Short

“We have to go now” is the last thing I remember hearing him say.  I made my excuses and we giggled our way out to the car congratulating ourselves on escaping the party without fuss.  Huddling toward each other in the car while the heater slowly melted away the condensation I stroked the soft skin between his knuckles.  It was the softest place on his body and I tended to hover over it so much that occasionally he had to reclaim his hand from my fondling caress.  He sighed in relaxation and I leaned in to kiss him.  He gave me a loving peck and then buckled his seatbelt and we were off.  Gazing up into the starry night, I was in my own world of flittering friends.  Half way through our ten minute trip home we were turning left when it happened.  What actually happened I don’t know.  All I remember was noise.  The loudest banging, screeching drawl I have ever heard.  I next heard the beeping of the monitor of my heart slowly racing faster as I grew conscious and began to piece together what must have happened. 

Dream

I had this really weird dream involving my friend Kevin last night. He pops up out of nowhere and I was like, "Hey I haven't seen you in forever," (which is true) and he says, "Yeah, but come here I have to show you this server room..." 

And so we're sneaking along the back of a computer room, much like a computer lab from college or something you'd see in a low-budget movie. And we make it through fairly easily and get to the door where the server room is and open the door and it's like the door into giant space.

And then for some reason we are popped back out to the exterior of the lab and have to go back through the back wall area again and there are all of these monitors and cables hanging down that are tangled up and in the way and it's difficult to get through. Especially since we apparently aren't supposed to be back there.

Anyway, finally we get through it and there are these bubbles floating around at the end and going toward the door (like the ones you blow with a wand).

And then the door opens and there's this GIANT hamster. It's cute and not terribly threatening.

And then it reaches out its arms and at the end are lobster claws. But not red or shell-like. They're still hairy and fleshy like hamster, but in the shape of a lobster claw. And then the hamster starts popping the bubbles with clicking noises.

And then I woke up.

Transcript

I saw The New Pornographers at the Showbox on Saturday night.
It was very loud for some reason and pretty much impossible to be without earplugs.
This made conversation next to impossible, so I am now blessed with a transcript of most of the communication of the night. I'll leave it ambiguous, but if you really want to know I'll explain things if you ask. The hyphen indicates typer 1 and lack of hyphen indicates typer 2. Exciting!

-I like the drummers hair
The lead singer reminds m of Jesus
-Or Russell brand
-Should I get some white pants?
Not unless you take up a career as a baker
-Stranger things have happened
Hurr hurr you said stranger
The flash on the phone is really effing bright!
-Now off
-Was going to turn the brightness down
-I guess they really are love songs
Did you see the guy behind you check out the guy in black there?
Also, this band is zzzzz
It was just really funny. I think I looked back at just the right time.
-And a vibraphone
-Which the earplugs effectively block
I can hear it. I think when it's just them it'll show up more.
-Guitar funeral?
EVERY BAND NEEDS TWO DRUMMERS!!!
-Beverage?
I am thirsty.
The drummer is up front!
-Which kind? 
Water
They sell bottles where we come in. Bar might be free
-I want root beer
-Might pay to wait until set starts
Now I want root beer
-Thy will be done
-What is she wearing?
Weird stretchy polyester.
WTF is he wearing?
-Two drummers!
-He scares me a little
Yeah. Wow
I swear raver lady goes to most shows here. I've seen something like that, buy not so impressive.
How much you want to bet Ben Gibbard is here tonight?
-Does that mean his wife is here?
No running off with Zooey.
BG has been at almost every indie rock concert I've been to here. Re-dork-ulous.
-Maybe he has night blindness
Showbox bouncers don't mess around.
-He makes "yeah, dodos!" sound like an epithet
-Also, isn't the plural "dodoes"?
He's old
-OH: "I literally drank my butt off"
Some dude walking by got a free boob shot with his shoulder.
Either drunk or crafty
-Have you heard Corin tucker's band?  Appeently they're touring.
No
I liked The Ds
Also this is a bizarre crowd.
-Yes and yes
Long line back into the bar. And the bathroom was running out of to. -2 stalls
-Lots of encroaching going on
I found the Flickr people but did not say hi
-How many?
2
-What's he playing with his mouth?
Vocorder?

