I’ve been feeling a little less than stellar about things in general lately. What precipitated this melancholy introspection, I can’t be certain. I just know that I need to do something to make it go away!
Work has been picking up a little, and as such I have been helping out a little when and where I am needed. Today though, I stayed home from work; I wasn’t feeling well. I’m also not so sure that I want to go back full time. I guess this is less about what I don’t know and more about what I do know. I know now that this trade is not for me. I love learning, and I love doing the work, but I don’t think that it’s what I really want. I think the change of heart comes from my reflections on the past couple days experiences. I had two less than stellar days, yesterday being particularly bad. I know it isn’t always like that, everyone has both good days and bad, but I now know that I need to alter course again.
I wish I could be one of those people who just knows what they want and can therefore go after it, or at very least one who has enough success with something that they can tolerate that they can focus on other areas of their life. Both would be better still. I seem to have neither.
Posted by Ron as Miscellaneous at 4:30 PM EDT
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I despise April first. Despise. It’s a pretty strong word, and maybe not strong enough. The whole concept of April Fools just incites me to near-rage; consequently, I have exactly zero tolerance for all the stupid gags. You know the ones; websites littered with disinformation, silly products that don’t exist, fake press releases, and the like. Hate it.
I spent all day yesterday trying to discern why that might be, but unfortunately, drew no meaningful conclusions.
Posted by Ron as Miscellaneous at 8:46 AM EDT
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I have to admit, I stole that one from Star Wars. You know, the scene in Episode 4, when they’re attacking the Deathstar, they’re in the trenches proceeding towards the exhaust port, dodging fire from the turbolaser batteries, and suddenly, the guns stop firing. The rebel pilots are confused for a moment, they don’t know why they’re no longer being shot at. And then they realise, as the TIE fighters are coming at them, just why it is that the guns stopped.
So it kind of parallels why it was that I quit blogging for so many months. I had a bunch of other shit going on, life outside teh intarweb. I didn’t want to shoot down one of my own, you know?
But that’s over now, for a bit anyway. I fought valiantly, but the damned X-wings took out all my TIE fighters, so back to the guns it is.
It’s kind of funny, the way I do that; using pop-culture-based metaphor and euphemism to communicate ideas. My sister does it too. In fact we can, and have, had entire conversations using quotes from films, songs, and other unrelated nonsense jargon. It confounds my wife; I can see how and why. I think it annoys her a bit, too. Sometimes, though, it works better than any conventional grammar at conveying just the right meaning, with the caveat that your ‘audience’ be already on the same cultural wavelength as yourself. That’s why it works with my sister, and not my wife; Jen and I grew up for 20-something years together (like it or not!), and have largely been exposed to the same things, culturally and environmentally, over time, so she has a pretty good idea where I’m coming from with my odd manner of expression.
On the other hand, my wife and I have completely different backgrounds, and have only the last 9 years or so to draw upon. Yes, we have a lot of things in common now, one of those things that help make us a beautiful team, but our childhoods are not really among them. That’s a strength all its own, though, and not entirely related to what I’m talking about.
Posted by Ron as Media, Miscellaneous, TV & Movies at 10:57 AM EST
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It’s been a while. Four months. Not as long as some people I know, but hardly regular posting. 
The rest of October, and all of November was a pretty busy time, between everyone in Meghan’s family with birthdays (myself included), and sorting out issues with this new computer. December with the manic holiday buying (which, admittedly, I did very little of, so it’s a poor excuse - but that’s what this is about - excuses). At least during the holidays we got together with Luke, Chie, James and Jess. That was quite nice.
January was a little slow at work, so I finally got my car in the shop. I’m still rounding up parts to fix it, but it should be ready for spring. Unfortunately, January being slow has also led me to why I’m blogging at 9:24am on a weekday; I’m laid off. Not that it’s all bad. I get some unemployment enjoyment, and a little vacation, which I haven’t really taken in quite some time. Okay, it hasn’t been that long, but it feels like it has. Maybe I’m a wuss and need more off time than people with a real work ethic.
So I plan to take it easy for a few weeks, and hopefully my boss can score me a temporary position as a parts delivery dude, which would suit me just fine. We’ll see; the success or not, of that will determine if there are more forthcoming updates here, I think.
Still no house pics, Other Luke! :p
And now, in case anyone actually wants to know, the tech section 
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Posted by Ron as Computers, Fire-in-a-can, Games, Home Sweet Home, Miscellaneous, Work at 11:21 AM EST
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The big reason things have been rather quiet on my site, is that Meghan and I got married. It’s not like a lot of things have changed; we’ve been together for a long time, and have lived together since August 2004. The big thing was that we decided to do this very last-minute. My sister and Meghan’s sister were in town here in the Sault at the same time, and this was not something that would be happening again for a while, so we decided to strike while the proverbial iron was hot.
