Old Blog Reborn
I'm slowly backfilling this blog with all my old blog crap from 1999 onward. If you want to remember how much of a huge dork I was back in the day, check out the Blog Archive at the bottom of this page.
Jonestown
The last couple of times that I've hung out with Krishan, he told the same joke. Here it is:
Have you heard the joke about the Jonestown Massacre?
I'd tell it to you, but the punchline is too long.
I was confused both times, because I didn't really know anything about the Jonestown Massacre... I forgot about it until I went to the library earlier this week to get some more music. I go there pretty regularly on my dinner breaks to borrow stuff to listen to at work. While I was browsing through their CDs, I stumbled upon a band named The Brian Jonestown Massacre! I always act on weird little coincidences like this, so I grabbed it. After I got back to work, I listened to it while reading the Wikipedia entry for Jonestown. That was an odd experience: ready about the Jonestown Massacre while listening to The Brian Jonestown Massacre.
It's a bad joke... but at least I get it now.
Have you heard the joke about the Jonestown Massacre?
I'd tell it to you, but the punchline is too long.
I was confused both times, because I didn't really know anything about the Jonestown Massacre... I forgot about it until I went to the library earlier this week to get some more music. I go there pretty regularly on my dinner breaks to borrow stuff to listen to at work. While I was browsing through their CDs, I stumbled upon a band named The Brian Jonestown Massacre! I always act on weird little coincidences like this, so I grabbed it. After I got back to work, I listened to it while reading the Wikipedia entry for Jonestown. That was an odd experience: ready about the Jonestown Massacre while listening to The Brian Jonestown Massacre.
It's a bad joke... but at least I get it now.
Total Solar Eclipses
I've been putting the dates and locations of total solar eclipses on my calendar for several years now. There's usually one every year or two. I really want to see one someday...
Last years eclipse would have been awesome*! It swept over Shanghai! Can you imagine being in a city of nearly 20 million people and watching overhead as day becomes night!?! Well, you don't have to imagine it - it happened! There are tons of videos and pictures. *But, it actually sucked because it was cloudy. I'm glad I didn't go, because tickets to Shanghai are prohibitively expensive and I would have been extremely upset to spend all that money to see nothing...
This year's total solar eclipse will really only be viewable from Easter Island. I had pretty much disregarded it until this evening... I have been going through my music collection and I dug up this old psybient album by Shpongle. I randomly decided to check out their website, and I discovered that they're touring in Easter Island during the time of the eclipse! In fact, there's a huge psychedelic music and arts "Honu Eclipse" festival going on because of the eclipse! I'm not an acid-tripping hippie, but I'll be damned if I don't love their stupid music... Sadly, this once-in-a-lifetime event of psychedelic cosmic alignment is even more expensive than Shanghai. The get there, I'd have to fly from Austin to Santiago, Chile, then take a local flight from Santiago to Easter Island. The AUS to SCL ticket would be about $1200, and the SCL to NUI (Easter Island) ticket would be another $700 at least. Tons of people have already booked their trip, so prices are skyrocketing. And finally, a ticket to the festival is apparently $700 - pretty insane price gouging if you ask me. Total cost for this adventure (excluding hotel, food, and lost wages because I'm just a contractor): $3,400 each... QQ
Well, there's always the future... The distant future... There are no total solar eclipses in 2011. The one in 2012 is in the middle of the ocean. The next one after that is in 2015 and it's close to Iceland, but not close enough. The one in 2016 is in Indonesia, and I have been tempting Andrea with the idea of a trip to Bali... However, the point of maximum eclipse is, once again, in the middle of the ocean...
The final total solar eclipse that I'll mention is on August 21, 2017 near Hopkinsville, Kentucky. I suspect that this will be the first total solar eclipse that I'll get to see in my life. Somehow it's a little more exciting when I think of going to some faraway place to see one, but I suppose middle-of-nowhere Kentucky will have to do. Mark your calendars!
...Or maybe Andrea will wanna blow eight grand on a last-minute trip to a distant, mystical island to hang out at a psychedelic music festival while we watch the universe wink at us...
Last years eclipse would have been awesome*! It swept over Shanghai! Can you imagine being in a city of nearly 20 million people and watching overhead as day becomes night!?! Well, you don't have to imagine it - it happened! There are tons of videos and pictures. *But, it actually sucked because it was cloudy. I'm glad I didn't go, because tickets to Shanghai are prohibitively expensive and I would have been extremely upset to spend all that money to see nothing...
