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Ugh. About an hour ago I thought, Hey, I should write something for my blog! It’s been ages. Had positive thoughts of ranting about racing and riding and things generally looking up. Then . . . the impersonal automated phone call from my bank. It says it is calling about one of my credit cards and asks me to confirm that I am __________. The freaky thing is the blank was my full name.

I’ve decided I don’t trust any automated calls claiming to be calling about bank accounts or anything important, so I hang up instead of pressing 1 like it wants me to. That would confirm that I am __________. Maybe I should have pressed 2, the other option. I wonder if the robot voice would have apologized for wasting my time or if it’s just another way for them to hook more people. Maybe it would transfer me to a 1-900 line. At least then they could try to make some money off me.

I looked up the bank’s phone number and call back, key in the information it asks for to identify me, and then get connected with a live person. At first I am wary because there is a lot of static on the line and the person sounds far, far away. Was that the plan? I would call the number back and the bastards trying to steal from me would intercept the call and get me anyway? I think he said his name was Joe. I told him I couldn’t hear him, and suddenly it got a lot better and he was standing next to me, although it sounded like Joe lives in India.

Joe explained my account was past due and wanted me to make a payment over the phone. Fuck . . . collections. I worked as a credit card collector for about 6 weeks once. I knew exactly what he wanted and what the steps were if you can’t do option #1. I tried to be reasonable and explain my situation, but Joe didn’t really care and his script didn’t have anything in it that would allow him to be personable or understand that I’m not someone who misses paying my credit card or tries to worm out of things. I was patient. Rather than hanging up I tried to explain my reasoning, but Joe wasn’t having any of it. He doggedly pursued me using the same methods I had once tried on others. I always knew it was a soul-sucking job and got out when I could.

I finally had to let Joe go. Hopefully he has a nice day. I won’t be answering calls from numbers I don’t recognize for a while.

Evil bastards

I’ve been reading a lot lately, mostly online. Following a few blogs and clicking links they put up that lead to other interesting things. It’s like following the rabbit down the hole and into another world, but then there’s another hole, and, rabbit or no, it’s tempting to dive in. So I’m going to post more things i find interesting here. I already posted a few links on Your Daily Adventure. I just read something I thought was really worthwhile and insightful, so I’m putting a link to it here, and maybe I’ll have more than just the one before the night is through.

• Kerry Cohen lives in Portland, OR, has an MFA in creative writing and an MA in counseling psychology, she wrote a book or two and wrote this great posting on the Powell’s Book blog. Oh, and if you don’t click on the link, at least know that she is reading at Powell’s on Wednesday at 7:30.

• Didn’t read this online originally, but it’s interesting. It’s about Google. Obviously, there’s a bit of a spin from the author to make it read a certain way and be entertaining, but it makes one think. At least it made me. Made me think about how maybe the real evil bastards in the world society might be the CEOs, board members and all higher-ups of big corporations. Or at least maybe we should look into what’s happening and what the future holds a little more by examining what’s happening at that level and not just worrying about the Kim Jong-il’s and Saddam Hussein’s of the world. Oh yeah, I used Google’s search engine to look up proper spellings.

Ok, I’m done.

Blahginess

I’ve been reading lots of other blogs lately, and surfing through various links others have published on their blogs. I thought maybe I would start mentioning a few things I found interesting and linking to them here. This brilliant thought came to me as I was in the middle of reading one man’s view on why college is a waste of time. I especially like this bit:

Most courses of study, even the ones that are very close to being purely vocational training, are preparing students for a career that will keep them indoors and sedentary, for jobs that are intellectual but only in the most ordinary and hum-drum sense of the word and thinking is mostly a matter of following instructions or collecting and organizing data, for jobs that will require them to use their hands only for keyboarding, manipulating a mouse, and checking off items on lists.

What used to be called with good reason white collar jobs.

What are now usually self-flatteringly self-designated “professional” jobs.

 I know a lot of people that have jobs like that, and my last job was similar, although anyone would be hard-pressed to point out how it was professional, with or without the quotes.

Reading through a few blogs published by writers who talk about the writing life, their books and the interconnected network of writers has me feeling envious and wishing I could be a writer. Sure, sometimes they sound pretentious, and there seems to be much literary cock-blocking (I really wanted to use that phrase), but it seems like a cool community. I read something about it here.

Maybe I will write more later when I don’t feel so dull…

 

Long update

I want to change the format of this blog. I have pages at the top with different labels, such as Taste and Tunes, but the problem is that the stuff I put there gets all jumbled together. Maybe it’s my fault, but the organization isn’t very good for allowing viewers to see what is really there. It would be nice if each page would be like the main page and I could have individual posts on it. I realize I could probably start separate blogs for each one and have the tab link to them or something, but that gets even more cluttered, in one sense. Does greater organization also generate more clutter? More folders, files, etc.? Hmm.

I tried making another page and having it be subordinate to an existing page, thinking maybe I could make a new page every time I wanted to post and it would show up under that existing page, somehow. It didn’t work. I dunno if anyone will read this who can help, but if you can please leave a comment or contact me.

For now, I’m going to put my updates in this here blog post. Rhyme or reason? Maybe not. As far as Taste goes, I am about to take a sip of some Kenya Peaberry Ruera Estate that I picked up at Extracto. I think they’re getting all their supply from Barefoot Coffee Roasters these days, but I can’t be sure since this one doesn’t show up on their website. I’ve been using my Aeropress for normal coffee lately, with some really yummy results from Stumptown’s Costa Rica Montes de Oro, so that’s what I’m using this morning. The smell is right on for a yummy cup of some Kenyan coffee, and the taste is close. Not mind-blowingly great, but that might be my technique or choice of extraction method.

