Reformed Loser

Called Will. He was out. Left my number.
Called two Best Buys. One (S. Tunnel Rd.)had gotten some this morning, but had sold out. The other was garbled, but the end result was the same.
Work number keeps coming up busy. I'm going to take a shower, get dressed, and run to the frame shop.
Went to the frame shop, bought some frames, mounted the Joan Jett poster and Dad's Marine Recruiting poster. After, I went around to different stores asking if they had any Wiis. Wal-Mart says they'll have some tomorrow morning. Will called, we talked. Then went to Ingle's and got my schedule. When I woke up this morning I discovered I have the flu. So far it's not too bad.

Inauspicious, late beginning today. It's 2:41 pm.

To Do:
1. Get work schedule
2. Call Will
3. Take posters to frame shop
4. Call Best Buy
5. Clean up this damn mess (You know this thing is the first thing, the thing that I was going to do, and build on, and in these past two months, I've never really done it. I am a loser.)

Okay, I have three phone calls to make, that's easy, so I'll do that now.

Pertinent Date: 26 November. I looked. I was watching Octopussy last night on Spike TV and definitely saw a bare female butt; I'm pretty sure I saw the rest of the female too. Next I see a commercial for a block of programming called Late Night Strip, so I check out their website, wondering if nudity is about to start on basic cable. One thing leads to another and I'm trawling. Just looking, but hey, that's against the rules, so we'll set the clock back a few days. Hopefully we've all learned a lesson here.
I haven't really done anything in the past few weeks, but I'm feeling the motivation creeping back into me. Since finishing the crappy fantasy novel, and the much better Special Topics in Calamity Physics, I'm ready to read some more history. I'll make it Robinson's Dungeon, Fire and Sword, from DR's recommended reading list. I've started it two or three times, getting further each time; this time I'll finish it. I have to go to court tomorrow, so I'm off to bed now.

I hobnobbed a little bit last night. Willy and I went over to H. Martin's, joining the Sneed brothers (whose picture I would have, only I left my camera somewhere), Wayne, the beautiful Jennifer Piercy, Nan and Laura from next door, D. Yancey, B. Grider, and P. Schneider, pictured. We later went to Whiskey Tavern and Scully's. I've got to go now. I'd like to write more, but there's really not much to write about. There is a test at the end of Marisha Pessl's book, including an essay question. I think I might take it. I gotta go. Good night.

It's now two minutes shy of 22 November. This thirty days was easy because I took a legalistic approach to my bell-ringing resolution. Trawling the internet was off-limits (though I did find myself lingering over pictures of superheroines while on legitimate RL business). Anything else was fair game (Cinemax). Now I'll make it a challenge. No external imagery. Enough about that.
Today I talked to both Bill Sanderson and Gene Hammonds about Special Topics in Calamity Physics. Mr. Sanderson knew all about it and was already planning on reading it. Coach Hammonds was not familiar, but intrigued. He asked for a pen so that [I] could write down all the pertinent details. He said he was often in Books-A-Million and that he would try to remember to pick up a copy.
After work I went over to the Root Bar to meet Close Buddy and Company. One of the Company was an IDF veteran and we all talked about Iraq. I've now been tasked with presenting an argument for why we should stay the course and how we are winning. I'll see what I can do. What I really wanted to talk about this week was price gouging and how there's no such thing, maybe I'll still be able to.

Awesome day today. Really awesome. The best part? When I called Close Buddy and asked if he wanted to have lunch, he said no. I took the Buick in to get inspected today, and then set off on foot. I went up to the credit union, deposited four checks, and then walked downtown (account balance still meager).
While downtown I ran into Will Rice and also picked up a copy of Marisha Pessl's book. It's great by the way, a real page-turner. More importantly, Will may have offered me a job.
On my way out of town, I was given a kick-ass poster of Joan Jett. When I got back to Precision Tune, I gave Chuck his customary twenty dollar gratuity, and drove home. Chuck also installed a new flasher unit in my car, and it's very modern-sounding. I love it.
On the audio front, I'm working on mixing the crowd noises from Andy Griffith's Hamlet into my own rendition. Zshare has a 100 MB limit on uploads, and mine is already over, but I'll see if I can't quickly record a snippet, add applause, and share it with you.

