So we're ready, with less than an hour left to go. We have some Italian spumante (I hate Champagne), and Strix and I are going to enjoy the New Years at home. We even have black eyed peas to eat tomorrow, as tradition requires.
But what can I say about 2007? What has it meant for me? Here are a few of the highlights from the over 500 posts I have made this year: [Cue flashback effects...]
January 2nd: I got a little freaked out.
January 9th: I contemplated the death of a friendship.
January 12th: I practiced singing Danke Schoen.
January 20th: I dabbled in the SCA.
January 24th: I contemplated an Old Coat.
January 30th: My experiences as a state lobbyist.
February 1st: I wrote a thousand words.
February 14th: I wrote about love.
February 17th: I contemplated our existence in superimposed states.
February 20th: I posted pictures from an earlier trip to Chicago.
February 24th: Strix and I had fun in Santa Fe.
March 5th: I saw a window made of rock.
March 8th: I visited a forest where the trees are all made of stone.
March 10th: I visited the Shiprock up close.
March 17th: I learned that I am a Vogon.
March 18th: I visited a house made of agate.
March 21st: I showed pics of a car with no sound system.
March 26th: I wrote a New Mexico Primer.
April 1st: I revealed a fool.
April 9th: The Bunnies Came Marching!
April 30th: I went to Zion.
May 13th: Vegas, baby!
May 15th: I helped build a shower for charity.
May 29th: I waded in hot springs.
June 2nd: I slammed!
June 6th: I decided not to take a bath.
June 8th: I made a friend.
June 30th: I raised money for the March of Dimes.
July 1st: I went to a freaking hot ren faire in the desert.
July 21st: I battled witches and wizards to get my copy.
July 23rd: I got a little culture.
August 3rd: My baby got punched in the nose.
August 16th: I went to National Poetry Slam!
August 23rd: I contemplated the dark side of sunshine.
September 9th: I spent a day in the life of a woman.
September 19th: Arrrr, matey!!!
September 24th: The first Voxer known to me passed away.
October 1st: Black Cherry Vodka. Need I say more?
October 5th: I auditioned for my first play.
October 17th: Spiders got tough.
October 28th: I contemplated leadership by the qualified.
November 2nd: I contemplated the Gateway Vegetable.
November 11th: I became Stranded.
November 20th: Some dead flowers told me their story.
November 29th: I've been riding on the raaaaailrooooad...
December 1st: I spent some time in Telluride.
December 8th: I devised a gullibility test, and I'm still waiting for the patent.
December 13th: I wore makeup.
December 15th: I tried to put things into perspective.
December 20th: I tried to understand a new character.
December 29th: I wrote of Flesh and Stone.
All in all, I'd say it was a very eventful year for me! Here's to 2007! In my old age (which starts late next month), may I remember the good times, and let the bad times drift into the mists of memory. Salud!
Like a lot of people, I have a Google alert set up to let me know every time my name comes up somewhere new on the Internet. I'm in the newspaper occasionally, because of my job, and it's good to know where the stories are reprinted, etc.
Because of this Google alert, I have also been - inadvertently - following the career of another Daryl Branson, a country gospel musician and one heck of a retail salesman in North Carolina. Here's the latest, which is a post on someone else's blog about him.
To the other Daryl Branson, keep on playing, my friend!
A quick Google search turned up the following on our Dr. Rogowski: He was suspended from practicing medicine recently for being hooked on morphine and methadone. I guess that explains why he's got so much time on his hands for irritating people over the Internet.
I've recently, much to my chagrin, begun an Internet correspondence with one Vox member by the name of Dr. Janusz Rogowski. It started when he commented on a picture posted on CupCate's blog. He stated that he found the language she used to be inappropriate. I should have minded my own business and let CupCate handle it, but being the proactive guy that I am, I suggested to him that clicking the "Flag as offensive" link might be more effective than posting a comment saying that you're offended.
That was in July. Then, earlier today, someone named "PureMedic" with a shell account commented on the thread, rambling on about how women are inferior to men and other misogynistic crap. Rogowski posted immediately after, responding to my comment, asking me how he could remove his comment from the page, and that he was asking because I had given him Vox advice before. He was upset because the page was coming up in Google searches of his name. I told him that I didn't work for Vox, but that the only person who could delete comments was the blog owner, so he would have to ask CupCate.
I then followed up in a separate comment by calling the misogynistic spammer "PureMedic" an idiot. It's not very mature, and also a statement of the obvious, but I felt like saying it.
