Jeff’s Journal

In somewhat chronological order:

* Karaoke with dodgeballers. I sang Meat Loaf’s “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” and then Rickrolled the bar on a dare. I surprised them because they don’t know that I sing. Much more fun than anticipated. Liz, I thought of you about a dozen times - you must hate people like me.

* The Andy Warhol: Pop Politics exhibit at the Currier Art Museum. The whole art museum was great (it may have actually been the first time I’ve actually been to an art museum), but the Warhol exhibit was maddeningly wonderful. Ann has a very visceral, negative reaction to Warhol which is interesting and fun at the same time. The rest of the museum was great, too, but the Warhol exhibit was what brought us in. Also, free Saturday mornings at Currier? Awesome.

* Dinner with Jackie and Matthieu, followed by a maddening game called Bananagrams, which is like your own personal Scrabble with a race against other people. Strange, but it worked.

* Fried chicken. I really fried chicken. About that whole losing weight thing…

* Being done with my amoxiciillan. And without hives!

* D&D today. First game with our campaign in close to 6 weeks or so, and it was nice to get back in the swing of things. I don’t like trolls anymore, though. Or my dice. Stupid dice.

* Weeds. We’ve watched 5 or 6 episodes over the last four days - surprisingly fun and addictive show.

* The library. Because no matter how hard I try, I always have roughly 17 books out at once. I brought 8 back and thought “finally, I won’t have a ridiculous stack.” Whoops. As we were checking out, I saw a book I wanted across the room and sent Ann after it. The woman behind the desk gave me a look. I can’t blame her.

* Football. Who cares if I was 0-4 in my NHL predictions? The Colts are out in the first round!

Mixing memes:

What age did you turn this year and how did you spend your birthday?

I turned 27. I think I actually had to work late on my birthday, if I remember correctly.

Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Well, I’d say some of it. Got more politically involved to a point, but didn’t get much done with the book as compared to what I wanted.

What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?

Had surgery, I suppose, even though wisdom tooth extraction is hardly surgery. Played a tabletop RPG, which took way, WAY too long for me to get involved with. Quit a job with no actual fallback in place. Was in a movie that people saw. Ate black olives and liked them.

Did anyone you know give birth? Did anyone you know die?

My grandfather died at age 94. That’s the only real noteworthy death from this year I can remember. Congrats to Andy on his second kid, that’s the only one I’m remembering at the moment.

Tell us about some noteworthy things done by people you know.

Chelsea got her movie in a bunch of festivals. That was probably the most noteworthy thing I can think of.

Do any traveling?

I only went 2 hours from Manchester once. Didn’t leave New England at all.

What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

A less ridiculous work situation, financial stability, a place closer to home.

What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

No clue.

What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Standing up for myself. As strong a personality I am, I tend to wilt considerably when it comes to defending myself or doing what I think is the right thing. This means both recognizing where I’m correct and admitting where I’m wrong. I’m still not perfect, not even close, but the Jeff of even 2 years ago would have never done what I did concerning the library debacle this year. The Jeff of 2 years ago wouldn’t have apologized for wronging someone so long ago and thus repairing a relationship that had no business being repaired.

What was your biggest disappointment or failure?

The library, the election, the Super Bowl. My relative inaction on the Kroger Babb bio. The American news media.

Did you suffer illness or injury?

Wisdom teeth and strep throat.

What was the best thing you bought? Best gift you were given?

Interestingly enough, I didn’t actually buy all that much for myself. I spent a good deal of money on gaming stuff (video and tabletop), but nothing crazy.

Whose behavior merited celebration?

My wife’s, without question. She trusts me to do the right thing, stands by me when I need her support, and doesn’t hold back when I’m wrong. The fact that she hasn’t bailed on me for a better model after the activity of the last 3 months is a testament to how lucky I am to have her.

Whose behavior did not?

Library-related entities. The American electorate. Manny Ramirez. Benefit Concepts, Inc.. Pigeon.

Where did most of your money go?

Bills.

What did you get overly excited about?

The amount of reading I accomplished. D&D v4.0. Left 4 Dead.

Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Sadder. The world was my oyster last year, and this year I have absolutely no clue where I’m going to end up.
ii. thinner or fatter? Same. I’ve been a steady 177-182 for 4 years running no matter what I do.
iii. richer or poorer? Poorer, since my new job is essentially a $10k/year pay cut.

What do you wish you’d done more of?

Worked harder on the book, was more active physically, socially, and politically.

What do you wish you’d done less of?

Moping. Getting too far into my head.

How will you be spending the end of the year?