Status

I started using the iChat as my default IM service slightly over a year ago. Since that time I've never cleared out the chat status messages I've used and there's an awfully long list. However, it's a funny little shout out to pop culture, what was going on in my life and/or what suddenly came to mind at random times and I'd like to preserve it before I clear it out. Here it goes:


Available:


They're not love handles if nobody loves you.
I am the ticket master
lalalalala zzzz
I hurt. Please don't ask me to move. Thanks!
Your Gyrobases
All Your Gyrobase Are Belong to Us
words, words, words
Soon I will need more caffeine
http://cleolinda.livejournal.com/774412.html
So muuuuggggy!
I probably missed that
01010011
Savage Love
***
Cougar
YAY!
--headache--
Cake or Death?
REVERSE SKATE
Play Doh!
My toes are numb
Dude is stressed
Shelf loner
☭
Is Michael Jackson dead? I can't tell.
Oooh MJ is dead.
eeeeeeeeeeeeBay
is printscript alphabet
I love you like a fat kid love cake.
Surrogate Rice Baby Parent
Sucking up to artists since 2006
General Foods International Accounting
On the floor brb
HARRY POTTER HARRY POTTER HARRY POTTER!!!
More Than Meets The Eye
ALIEN INVADERS TRUMP SERVER FAILURES
sigh
Jelly cottage industry
Happy Birthday to meeeeeeeeeee!
Heatmo Renée
Where is everybody?!!
I'm so not in the mood
ALL BOOGERS ALL THE TIME
ROFLCOPTOR
I'm hungry.
buzz buzz buzz
I wasn't aware Twitter was down. I suppose that's good.
"     "
I want a banana milkshake
HOOOOOOO BLUEBIRD ICE CREAM HAS MARIONBERRY!!!!!!
dude wth is up with chat
*high five*
DEPECCCCHHHEEE
Never again is what you swore the time before
dollar bills y'all
EAT OR DIE (I mean you die, not me)
poop
hmm
Wrock out
WICKED
: \
poopy weather
Time goes sooo slow right now
I am here now
AWESOME 80s hold music!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I was late to work due to filming in the street
\[ºoº]/
http://coffeenow.ytmnd.com
ZZZZZ
My Internet keeps dying
I'M OLD
I'm going to pretend to be in a good mood
There's a wicked party in my brain
CRANKY PANTS
-Construction Zone-
Oww
I'm a big weirdo today, sorry
-.05 attention span
worky work work
o
need coffee, may die
*cough, cough*
ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzz
Pop tart for your soul?
DEATH BY PETARD
I would like this, please: http://www.roadfood.com/photos/7587.jpg
>_+
TOES
BRRRRRRZ
work coma
Manic Depressive girl strikes again!
TODAY is National Cat Day (FYI)
OOPS TOMORROW is National Cat Day (FYI)
Cranky socks
Midnight movie: TONIGHT
WIGGED
would like some sugar
mothership
SO COLD
sad people are better at stating their case through written arguments
No
my cheese is moldy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeX-Anrdv8k
Escaping your unhappiness means finding a creative way to alter your own conditioned response, which is rooted in yesterday.
This oatmeal is GROSS.
ACTUAL PAIN
All eggnog all the time
Resistance is Futile
headache :(
VPN is exciting!
I am still the #1 hit for "Topher Victopher" googling. YES!
BORRRRRRRRED
GHOSTBONERS
"  "
http://www.moderncat.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/catvomitsign.jpg
Chuck me
Tokyo Drift
Hi Mom
Epitaph
Toast!
So cold brrrz
Chuck & Castle: 2/9
:) mmmm
Alternative
JINGLE BELLS, BATMAN SMELLS
I don't care
I DON'T CARE
PGP-
drunky pants
steez
Triflers need not apply
The accountants are coming!
SBox
It smells :(
*whistling*
Today's top spam: Best Boner Medicants
Just the facts ma'am
WE CAN'T ALL DO THE BIG ARMS
Today's top SPAM: Cheap Boner Pills
MRAH
undecided
:D
Czechoslovakian
Unsupervised!
I am Batman!
IMPORTANT! A volcano eruption in Iceland has delayed FedEx Express shipments to and from Northern Europe.
Toothless
put down the brown paper bag you have been huffing paint from
zero tolerance
HIIIIIIII
BORED
Delicious strawberry flavored death
mmm nerdilicious
I'm cleaning my space out
Frell
I need to eat
Fringe Bookkeeping
Peanuts?
IM keeps dying. Not my fault.
goth post-punk otters
artgasm
Horse bands
forgetful
Fahrbot
@ work, exciting!
Coffee SOON
The Vapors
Suitcase full of frowns
FOUR
d[o_0]b
Stuff
Literally
"random acts of 'OMG WHEE'"
I will do science to it
Spam of the Day: "Become extra-stiff down there"
Hilarious