I haven’t got any pictures to post, as they’re all on Meghan’s laptop and some still on other peoples’ memory cards, and I’m incredibly lazy.
We held the event in my parents’ backyard, and had a BBQ dinner afterwards. Anyway, it went off very smoothly, and it was a very enjoyable gathering. There were only about 15 in attendance which, I feel, was about perfect. I don’t like big crowds, and this way I got to talk to everyone.
The ceremony itself was a non-denominational handfasting with distinctly pagan undertones. I think all in attendance agreed that it was quite lovely.
Due to the last-minute nature of the event, we’ve also decided to schedule a more formal reception in early September for the benefit of my extended family and other friends who were not in attendance the first time.
So that’s about it. Hopefully I will post some pictures sometime, but don’t hold your breath on that one. Remember what I said about my new house? Yeah, that.
Posted by Ron as Food, Home Sweet Home, Miscellaneous at 6:54 PM EDT
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Been a month since last post. I’ve been busy. More on that later
Posted by Ron as Miscellaneous at 9:39 PM EDT
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I haven’t blogged this month, so before it’s too late, here goes.
I haven’t been up to much of note. Still anxiously awaiting the day that my boss lets me know what’s going on with my future. I’d really really like to be signed up for an apprenticeship; the sooner the better, as far as I’m concerned.
Once I know how secure my job is, I’m sure there are a few things that will get taken care of. I know I have blogged a little list about it before, but now I may have some things to add to said list.
My computer is beginning to give me some trouble. I don’t know if my hard drives are dying, or if WindowsXP is finally taking a shit after nearly 4 years. I’ve been getting some disk errors lately, and chkdsk has been running at startup a lot recently. My gut feeling tells me it might be one of the hard drives. Either way, it might be time to retire this box to light duty.
I think I’ve found my replacement. I’m tempted to go with an ultra-quiet HTPC from Lix Systems, whose specialty is inexpensive Linux-based set-top systems. To start, I’d likely dual-boot Windows and Linux until I become more familiar with the latter, and am sure it does everything I want it to. This would then be hooked up to the new LCD TV/monitor I’d get for the livingroom. Coupled with a wireless keyboard and mouse, it sounds ideal; kick back on the couch to do all this crap instead of sitting at a desk.
Also on my agenda is replacing Meghan’s SVX. It has a negative association for me, as I bought it from SASS, whom I now hate. Plus, it’s not as nice as Alice, my other one. Meghan spotted a very nice-looking WRX wagon at Sudbury Fine Cars, so perhaps we’ll check it out one of these weekends. However, this is a rather large financial commitment, and I have a mortgage to worry about these days too, so it is by no means a certainty.
Well, that’s more or less all there is at the moment. Naturally, if something interesting occurs, I will be sure to write about it here.
Posted by Ron as Computers, Fire-in-a-can, Home Sweet Home, Media, Miscellaneous, Work at 5:54 PM EDT
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So today is the Vernal Equinox. The weather was not encouraging today; dismal and headache-inducing. But maybe with the spring weather will come some welcome change.
I’ve been back in Sault Ste. Marie for almost 3 full months now, and I have yet to find a job. Somehow I thought it would be different this time. I returned full of confidence, with new skills, a better attitude, and more experience. I guess I should have known better. Last time I lived here, it took me 6 full years of looking (to be fair, it was on-and-off looking) to find something, and that something started at minimum wage.
Sure, there are jobs out there, but everyone around here wants one of two things; they either want someone who will work for next-to-nothing, or someone with 5+ years experience and fully trained. There doesn’t seem to be a happy medium. Call it the “Soo Factor” for lack of a better term. That’s kind of catchy. I think I’ll go with it.
Mind you, it comes off as an excuse, which I suppose it is, but after a search as demoralising as this one has been thus far, I have to tell myself something in order to keep looking.
Since I’ve not been working, I’ve had plenty of spare time, ok, too much spare time. I started that CoC campaign that I mentioned in the last post. First session seemed to go over pretty well. We’ll see how that develops. I’ve also been dumping a lot of time into the D&D campaign that Meghan has been running. It just keeps getting better all the time; defintely a weekly highlight for me. I never realised how much I’d missed gaming until I went without for a year and a half.
Let’s see, what else?
I’ve found out about at least 3 more retarded internet fads this year. The Terrible Secret of Space was pretty amusing; by the same fellow responsible for the silly Zero Wing remix that made the rounds a while ago, and almost as funny. Almost.