This year's total solar eclipse will really only be viewable from Easter Island. I had pretty much disregarded it until this evening... I have been going through my music collection and I dug up this old psybient album by Shpongle. I randomly decided to check out their website, and I discovered that they're touring in Easter Island during the time of the eclipse! In fact, there's a huge psychedelic music and arts "Honu Eclipse" festival going on because of the eclipse! I'm not an acid-tripping hippie, but I'll be damned if I don't love their stupid music... Sadly, this once-in-a-lifetime event of psychedelic cosmic alignment is even more expensive than Shanghai. The get there, I'd have to fly from Austin to Santiago, Chile, then take a local flight from Santiago to Easter Island. The AUS to SCL ticket would be about $1200, and the SCL to NUI (Easter Island) ticket would be another $700 at least. Tons of people have already booked their trip, so prices are skyrocketing. And finally, a ticket to the festival is apparently $700 - pretty insane price gouging if you ask me. Total cost for this adventure (excluding hotel, food, and lost wages because I'm just a contractor): $3,400 each... QQ
Well, there's always the future... The distant future... There are no total solar eclipses in 2011. The one in 2012 is in the middle of the ocean. The next one after that is in 2015 and it's close to Iceland, but not close enough. The one in 2016 is in Indonesia, and I have been tempting Andrea with the idea of a trip to Bali... However, the point of maximum eclipse is, once again, in the middle of the ocean...
The final total solar eclipse that I'll mention is on August 21, 2017 near Hopkinsville, Kentucky. I suspect that this will be the first total solar eclipse that I'll get to see in my life. Somehow it's a little more exciting when I think of going to some faraway place to see one, but I suppose middle-of-nowhere Kentucky will have to do. Mark your calendars!
...Or maybe Andrea will wanna blow eight grand on a last-minute trip to a distant, mystical island to hang out at a psychedelic music festival while we watch the universe wink at us...
Real Updates
I realized today that I don't ever write anything of my own anymore. I have all these different social media websites linked into Google Buzz and Facebook, and I share articles, videos, and junk every day, but I don't share anything about myself... Well, here's a refreshing and real update for once.
In the last month or two:
In the last month or two:
- I resigned my job at RenewData.
- I got a new job at Charles Schwab on an operations team. It's like the entry-level position of the next rung up on the ladder. As Andrea put it, it's like going from being the manager of Burger King to a waiter at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.
- Andrea's mom came to visit us. I took her to Half Price Books. She loved it. I forgot how awesome that place is. It makes me wanna spend money.
- Andrea got a job at the Embassy Suites. She's starting a new career in the hospitality industry. She's also at the bottom of the first rung at the moment, but she's hoping to one day be a hotel manager or something.
- I have been thinking about making a birdhouse or a bird feeder shaped like a giant nose with a moustache. I think a feeder would be better. The birds would stand on the moustache and pick food out of the nose. Pretty awesome, right? I kinda wanna make a bird house shaped like a butt too - is that too rude? Maybe I'll put it in the backyard instead of the front yard, hehe.
- Andrea had to have minor surgery on her leg due to "spindle beavers" or something like that - not a serious issue, just precautionary.
- The mountain laurel in our front yard bloomed for the first time ever. I planted it six years ago... The blooms smell like fruity girl-drinks.
- Andrea, Claudia (Andrea's mom), and I went to Estancia Churasceria for my mom's birthday. Delicious.
- I also went to the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower with my mom and wife for the first time. That place is awesome! All the flowers were in bloom. I smelled all kindsa new flowers I'd never smelled before. There's a big stone tower out there too - Andrea and I climbed to the top and enjoyed the great view. There's also some great statuary - my favorite one was the giant ants.
- I discovered that the Giant Spiderwort (the purple flowers I have in my yard) smell like limes if you stick your nose right on them.
Viking Metal!!!
Tyr is my favorite viking metal band! This show is gonna be badass! If you're going, lemme know in the comments. If not, get your tickets - everyone should experience a viking metal show at least once.
Toccarsi le palle!
So, I was watching a movie by Jim Jarmusch last night called Night on Earth. It was pretty decent - similar to Coffee and Cigarrettes. At one point, the Italian taxi driver, played by Roberto Benigni - who was apparently ad-libbing many of lines - said "Bad luck! Touch my balls!" (That was what the English subtitle said anyway.) I looked up the phrase. Apparently it's the vulgar, Italian equivolent of "knock on wood" - it's something they say/do when a bad omen appears. Anyway, I thought it was hilarious and just wanted to share... Now you know a new Italian phrase! Yay!
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