Now, this evening, I have received the following private message from Dr. Rogowski:
Paxton,
Your 'effort' at calling me an idiot was ineffective at penetrating my ego. This is a personal message so nobody else but you can see it. This Vox thing seems to be for USA people mainly and is not personal. You did not answer my question about the google page - SO FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My response:
I didn't call you an idiot. If you look again, you'll see that my comment calling someone an idiot was directed at the comment above yours, written by someone going by the name of "PureMedic." His comment was ignorant, rambling, and misogynistic. If you are "PureMedic," then yes, I would be calling you an idiot.
As for me not answering your question about the Goggle page, you'll have to forgive me for not caring. I don't work for Google or Vox. I am not your tech support. Despite this, I did answer your question - the only person who can remove your comments is the blog owner, CupCate.
As for Vox being mostly for people from the USA, the majority of the people in my neighborhood are from outside the US. It is geared toward people who are somewhat Internet savvy.
As for fucking me... I think I'll pass, but thank you for the offer.
Shortly after receiving the first message from him, I then received this one:
Re: Steinerts
Where the hell did he get the idea that I live in a motel? The title, Steinerts, tells me that he sent me this message from a pic I had on my page from the hot air balloon ride I took a few years ago. Here it is:
Do you want to tell me how anyone can think this is a motel?
Here's my response:
I do not live in a motel. I live in a house. The picture you are referring to is of a greenhouse nursery... you know, trees? I took the picture from the basket of a hot air balloon.
Your opinion of which portion of the human anatomy I most closely resemble is entirely your own, so I will not argue. I would be happy to "shit the fuck up," if I knew how. Perhaps you could demonstrate and put the video on YouTube.
At any rate, I've blocked him, not that that always stops people.
Is it conceivable that he actually holds an advanced degree of some sort?
To be a statue, unchanging and unfeeling
Would, at least by some measures, be a relief.
To be unconcerned with the changes of the times,
Or the weather, or the fashions of the age.
If I were a statue, and viewed to be cold,
It is all that could be expected of me.
You can't get blood from a stone, nor tears from bronze.
And you cannot get a breath from me.
If I am not viewed favorably, he who hewn my visage
May shake his head and sigh,
And set upon his latest vision with hammer and chisel,
And forget that I, his failure, still stand in town square.
Birds may land on me; children may climb on me.
Vandals may scrawl their names on me with paint.
Tourists may use me as a landmark,
And yet will I stand, unscathed by indignity.
Without a viewer, a statue is not a man,
Nor a vision of a man,
But only a chunk of stone or metal,
Created by other hands, for other hearts.
- Paxton Daryl Branson
Remember, remember, the Fifth of November
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Set in the not too distant future, V for Vendetta is the story of a masked man who takes on a totalitarian regime which has taken over Britain. It is Guy Fawkes vs. 1984. It's a very powerful story, and the backstory of how the world came to be the way it is unfolds throughout. It isn't often you are brought by a story to root for the terrorist, but V does it.
The language is high, and the story makes you think. It is not a story for those who don't wish to consider that the world we live in is not as we perceive it, or to believe that we can be manipulated by those we trust to lead us in the face of national tragedy.
Show us a TV show you never miss.
A yes, the Girls Next Door. A show about a rich old man and his three gold-digging trollops. I never miss it, but I never watch it, either.
So what does this mean? I could earn this monthly? Yearly? This is a one-time cost, if I were sell my whole blog to someone? Hmm...
I ran across Richard Cheese among my Internet travels, and knew right away I would have to get more. He takes pop and rock songs, the lamer the better, and instantly makes them cool by doing covers of them with a full Big Band backing him up and singing them in Vegas Lounge-Singer style. This is the first song I heard from him:
For comparison, here's the original:
So once I'd heard Mr. Cheese's take on this song, I had to get more. Unfortunately, iTunes didn't have anything of his at the time (though now they do), so I put some of his CDs on my Amazon wishlist. Lo and behold, my mother, who is almost as demented as I am, bought it for me for Christmas.
Here's one of the songs:
Sorry, I don't know why the cover art won't show here. And again, for reference, the original:
There are 18 parodies on this CD, and they're all hilarious.
I saw this bumper sticker on the way into work today:
"The only good Socialist's, Marxist's, Communist's,
Nazi's, and Al-Qaeda Terrorist's are DEAD ONES."
I'm not even going to tackle the ignorance of the message in the bumper sticker, because there's no point. If we're making a list of people to kill, though, can we please include people who misuse apostrophes?
You do know, don't you, what there are a limited number of apostrophes, and if you misuse them, you're taking one away from where it really needs to be?