Edit: Remember this was very hastily done.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/bloggerhamlet-mp3.html

This one's for Alchemy.
http://www.zshare.net/audio/wardefined-mp3.html

My go to bed early, big day tomorrow idea didn't exactly work. It didn't backfire, but I didn't get up early and do a bunch. The way I sleep is, I go to sleep, and assuming I'm not woken by an alarm, I wake up seven hours later. Then I can either get up or roll over. If I roll over, I sleep another six to eight hours. Yesterday I woke up at four in the morning and rolled over. I got up at the crack of noon, played Xbox, then studied lines until it was time to go meet the rest of the group and head off to Charlotte. I don't think I mentioned the reason it was a big day. This is it. I went to The Peninsula Club in Charlotte to perform The Haunting, another murder mystery. I think nobody was thrilled about it, my mastery of the script was shaky at best, but it turned out great because we had a good audience, the most crucial ingredient to any performance. (Additionally, and as you may imagine, the girls of the Charlotte Country Club set are breathtaking.)
I played the ghost of loutish Henry Rawson, groom-to-be on that fateful night one hundred years ago when Diamond Jack, the riverboat gambler, was murdered. I didn't do it (commit the murder).
Today Mr. Wykle came in to get a fruit basket. I was mortified. I think he thought he knew who I was, but wasn't sure enough to commit himself. Long story short, I was going to tell him, and catch up and all that, but after he witnessed me being instructed Barney-style in how to make a fruit basket, I just couldn't go through with it. I think I'll write him a letter.
The whole episode left me more than a little depressed. I thought about Reformed Loser, and speculated that all I could show for it were a few photographs of me in my underwear, but then I brightened. There is good in this blog, I've felt it.

Normally on a night like tonight, I'd leave a long post (tomorrow's a day off for me), but I've got a big day tomorrow, so I'm going to bed early. Two things: Milton Friedman died today and I gotta figure out some way to get a Wii.

Okay, here's round two, from Summer Moonshine, with an opening special effect that will knock you back on your coal-mining asses.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/wodehouse000-mp3.html

The Rummy Show was wonderful, every time I saw it. Unfortunately I'm not prepared to give a substantial, logical argument for why he was a great Secretary of Defense, but I'll say he's honest, and loved by America's fighters. Whenever he was criticized over some strategy or another in Iraq, he always said he was following the recommendations of our military experts. I thought that best too.
On the other hand, "military experts" makes me think of General Zinni. I was disheartened to learn that Zinni had become one of Rumsfeld's detractors, and if his group published a letter, I haven't read it. I'll go try and find it now.
...
No letter, but snippets from an interview at NewsMax. Paraphrasing, he says that the US should not have invaded Iraq, Iraq did not pose the kind of threat it was purported to, and those responsible for invasion, including Rumsfeld, should own up. He says we haven't won their hearts and minds, democracy is not there yet, but we're in it now, and we have to win.
It's just about time for work, so I'm gonna go, have a wonderful day.

Edit: Since I was on the subject of defense, I went ahead and uploaded a first effort recording from Marine Corps Doctrinal Paper 1: Warfighting. My first criticism of it is that it's very unenthusiastic. See for yourself: http://www.zshare.net/audio/warfighting-mp3.html

Alright, first of all, today is the 231st birthday of the United States Marine Corps.

Second of all, I tried plugging my microphone into my sound card, which did enable Audacity to hear it, and the playback is clear. Great! With audial visions of Hendriesque hilarity, I pulled out Wodehouse's Four Plays and began reading. I didn't record anything, but I'm pretty sure I sucked. There were two females in the first scene, and my accent probably needs a lot of work.

Third of all, I beat Ultimate Alliance, and though I didn't say it here, I just wanted to beat it so I could put it away and never look at it again. Now that I've beaten it though, I must beat it again. Why? There's several reasons. I've unlocked Colonel Fury, who is cool (he's got a really nifty "power" that involves a submachine gun, and instead of punching downed enemies, he pulls out a pistol and shoots them), I want to look at some of the other characters, I've got a few other things to unlock, and I missed about a third of the admittedly lame story (I played the last third cooperatively, and my partners, Sandy and JW, don't have the same attitude to cutscenes that I do).

I'll be doing another mystery next week. It's called The Haunting I think, and it'll be in Charlotte at some yacht club. Good night.