Away:
(These are not nearly so entertaining. I mostly just use the generics.)


I'm out for errand/lunch hour.
FANNNNTASTIC!
payrollio
Awayaway Awayooooohah
COFFEEEEEEEEE NOW!
I got a Dr. Pepper because Dr. Dre tole me to
Going on a field trip
Busy
WORKING ON SL STUFF
EAT OR DIE (I mean you die, not me)
Marketing
BRB!
ROFLCOPTOR
I'm going to a meeting or currently in it, or on my way back
Arrrrm narrrm narm
I AM OUT OF THE OFFICE FOR THE REST OF TODAY
I'm going out for an hour
making' copies
FLASH
FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD
I'm on the floor resting my back. Be back in a few.
need coffee, may die
mothership
Working on the weekend.
Working for the weekend.
SERIAL EXCELCUTIONER
EXCELCUTIONER
GOING TO GET GIANT COOKIE!
QFC
Resistance was Futile
Please e-mail me questions
I'm going to take a nap now
Retrofit art
Office Par-tay
Day Off
Death
It's raining feces
@ work
Rapidly spinning plastic discs yo
I forgot my coffee at HOME :(
taking a break
shiny
OUT
reading
doing something constructive
Out of Office work errands
LAUNDRY
BREAK
sleepytimes
laundry
hiding
Czechoslovakian
black hole sun
HULU
reporting
Nexfliiiix
I need to eat
Stuff
so many errands, so little time
Delicious strawberry flavored death
Hezmana
Doing dishes in the bathroom
Post Options

Process

I have a pretty repetitive writing process. It's more or less like writing an outline without the formality.
When I was in college I wrote papers one of two ways. I would either write quotes note cards and then write arguments around these note cards that would become a paper or I would do the exact opposite; have ideas that would spin out and then source material that would back up my ideas.

Usually I preferred the quote to expansive theory method since I would have already done the research and all I had to do them is analyze and argue. And I'm quite often struck by a lovely turn of phrase or pitched quotation that tickles my inner sense of kinship with the writer. From these sentiments I find it easy to spin a world of agreement or disparity.

But it's never a pretty process. I hear words in clips and phrases (Shout out to Eve 6 and their song "Inside Out" that was popular when I was in college. Just look at that subconscious association!) that I pick out of thin air. I rarely know what I'm going to say before I write it and things occur to me in jumbles and generally out of order. The advent of the computer as processor was my favorite thing creatively. Previously I'd had to cross out and copy things ridiculously. I remember cutting out whole sections of paper and taping them back together and then photocopying them so I didn't have to retype a page or pages of a paper I had to turn in. Geez, how old do I sound now? heh. Or I'd have to re-write things multiple times. All of my pens were erasable in high school.

The below text I've included is a sample of how I tend to put things together. I make strings. This group is slightly misleading because it's already in chronological order and that's not how I thought of the events. However, I did type them out this way, I just skipped around. Sometimes entire ideas occur to me, usually they have to do with a specific feeling I'm trying to convey or a large theme to build lego bricks of words around. This text was sitting in my drafts to be fleshed out at a later time, but I'm going to publish this as it is because I think it's a bit poetic in its vagueness. This is a very brief first pass at my Dad's involvement in my life when he was around and me simply trying to list off my memories in order. I did something like this once before, but it was more of a free floating ramble. This was meant to be solid and specific.


