Hey. Been mega-isolated, even from 'net stuff. Just trading and going to the gym. For those that don't know... I don't work a regular job and thus my "schedule" is pretty subjective and floats depending on intl. market times & news and whatever goofball scheme I'm using at the time. I come up with little routines and things but they're very fragile and cascade into a total mess whenever I miss my "sleep window" and then a week goes by and I'm all "hurr hurr lol wut?".
Whatever that means - I've been pretty oblivious the past few weeks. Anyways, so for my birthday, D. got us both set up with the startup fees at the big chain gym that's miraculously in the ground floor of our building and that's been like the coolest birthday present ever. She likes the classes and I'm super stoked 'cuz I haven't been a member at a real gym with a squat rack and lots of free weights in a very long time. I've just been gimping along w/whatever and now I'm excited to be making progress. My shins are scraped up from deadlifts and I sweat like a pig. Totally fun.
Been watching some Star Trek I guess (original) and saw a play ("Boeing Boeing") and a musical (the ABBA one) with D., thanks to her work connections.
Following this story from a few days ago, which could be huge:
"Brain researchers for the first time claim to have found a method for improving the general problem-solving ability scientists call fluid intelligence, otherwise known as "smarts."
Fluid intelligence was previously thought to be genetically hard-wired, but the finding suggests that with about 25 minutes of rigorous mental training a day, healthy adults could improve their mental capacities."
So these guys are claiming that their training with "n-back" tests (a memory test) is improving general IQ. If so, it's freakin' amazing.
Hey. Quickly. cDc has a new app. out, Goolag Scanner. It came out last week and I don't know the d/l numbers yet but it seems to be doing well. Today it's on Drudge Report; I think that's a first for us.
My trading is going a little better since I'm concentrating on scalping. Also just managed to finish a bunch of big fat books in the past week... Home Comforts (domestic reference), Bullfinch's Mythology, Rules of Play (game design) and an anthology of H.P. Lovecraft stories. Saw some good movies: 8 1/2 and Tokyo Story (both old classics) and a newer one, Charlie Wilson's War. Last week, Oxblood Ruffin was in town to meet w/a client and we visited a bit. Otherwise, just grinding.
A graphic designer’s pulsating wet dream of fire... and ICE!
"Tasteful" is the new watchword for today. Hope you enjoy my new, refined color schemes!
The Egyptian Lover - "Freak-A-Holic"
D. is back home from India, and I'm thrilled! We celebrated by going to the DMV for new license plates. Walking on the way back home, we stopped in at the International House of Pancakes to discuss foreign policy with Henry Kissinger, but he wasn't in. So we settled for eating instead. It's pretty awesome to be in walking distance of IHOP. Go NYC! We've resumed the watching of the X-Files episodes that follow the storyline of the reptilian-crossbreed space babies. There sure are a lot of them, dang. Then we have to refresh on the Rambo series. Wouldn't wanna come in to the new one unprepared, ya know. Might need the backstory.
I've triumphantly returned to mostly solid foods, though I've taken a liking to these Slim-Fast chocolate cans so they'll continue to reside in the fridge and in my tummah.
My work day is about to start, so I gotta go pay attention to some squiggly lines. See ya!
Garfield is shit, but this is awesome! Stick with it 'til the music; I promise:
More of the same. Up all night, sleep all day. Living on Slim-Fast, Ensure and yogurt. Go back home to NYC on Wed. and then D. comes home from India that weekend. Holy crap; can't wait.
Working my way through the Apple Logic sequencer manual. 'bout 500 pages down and 500 to go. Hoping to get it done before I head back. These massive books can be kind of a downer... I'd like to read something short soon to mix it up a bit.
Let Judas Priest teach you how to wield a guitar properly
Judas Priest - "Breaking the Law" (1980)
What's really great about this video is how they rob the bank. Using guns? No, they use the power of their ace rock poses. They're demonstrating the proper way to wield a stringed instrument - as a phallus/weapon. Spraying their musical seed/bullets at the audience in a melodic money shot of perpetual glory. Bonus points for the "O" face, natch.
