ken gets quiet… “Over there…No wait, now its over here, take a picture right there” And what did the picture reveal? YES! A red dot! clearly the work of the devil, or some other such vengeful spirit. This goes on for a short while, though I quickly lost interest. Everyone is getting tired, much to much excitement for one night. We all head back to our vehicles and call it a night. But, I think I can speak for all of us here, we will not..no…CANNOT forget this night. Its memories seared into our frontal lobes like the branding of a albino cow. We have lived through this, together. We have achieved. Just another night in the town of Lancaster..

So today I had to go in to my father’s office to work on copiers and I finally figured out why I hate working on said machines. OK here goes:

It’s really fucking boring.

That’s all, nothing more. It isn’t the grease or the burns or the sliced up hands it’s just the boredom. The mind numbing nature of the work is more than I can stand. Nothing ever changes; it’s always the same. Something breaks and I already know the solution before I get there. There is nothing left to learn.

I remember when I worked on Microsoft’s front line. From day one I was learning new things about products I had used and finding out about thing I didn’t know existed. I moved up quickly as I absorbed all there was to know. Then one day I found myself searching for something, anything new. I was like a junkie looking for a fix and it was at that very moment that I stopped caring about that job. There was nothing new to learn so it held no meaning.

When I think about it that way it kind of scares me. Will I ever find a place where I will always feel challenged? Is there a job out there that one can never really master? Who knows, but I’ll keep looking and tell you if I find it.

It’s 2:13 on Monday morning. Very still and quiet save for the continuous buzzing of the dryer as it reminds us that the clothes are done. I hate dryers like that. One’s that when set on auto-dry keep going after the load is done, buzzing every two minutes.

In any case I can’t seem to sleep at all (and it would seem I’m not the only one as somebody just put in a new load of laundry). I’m not particularly anxious about my test later today although I am excited. I did nap a bit but it was very brief and I got woken up several times. So why can’t I sleep?

I think it’s because today I decided that I really wanted an iPod. That may seem like a really stupid reason to be awake this late (early?) so let me explain. The iPod retails for $399.00, which means that I have to be making a ton of money to be able to afford one. This of course means a good job that I don’t hate. The “don’t hate” part is key because if the job sucks then I’ll have a hard time not filling my life with petty distraction to try and feel better. For the first time in my life this feels like a real possibility.

At this moment I feel like I’m on the verge of finally doing what I’ve wanted to all my life, namely working in IT. I’ve done phone support before but that always seemed disconnected from the real world. Like working on theoretical problems for imaginary people. But to actually go to a location, talk face to face with some one, and then fix their problem is something (for me) that defies description. I’ve gotten a bit of that feeling over the last couple of months while working my own business but since I wasn’t getting enough work to fill a day then the whole thing seemed disjointed and flimsy. Now that a job that entails doing what I’ve done all my life has come in to view I feel alive. I want to learn and work and create again. I’ve picked up my MCSE books again and have attacked them with a new sense of urgency and hunger.

So how does this relate to the iPod? With a full time job fixing computers that has the opportunity for education and advancement I believe that goals like this are within reach. Maybe not for a while but definitely visible on the horizon. There are a lot of other things that need to be taken care off first but with things like the iPod in mind I can start setting goals and working to achieve them (it’s not my only goal (and by no means the most important) but it’s useful for this illustration).

So wish me luck today and I’ll let you all know when I get my iPod. ^_^

So I’ve decided to enter this contest and if I win I’ll get to drive a Subaru STI with 1000 HP in drag race events. Not to mention it’s a salaried position for a year and I’d get a full scholarship to the NHRA Drag Racing School.

My chances are slim but I figure it would be worth it to say I at least tried.

So thus far I

Several years ago Volition released a promo video for their game Summoner. It consisted of several of the in game models playing D&D and acting like stereotypical nerds (it also had some oddball character model from Red Faction). Both games (Red Faction and Summoner) had an advanced level of suck attached to them but the video was pretty funny.

So anyway there

I just read that Princess Maker 4 will be coming to the PS2 in 2005.

Kurtz should be ecstatic.

I think I need some kind of desktop notation system where I can drag and drop link then annotate them.

Anyway, here