Ann’s babysitting, so I’ll probably play Left 4 Dead until the clock strikes midnight. I don’t really do much on New Year’s these days, nothing will trump New Year’s 2001/2002 for me. Then again, if something interesting did come up, I might dive at it.

With whom did you spend the most time on the phone with?

I avoid the phone as much as possible.

Did you fall in love in 2008?

Tiffanie’s kitten is quite adorable, yes.

Best TV shows and/or website? (passive entertainment)

The new ones on our plate are Mad Men, 30 Rock and How I Met Your Mother. I don’t think we watch anything else that’s new new.

Websites? Cracked.com is the ultimate timewaster, as is Shelfari.

Best video game?

I spent the most time with Team Fortress 2, Geometry Wars 2, and Left 4 Dead.

Best book/comic?

Book was Anathem, no contest. Comic? Ultimate Spider-Man or the Buffy/Angelverse.

What song will always remind you of 2008?

Interestingly enough, probably “Sultan” by What Made Milwaukee Famous.”

What was your greatest musical discovery?

For so, so many reasons, the Two Man Gentleman Band.

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Must not publicly berate people. Must not publicly berate people. Must not publicly berate people.

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?

How many ways can you match your Chuck Taylors to your button-down shirts?

What political issue stirred you the most?

Other than the election itself? Possibly the Employee Free Choice Act.

Whom did you miss?

Everyone 75 miles south of here.

Who was the best new person you met?

There are a pile of people who fit this here, so I’m just going to say that getting to know Mandy, Bill, Mike, Billy, and Jenny has been a pleasure I’ve not had in quite a long time. Hopefully I don’t irritate them too too much.

Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

Must not publicly berate people. Must not publicly berate people. Must not publicly berate people. Honestly, though, not especially. I don’t *hate* the one person who essentially made my life a living hell as much as feel sorry for them, and as much as I get irritated and upset with people I know and love when it comes to matters of personal beliefs, I don’t ever hate them and never could.

What did you want and get?

I wanted little, and got little.

What did you want and not get?

See above.

A valuable life lesson you learned in 2008?

Be yourself, because your principles matter.

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Must not publicly berate people, an Obama loss, and $20k.

Quote to sum up your year.

I’m so bad with quotes, but this one book I read this year, Parenting Without Belief, had a really interesting passage in the introduction that brought a ton home for me in terms of things that went on this year in a lot of areas. It applies to almost everything noteworthy that’s happened with me this year, so yeah:

Oxford biologist Richard Dawkins shares a heartfelt letter to his 10-year-old daughter Juliet about his own intellectual values. …[S]ome others [may] find Dawkins’ approach disrespectful to religious belief. There is a good reason for this: he does not respect religious belief. Not one bit.

This raises an important question…. Is it okay to disrespect someone’s beliefs? Notice that the subject is beliefs, not believers - we can presumably agree that people themselves deserve respect. But can we allow disrespect - not just disagreement, but disrespect - for opinions?

If the word “respect” is to retain any meaning whatsoever, then respect must not be granted to all opinions automatically. I may disagree with an opinion but still respect it, if I feel it was arrived by legitimate means…Though I disagree strongly with my friends, I respect their argument since they back it up with reasoned argument.

I know full well I didn’t achieve this in either direction in many of my doings this year, in more than just discussion on current events but on my life in general. I wish I had seen this in January and not December.

Ah well. 2009 has the potential to be an amazing year, and I’d be smart to embrace that. I’m more comfortable in my own skin now than I believe I’ve ever been before, and that can only translate positively. Let’s hope so, at least.

1) I was invited out to a friend’s birthday, but it took me nearly 50 minutes to make the 20 minute drive home, and that’s before the snow picked up.

2) My wife has strep throat. This means that I’m probably going to get strep throat. Who has two thumbs and no interest in strep throat? THIS GUY.

3) Addiction of the moment? Good Old Games, which has two point-and-click adventure games for free for download. The whole site is awesome, and you should all feel pity on my financial situation and buy me some gift credits or something. I could spend $100 here, easy.

4) Christmas is six days away and I’m still not feeling it. That’s very depressing.

5) Karma’s frustrating. I reconnected with someone I wronged this year, and it’s been a very good thing. Unfortunately, I’ve lost a friend that I miss a bit too much sometimes, and I was having a nostalgic moment about the whole thing and I have no clue what happened for real, although I have suspicions. And no way to approach it. And that makes me sad.

6) I really, really don’t want strep throat.

7) I used an mp3 player for the first time ever today. I admit it - they are pretty neat. I bought a Sandisk for eventual voice-recording stuff, but pulled warehouse duty today and ended up using it while picking books. I will say this much, though - earbuds? Not cool. Very uncomfortable, very strange.