If you're in a band and doing a show, it's good to strap the instrument as low as you can and still play. Ideally, it's centered over your crotch to make your thrusting as natural as possible. Most store-bought guitar straps aren't made to go that low, as they're marketed to musical eunuchs... so you may need to improvise. I have an aircraft seatbelt with straplocks on it that works perfectly; it came from a thrift store.
I'm in Lubbock for the next week, just sitting around my folks' house and 'recovering' from some oral surgery. Can't eat anything but Slim-Fast type drink things. They're ok, but man... staying inside and drinking those things all day gets pretty old. D. is in India for work and I miss her tons. I finished reading _Don't Know Much About Mythology_ by Davis which was an ok introduction but the author wallowed around too much in hyper-PC touchiness. Just summarize the damn stories and save the guilt complex for your shrink, please. Now I'm reading Vernor Vinge's _Rainbow's End_ which is pretty snazzy so far - it won the Hugo award for Best Sci-Fi novel for last year. Also working on learning Apple's Logic sequencer and trading all night, as usual.
Hey, so it's after 4am and I'm about to go to sleep but wanted to write a lil' something here. Just finished posting the yearly Christmas blog entry on the cDc site with some pictures; check it out.
D.'s got a few days off from work and I'm taking a break so we're hanging out together, just doing what we want. Pretty rare and much appreciated. We wanted to see the various Christmas markets around town last night so we went out but the weather went crazy and it was raining and super windy. We saw this one giant decorated tree looking like it was gonna blow over. But we stopped in a bar & grill and got some BBQ (pulled pork sandwich!!) so hooray for that. We also bought a pack of Hostess Twinkees from a newstand which were freakin' fantastic. Neither of us had bought Twinkees in years; highly recommended. We played Carnival Games on the Wii which is pretty neat; full of mini-games, including Skee-Ball.
The day before, we watched a ton of X-Files and some of the new Bionic Woman, and we've been working out together in the gym.
Today (Christmas Eve Day), we built a gingerbread house and went to St. Bart's for Midnight-ish (11pm) Mass. That's a big Byzantine-style Episcopalian church on the East side; it was packed, and the sermon was excellent. Then we subwayed back home and had hot chocolate. D. is new to midnight masses, and she liked it. I'd never gone to one before I moved here to NYC, but I think it's a really cool experience. I like to go, and then you get out around 12:30am and maybe I grab a hot dog or something from a street cart guy and stroll around midtown in the cold night air, just thinking for the next hour or so. It's a great opportunity to reflect on things.
Later today after sleeping will be cooking. Maybe visit some neighbors.
I'm having a great time... this is the coolest holiday in a long while, for sure. It's really great to be doing things together and coming up with our own traditions. Man, I enjoy that.
Two of my favorite Christmas music things:
"Coventry Carol" from the 1500s, about the Massacre of the Innocents:
"Christmas in Hollis" by Run-DMC, 1987: "It's Christmas time, in Hollis, Queens Mom's cooking chicken and collard greens"
Highlights: D. and I drove last weekend out to Boston to Dildog and his wife Stacy's holiday party thing. That was really fun, and then we got stuck in town by the snowstorm that night so we stuck around another day. Jason Scott and Nicole took us out for really good Mexican food. Saw Javaman & Sophie, Biot, Binary, Weld Pond, Oliver, Deb, and a mess of other folks. Dildog played me some of his recent music that we'll be releasing soon; good stuff.
After setting up our Christmas tree, we put a buncha blankets on the floor next to it and had a picnic and made & decorated cookies and watched the Muppet Christmas Carol with red wine.
Listening to Bob Dylan's _Blonde on Blonde_ LP right now. Man, I'll never get used to that guy's voice.
D.'s got the next few days off 'til Christmas so we'll go out & about in the city. Me; I'm just trading all day(s) and trying not to go stir-crazy.
Check out the cDc site; we've got new stuff up every weekday in December.