Going to Grandma and Grandpa's house. (was he even there)

My first memory of my Father is his Mother's funeral

Riding down the road on the motorcycle
Knocking my front teeth out

Moving to Hadlock
Going out cutting down trees
Security guard at paper mill?
Reading to me


Moving back to Aberdeen
Sprawling well-lit lumber yard.
Driving through town late at night, all the bright lights from the signs down Highway 101 seemed so impressive.
Nachos from 7-11
Nick at Night
Old-Fashioned donuts from the Red Lion Inn
We stayed there 4 days?

Bookkeeping

I'm frequently asked what I do for a job and what exactly it means to be a bookkeeper. I don't want to bore people to tears, but I think I often gloss over any actual meaning in my job description. However, when a serious inquiry has arisen I generally point them to this article which has described what I currently do better than other source I have yet to encounter. If you actually read this you're probably pretty bored.

This is a text grab from a Princeton Review article.

Bookkeeper 

A Day in the life of a Bookkeeper

Bookkeepers track all cash flows, billing, and lines of credit that affect their companies. They must be detail-oriented and tenacious; they have to track down and rectify any discrepancies, however small, in the company accounts. Most bookkeepers work as internal accountants for small firms that do not have an accountant on staff. They have a large amount of responsibility to the company, and sometimes (particularly at the end of the year and around tax-preparation time) have to work long hours in order to do their job properly. The majority of bookkeepers work for smaller firms. Many become involved in financial tangles mid-stream-they find themselves deciphering records from up to a year before they were hired. Bookkeepers must be flexible and able to adjust to unusual circumstances. Many bookkeepers we talked with mentioned that the most difficult part of their jobs was not maintenance of financial records, which accounted for a good 50 percent of their time, but communication with the other members of the same company. “You have to keep track of everyone’s activities, and nobody thinks it is important to keep the bookkeeper apprised every day of what they’re doing.” This lack of smooth transfer of information has led many companies to buy bookkeeping software so that each employee can keep track of her daily activities and a bookkeeper can then assemble all the information and verify its accuracy. Computer skills are growing in importance in the industry, and even those who are already familiar with the double-entry system of bookkeeping mentioned that knowing how to use this software is considered a strong point by employers. Many small firms aren’t used to being run as businesses and many find keeping track of all interaction difficult at first. Bookkeepers must communicate their needs clearly and follow up with consistent requests for similar information. Those who enter the field with an open mind find that being a good bookkeeper “makes all the difference in the world when the boss looks at what direction he wants to take the company.” The statistics and data bookkeepers compile are “snapshots” of the daily activities of the company that make up its history.

Paying Your Dues

Bookkeepers are financial recordkeepers, much like accountants, but they are not required to be accredited by any organization or institution. As a positive, they have less of a fiduciary obligation than an accountant and therefore less liability; however, they are paid commensurably less. They usually maintain the records of a single company rather than having many companies as clients. No specific educational requirement is required to become a bookkeeper, but prospective employers favor applicants with finance, record-keeping, or business majors. Basic coursework in accounting is very helpful for those entering the field, but on-the-job training is neither unusual nor discouraged. With the increasing simplicity of accounting software in the workplace, less and less formal accounting training is required for these positions. The work requires attention to detail and a good method of keeping track of constantly fluctuating items, which leads most bookkeepers to adopt the double-entry method of accounting. Much of a bookkeeper’s work involves not only the entering of information, but the review of information and the reconciling of accounts. While some people remain career bookkeepers at one company, most rotate between companies or leave the field altogether for supervisory or managerial positions.

Associated Careers

Bookkeepers become accountants and inventory control experts at a higher rate than any other profession. Those who leave the record-keeping industry altogether use their bookkeeping skills to understand various tasks within an industry, then move to positions of managerial control. The people who take this route, however, usually supplement their bookkeeping skills with courses, seminars, or second positions where they can demonstrate their management ability.

Grover: Lost!

Grover: Lost!
Originally uploaded by neilcrocodile

I'd forgotten all about this. :)