8) Seriously, throat - if you’re swollen and ridiculous in the next few days, I’m going to be very angry.

Yeah, real quiet around this neck of the woods lately. Why?

1) New job. It’s not bad, it’s still a job, it’s light years better than anything I interviewed for during my downtime, though. I’m chomping at the bit at this point to get really rolling, but whatever. Either way, it’s one of those unfortunate timesucks - 8 to 5 plus commutes, plus all the stuff around the edges.

2) Oh, edges:

a) My satellite radio is on the fritz, so I tried to get some stuff to un-fritz it. Instead of going past my place to the Circuit City on the southern side of Manchester, I thought I’d save time and hit the Circuit City in Concord. Dumb mistake, and I still haven’t fixed it. By the way, standard radio is crap. That was Monday.

b) Tuesday, I wanted to try and get a small boombox for my cube at work. Cheapest one is $20 - no thanks. I could have swore these cost $7 once. Fail.

c) Today, I wanted to go to the library. Too bad they close at 5:30 on Wednesday. Stupid me.

3) It isn’t all epic fail, I have found time to eat and play games and watch some shows, but I feel like my time is just completely gone. It’s a strange feeling.

4) What is epic fail is the current financial situation for us. We’ll make it through our spring plans, but it’s going to be one of those “I sure hope nothing big comes up in the next 3 months” type things. The current job just doesn’t pay enough, plain and simple. So we’ll figure it out.

Somehow.

Also, Christmas is in 14 days? So completely not ready.

Life:

* On a whole, not bad, actually. If you asked me this 24 hours ago, I would have probably had a pretty different answer, but things are decent. Ann had last week off, so we got a few days in to just hang out and chill. We learned, among other things, that we still don’t travel well and we’re very into our routines. We had a minor breakdown sometime on Saturday when we realized how off-kilter we were. But other than that…

* The dodgeball team is 4-3, and we need a win and some help to make the playoffs from the looks of things. The #1 team shut us out when we played them, but hey.

* D&D is taking some time off, but I’m playing in a one-shot on Sunday, which happens to be our only free weekend day in the entire month of December. Yay living far from home!

* The 360 should be back this week. So much for catching up on games while I was unemployed. Oh, wait, I logged 45 hours of Team Fortress 2 on the PC over a 3 week period. Go me.

Things That Were Good About the Last Month:

* Seeing Georgy for dinner. It had been a criminally long time since we saw each other, so it was good to do that.

* Some of the absolutely crazy interviews I was on. It’s easy to laugh now about the insurance company that was essentially using me for leads during the interview process, or that anyone thought I’d be a good fit in telling people that, no, I wouldn’t be able to turn their electricity back on, but to think that I actually gave them a good, honest try is rather amusing.

* I got a few good leads for the book - two from people who care about me and this book too much, and a couple others that I tripped up on. It’s not dead!

There’s a reason I don’t post much personal stuff - I have absolutely nothing fascinating to say about my life.

…I’m employed!

Details later! Yay!

1) Three interviews scheduled for this week. One I’m very, very excited about. Crossing fingers…

2) I spent Friday afternoon playing Gears of War 2 with dodgeball buddy Dave for a few hours. Good times there, and a good game to boot.

3) Seeing the parents for dinner. Seeing the brother too. Good to be home, even for a little bit.

4) Seeing Michelle and Josh. Ann & I hadn’t been down to see them since the spring, and I only got to see them at the AMC pub night, so that was great.

5) My old high school put in a wind turbine. It’s huge. And random.

6) D&D - best session yet. I nearly died again, but that was by choice as opposed to me being stupid! We beat up on some crazy, crazy, CRAZY stuff. It was awesome!

I’m confident right now.

Or at least until the polls close.

1) So, unemployment is fun. Again. I hit up the temp agency yesterday, and that’s looking promising, I have one job interview next week and hopefully a few more down the pike. Things that are crappy in no particular order:

a) The uselessness. I forgot how much I do generally like working.

b) The health insurance. Ann may work for the least worthwhile benefit package in existence.

c) The sleeping patterns. Mine are shot all to hell.

2) This past weekend wasn’t shabby, though - movies and an extremely fun D&D session, I got to bail from work early, drinking with friends, etc. I really can’t complain.

3) Things that have taken up too much of my time: Fallen Sword, a web-based MMORPG of sorts. A fun way to kill 30 minutes, and if you sign up under me, I benefit. So yeah.

4) More fun: Photoshopped fantasy novels.