Also been linked to a euro DJ putting out CDs under the name Basshunter. Now, I’m not a huge fan of techno usually, especially clubbin’ shit, but this is pretty catchy, pop-y stuff. It’s cute. And from what I’ve heard so far, all of it very nerdy. I guess that’s what makes it endearing. That, and the fact that it’s in Swedish, so I can’t understand how crappy the lyrics are. So far, I’ve heard two tracks, the first one, ‘Boten Anna,’ about a mIRC chat bot called Anna, whom it is discovered, is a real person. The other was about playing in a Warcraft 3 clan on a map called Defense of the Ancients, or DotA for short. Not phenominal, and so campy it hurts, but it was good for a chuckle.
Then there’s the Decemberists. I’ve heard a lot about them in the past year or so, but I never got around to checking them out, until yesterday when Robin Ward posted a link to one of their songs. I figured they’d be overblown, and that was pretty much bang-on. Nothing impressive or special about them, IMHO.
I realise that opinion lacks credibility, because, yeah, I am a nobody, but also because of its juxtaposition immediately following what was essentially a positive review of some cheesy eurotechno. So be it, I guess. I’ll follow it with something equally damaging.
A Shoggoth on the Roof; a musical pardoy of Fiddler on the Roof, based on H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. It’s funny; that’s really all there is to say about it. I’m not otherwise inclined to watch/listen to musicals, but if someone put this on, I’d go. Someone actually tried to, apparently, but were sued into submission. The suit wouldn’t hold up, since parody is clearly fair use, but the company putting it on didn’t have the cash to fight back, so the world loses. Score another one for the tyranny.
What else is there? I guess a hundred little things, but none of them terribly important.
My car is still busted, and Meghan’s is falling apart. The old Dodge is still kicking, but it needs a lot of work before it’s trustworthy again, and I don’t feel like spending the money on it. It needs a new waterpump, which requires taking half the engine apart to get at. It’s a dumb design from that standpoint. I’d contemplated that if the pump ever went critical, I’d just do an engine swap, but at this point, it isn’t even worth it. It’s got some nasty rust starting on one of the rocker panels, and we honestly don’t need three cars. It’s ridiculous, really.
If anything, I want to get rid of two of them and get something newer and more reliable. I’ll keep my Alice, because it would be stupid to sell her after just spending almost $8k on a tranny swap; I’d never recover the investment. Besides, I still like that car, and it’s in decent enough shape. Still needs a new gearbox o-ring and now something is leaking coolant again. I think it might be coming from the lower rad hose, and also from the cap. I guess I’ll try replacing both and see if that helps. Still waiting on new suspension parts, too. I’m trying to time it so that I can have all the major stuff done at once, by Planet Motorsport in Guelph. We’ll see, I guess.
Wow, this post ent up being longer than I expected. I’ll try to post more often. I have no excuse besides laziness, and though valid as any other, it doesn’t make me feel any better about it.
I think the length of this post comes from a growing sense of disconnection from society and a build up of feelings of isolation. Seems odd, since I live with my fiancée and two of my good friends, but there you have it.
Whenever I start feeling like this, I always instinctively reach into my past. I try googling people I knew and find myself wishing that more of them were present and accounted for on the web. I’ve discussed this with Luke before, and he thinks it’s a bit foolish. I can see his reasoning. If they never bothered to keep in touch, then they weren’t good friends in the firstplace. It makes some amount of sense, but at the same time, if that were a universal truth, there wouldn’t be places like classmates and other crap like that. I’ve no intention of falling into that trap, but still.
Maybe this all started again when I called my old friend Trevor, after he called my parents house and left a drunken message on New Years’ Eve. I called him and we made plans; he was coming to the Soo from North Bay and we were going to go for coffee or something, but he never showed and he never called. I know there could be a million reasons for it, considering the nature of his visit here, but still, he could have called. So this is where I’m supposed to just say, “fuck you, I don’t care” or something, right?
I can’t do it though. It’s not like I’d even look for anything meaningful; I just want to know what people are up to. Everyone should keep a blog. Okay, that’s clearly not going to happen, and probably for the best. All it would likely do is make me feel worse about myself. I do, in fact, realise how pitiful that sounds.
Well, before this starts sounding like my young emo cousin’s webpage, I’d better quit writing. Out.
Posted by Ron as Fire-in-a-can, Games, Miscellaneous, Music, Work at 8:05 PM EDT
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I haven’t been very posty lately. I don’t have a particularly good excuse, nor, I suppose, do I need one. However, I did promise new house pics, so I’m kind of neglecting that for now. I will have some soon enough, but the place is still a mess from moving in. My laziness wins again. It always does.
Posted by Ron as Miscellaneous at 1:48 PM EST
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Well, here it is; 2007. I’m into my new house, but I haven’t been able to post any pictures yet, as we have no internet access at the moment. I promise to put up some pictures as soon as I do, though.
Posted by Ron as Home Sweet Home, Miscellaneous at 3:29 PM EST
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