Edit: I've been meaning to take pictures of some of the lovely ladies of Ingle's Oteen, but I haven't gotten any yet. To make up for it, I took a picture of the lady on the Santitas bag, and felt a little foolish when a shopper looked at me funny.

I guess I should apologize for that. This photo could be considered Not Safe For Reputation. The reason I put it up there is because I was looking at a local talent agency website today, and I felt like the male model on it looked gay. Said agency represents a friend of mine, and I'll probably be contacting them:

Models: send at least one (1) clear full face headshot without makeup, with hair out of face and one (1) clear full-length body shot wearing a swimsuit or boxers. Please do not send nude photos. You can send composites if you have them, but still send the face and body snapshot. Don't send your portfolio.

Actors: send a monologue on CD along with a black and white headshot and resume.

Voice talent: send CD’s for a review. They should be approximately 2-3 minutes in length and should contain a variety of reads. If you are interested in doing narrations, please include samples on your demo.

Now, I've got plenty of pictures, though none in boxers (and I can't send any from my extensive nude collection). I'll need to record some readings. I've got a microphone, but so far I haven't gotten it to work with Audacity, my audio editor. When I do get it up, what shall I read? I can recreate Andy Griffith. I could do Wodehouse. Come to think of it, that's great! Quality Andy right next to authentic Wodehousian Brit? That'd really show them something, wouldn't it? That's all for now, Sandy and JW are coming over and I've got eggs to swallow.

Watching Ali G right now on HBO. He's good.

Yeah, that's just filler. I worked today, Sandy came over and lifted weights. I didn't, cause I've been at it for the past two nights and am sore. I'm gonna play some Ultimate Alliance with Captain's Choice (Captain America, Invisible Woman, Ms. Marvel, and Storm), then read a crappy fantasy novel for a bit, then go to bed. Tomorrow I'll be voting, calling some people about getting an agent, and maybe talking politics here, but talking nonetheless. Bye for now.

Sorry, nothing new to report today. I believe voting on the midterm elections begins tomorrow. Reckon I'll be voting Tuesday. I called my mother today, Intrigued Spectator, she was thrilled. I'd have told her she had you to thank, but I'm not quite ready to reveal this blog to her. Explaining the presence of the bell-ringer to her would not be comfortable for me.
Speaking of the midterm elections, I was thinking about holding forth my political views on slow days, like today. Two people with whom I often discuss political philosophy sometimes read this blog, so they could team up on me and we'd all have a good time. Also, in keeping with ReformedLoser's theme, it would help me learn to write, and craft an argument. I was hesitant about the idea at the beginning of this paragraph, but my short, well-crafted, written argument is now warming me to the idea. Please, share your thoughts.

Edit: I replaced a default link with one to my imdb profile.

Just a picture of the inimatable Roger Whitaker. I was going to post a picture of the smallest apple in the world, that I found inside a five pound bag of Red Delicious today, but I couldn't find the camera. I'm pretty sure it's in my car, but when I went outside to get it, it wasn't immediately findable, and it was

too cold to keep looking.
Today on the radio Heath Schuler left the Schuler-Taylor debate because Taylor wasn't at the studio...blah, blah, I know this is boring. I want to give you A material only, but all I've got is a picture of Roger. There's a tiny little apple sitting on the bench, begging to be photographed...GD it, I heard somebody say it was good to do one thing every day for the sole reason that you don't want to do it. I'll be right back.



















So there you have it. You know what the best part is? Now I don't have to wait until tomorrow to eat it.

I thought I could eat it in one bite, but I took three. Good night.

Last night I went to sleep at 8:00 so I could wake up early and leave you a post to read at work. I slept till 10:15, with a 10:30 appointment at Precision Tune. So, sorry. I dropped the car off and went out on foot with a camera. I got some pretty good pictures, picked up the car, and came home, stopping once at O'Reilly to pick up an ignition coil, which I subsequently installed. Sandy came over, we worked out, and here I am. Here are some of my favorite pics:

A suspicious reader burst in today, interrupting my inactivity. As you can see, he is not pleased with my current level of squalor. Yeah, look at the state of it.
I was commended today at work by our Regional Produce Merchandiser, and it really put a spring in my step. To any managers out there, honest praise can work wonders.
I don't know what else to say, so I'm gonna turn in.

Is Donna Reed always in the Flickr badge, or is it just me? Of course I'm not complaining.