I have a ton to say, but I’m antsy.

I started this at 10:30pm Friday night, I’ll probably finish in the morning. Who knows. If you want 5 of your own, let me know - these were from Mike:

1. Are you having kids any time soon?

In the clearest possible terms, no. For one, we’re simply not ready in any way shape or form - we don’t have a second bedroom, I don’t have a job in 7 days, and we’re enjoying our life as it is anyway. Beyond that, the adoption process is, bare minimum, a two year process. We’ve put off buying a place until the economic stuff sorts out a bit more, so we’re at least 3 years away at this point, I think.

What’s your thoughts on being a parent? What kind of dad do you picture yourself being?

I’m scared. It’s the single scariest thing on my future horizon. I fear being a poor parent, about not doing right for my kids, for not being able to provide what they deserve, for not bringing them up the way I think they should be. I fear my genetics. I fear my own insecurities.

Ann thinks this might make me a better parent, since I’m so aware of all these things. I’m not convinced yet, but, again, 3 years down the line.

2. You’re a literary nerd. Why aren’t lyrics important to you?

It’s probably because I’m even more of a music nerd. I’m drawn to a song’s structure - whether it be a catchy melody, a great hook, or an interesting arrangement - long before I even hear the words being sung.

Even as a “literary nerd,” there’s very little in literature that sticks with me. I just finished Anathem today, which is probably my favorite book in 12 months, and I couldn’t even begin to tell you the details of a passage that really caught me, even though there were plenty. Maybe I just don’t have that sort of mind, not that I know what sort of mind it is.

3. How in the world do you find the time to read as many books, watch as many movies, listen to as much music, and do as much stuff in a 168 hour week?

Okay. First, a typical “adult” book is 250-400 pages long. A typical “adult” book, as it is, I can read at a clip of 55-70 pages in a 30 minute sitting. I’ve always been a fast reader, so it’s pretty natural for me. Rarely a day goes by that I don’t fit in at least 30 minutes of reading, and it’s usually closer to an hour when it gets to the points in time I can get 10 minutes in here or there. The 30 uninterrupted minutes over lunch alone make up for that easily. Now, that’s close to a book a week on lunch breaks alone. A book like Anathem or A Game of Thrones, both 900 page tomes with a ton of detail, move slower but get more attention than normal. Meanwhile, I’ll read a young adult novel with larger print and smaller book sizes at a clip of maybe 100 pages in a 30 minute time span. I can polish two or three of those off in a week. Or perhaps a graphic novel, which is 100 pages on a good day and can often be finished in one or two sittings. Add them all together, and it’s not so strange to have read 115 books as of this point in time.

As for movies, baseball season and the advent of the DVR has cut back on that tremendously, but if I can find time to watch two episodes of Mad Men in an evening, what’s a 90 minute movie? I could, in theory, probably watch a movie a day if I didn’t give it my full attention. I just enjoy movies too much.

Music? Wicked easy - satellite radio plus having a CD going whenever the TV is off and I’m near a computer.

And why isn’t working on The Most Important Book In The World included more often? Seriously. Get back to work on that thing.

I know, I know. The Drama is nearly over, and the creative juices feel like they’re coming back again, which is a good sign for that. Hopefully the prodigal grandchild will understand…

4. What happened to all the Palin love in your blog as of late? Are you still as enthralled with her?

The love went the way of most other writing as of late. I just haven’t been enthralled with anything, the election included. As it stands, if my excitement in late August was an 11, it’s probably around a 9.75 right now - I’m still a huge fan, and I just don’t know how much to blame that rough Couric patch on her or the inept McCain campaign.

5. Stubbornness: a boon or bane? Explain. (Bonus points for a tie-in to your recent job situation.)

Depends on the context. It’s a boon in some ways because it keeps me grounded - my stubbornness goes a long way when I know I’m not completely off-kilter. I know I’m not insane when it comes to recent troubles, and it keeps me from going completely nuts in my head. It’s a bane in the same way, however, where if I wasn’t so stubborn, I could have saved myself a ton of mental anguish.

The whole library thing isn’t unique to my typical stubbornness. It’s probably the number one cause of my inaction on many areas of my personal life, and probably gets mistaken for apathy in a lot of areas. I need to overcome it.

6. WHY SO SERIOUS?

All that time in the asylum…

I quit my job today.

Yes, it was a good move for me. Yes, I’m going to miss being a librarian, but I was missing my basic sanity even more at this point. Details as I can provide them, but a) it’s the right thing to do, and b) if you’re hiring, let me know.

Ahhhhgfdgdfgdfgergbrbn.

1) Summer reading = over. A good summer, but also glad it’s over and I can somewhat relax again. I’m always amazed at how much I end up running on adrenaline rushes for a lot of stuff, and then I’m shocked when I’m exhausted at the end. I took Friday off, slept in, and pretty much stayed on the couch all day playing games.

2) Life doesn’t seem to want to slow down, either - we have a Red Sox game coming up, another weekend in Massachusetts, we still have to figure out when to see people we haven’t seen in a while, still house hunting. Why is life insane?

3) D&D was awesome on Sunday. We went Wyvern hunting, and did it well. Ann played her first week as a Dwarven Fighter, and was pulling action movie stunts almost immediately, and it was pretty awesome. Best battle I’ve been in since I’ve started playing, hands down.

4) Someone want to explain why Pac-Man: Championship Edition is so addicting? Anyone?

1) So, yeah. Obviously, we’re seeing a bit of a different thing here - I’m starting to separate from LiveJournal a bit, which is what that top thing references.

My reasons are many. For one, I’m more than a little annoyed with some of the tactics of LJ’s leadership, both old and new. The, uh, “Great Strikethrough” was one thing, but when, for instance, you can’t search for “spice girls” in one’s interests anymore, well, it’s not quite the bastion of free speech that it was when I signed on back in, geez, 2000. It’s a little sad, honestly.

Secondly, a lot of it has to do with my literary endeavors - quite frankly, if my book is good but unfinished, having relevant material to point to and say “hey, look, I DO know what the hell I’m talking about and I can write in a coherent and consistent fashion” will only help me. I’m not ready to launch that blog for real yet - I want it to be based on bad movies, but I can’t figure out a good name let alone necessarily want to run it on my own. If anyone has suggestions on the former, let me know, and some of you may be hearing from me on the latter.

So either way, when I saw Lance with his crossposting recently, I looked into it, and hell, why not get the best of both worlds - my material can post on LJ at the same time it does on my site, and I can have separate blogs for separate things and still centralize them on LJ without having to worry about crappy syndication on LJ’s end. I’ll still have the occasional friends-only post on LJ, but you can always comment where you’re reading it, and yeah.

Yeah, this may seem trivial to a lot of you. That’s fine, but that’s just what I am, I suppose.

2) So, what’s new, right? Well, it’s old news to about a dozen of you, but we got a new TV. Instead of being responsible and paying some bills, I decided to pool together my Christmas money and get a better television for the front room. It’s nice, and gave us a little more leeway in how the room is set up, and yeah:

We went from a 26″ to a 37″, this one has 1080i and HDMI, and was a floor model to boot, so we didn’t pay an arm and a leg. I’m pleased, and, as you see, it fits in rather nicely to the whole room. We had about 16 people packed into the room for the AFC Championship game on Sunday (and thanks to everyone who came out, it really meant a ton to us), and yeah. Good times.

3) I held a massive event at the library this past week, where Jeff Kinney, author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid did a Q & A and a signing. It’s really refreshing to see such a big shot author be so down to earth at the same time - it’s like he doesn’t quite comprehend how much of a rock star he really is. I’ll never forget how disappointed I was in Judy Blume when I met her, and seeing the kids so excited to meet a genuinely good guy was really fun. I should have gotten a picture, but I forgot. No matter, though, we had about 90 people show up and it was pretty much completely awesome. Thanks to Ken for tipping me off, I love when old Scholastic contacts work out.

4) I don’t recall if I mentioned this, but I did buy a Nintendo DS. I like it - i don’t love it yet, but I also only really have one game at the moment, and that’s New Super Mario Bros., which is great but isn’t Team Fortress 2. I’m sure once I land Mario Kart DS and Zelda: Phantom Hourglass it’ll be a different story.

What’s shocking is that my mother ADORES her DS. We bought her one for Christmas, and she absolutely loves it - she has a bunch of puzzle games and keeps “burning the motherfucking food” on Cooking Mama. It’s hilariously unexpected. Talk about a great system overall, really.

5) Since it’s going around Facebook: I apologise for not pimping Kate Nash to everyone sooner, but she’s awesome and you should all listen to her.

6) On Heath Ledger - I was never a huge fan, but found his acting better than average for Hollywood folks his age and thought he made interesting choices when he could have just as easily been a heartthrob/action hero. It’s shocking to see someone less than a year older than you die, quite frankly, and that part is unsettling, but I’m more disappointed that we might not have ever had an opportunity to see what he was truly capable of as an actor.

Now, if we can only get Amy Winehouse to lay off the crack…

I think that’s it for now.

np: Kate Nash - Made of Bricks