For the Flicks, I’ve seen a few things recently. Most recently, I saw “The Bank Job”. Not bad for that type of flick. Interesting that it’s based on a true story. You have to wonder how accurate it is. You should know what you’re getting into when you go to something with Jason Statham in it. It’s not as action-packed as “Transporter” and it’s not “The Italian Job”, either, but it was enjoyable. Not that I’m putting those movies on a pedestal, understand. The night before that I saw “Be Kind Rewind” and felt let-down. Jack Black is all right, and I liked Mos Def as Prefect Ford in “Hitchhiker’s Guide…”, but I was expecting more considering it was directed by Michel Gondry.

I loved “Eternal Sunshine…” and “The Science of Sleep”, but his latest film doesn’t live up to his previous work. It seemed like the story jumped very quickly and unbelievably to get to where it was going in the beginning, so I guess I would say the screenwriting left something to be desired. That and I was watching for Gondry’s tricks using the camera, perspective, props and scenery to create the effect he desires instead of using CG or other special-effects techniques. There were some bits of the absurd and some tricks in the film, but it felt more like someone holding out a hand that contains a description of a magic trick and how it’s accomplished rather than performing the trick and leaving it to the audience’s imagination to figure out how it’s done.

In Tunes, I went to see Silverhawk a few weeks ago. I really enjoyed their live show and would recommend them to anyone who likes good, live, rock ‘n’ roll music. One thing I am disappointed with is their CDs. I bought two after the show and they just aren’t as powerful as the live act. I don’t know if it is just the mixing, something else about the studio atmosphere or what. See them live, then buy the CD. It is good enough to remind me of what the live act was like, and I enjoy some of the songs enough that I’ll keep listening to it at home, but when I saw them live I didn’t feel like any song was just dead. They put on a good show, those Densmore brothers.

On the Reading front, well, I guess that page is pretty up-to-date. I’m still reading “Diary of a Bad Year” by J.M. Coetzee. I’ve been reading too many little things online here and there to mention. I am putting some links to stuff I find interesting on my other blog, though, so check it out.

Post #47

I made a comment once on another blog I sometimes write for that I only write when I’m feeling down and need a place to vent, but when I’m happy and things are going well in my life I don’t need it in the same way and therefore don’t write as much, if at all. When I look at most of what I’ve written here, I would say that the trend is opposite that of my writing on that other blog. This is my shiny, happy blog.

What is the purpose of blogging? Why do we write the things we do in a place that is so accessible, where anyone can read it if they only know to look? Why not keep a private journal? Do we crave attention, secretly hoping that someone out there will find resonance within the words we write, within our experiences, our pains and our hopes? I know it’s writing practice for me, but it’s also a way to slowly expose more about myself to an invisible audience, to get comfortable with revealing my thoughts and some of my experiences so that I don’t mind even when I have an audience that is no longer invisible, so that I’m not ashamed of anything I am or think. I check my blog stats all the time to see how many times people have visited and what they’ve looked at. I’m curious about who is finding my blog, what they think, if there are any regulars.

I have to ask myself about my motivation to write certain things and to avoid others. The only person I’ve ever known to read the drivel I write is my ex. She used to comment, but only she and God know if she still reads this. It’s clear to me that I’m not ready for primetime. I don’t have the capacity to expose myself like a true exhibitionist, even if I apply a “fictional” tag to what I write. Maybe I can gain courage through interacting with you, dear reader. Are there any? Are you out there? Oh, send me a sign. Better yet, avoid devil-worship and divinity equally and just leave a comment here for me to read. Maybe I will be more brave, more able to show myself and lie exposed if I see examples.

What the fuck am I talking about, you may ask. Sometimes, old chum, I honestly don’t know. It all goes back to the subtitle for this blog, which doesn’t show up with the current theme I’m using: Sometimes high-minded rhetoric – the rest is crap. (This is just a label.) Oh, so self-deprecating, so witty. So is the title of this particular posting. Very original, it is. I wrote most of this the other day and saved it as a draft. The title is what it was saved as, so I guess let’s celebrate it as an anniversary.

What is a writer? (Did someone mention the need for a segue? We don’t need no fucking Segway.) I never claim to be a writer. I sometimes write, but it’s mostly shite like this. But now I have to write a short story in the next two weeks. Two weeks! I haven’t written anything that can really qualify as fiction for a decade or more. Bloody hell. Anyone have any great story ideas?

Updates

I’ve updated the other pages on this blog recently (like Taste, Tunes, etc.), so check ‘em out if you’re interested. No guarantee that I’ll ever update them again, but you’re welcome to check once in a while!

Baby

I’m having a sugar-free mocchacinno pudding right now. How crazy is that? They keep coming up with funky flavors. I’m all for it. I wish there were more things available in sugar-free, but I think it’s coming. Hopefully it’s not just a fad that will go away.

I was thinking about how my relationship with M started today, and it makes me smile. It was illicit and we were like two horny teenagers at times. We snuck around; there would be quick visits at lunch time where I would want to tear her clothes off but couldn’t. It was pretty fucking hot, I have to say. She’s a sexy girl – very desirable. And I still feel that way about her, but it’s evolved. In a good way. We are now engaged to be married. I love her so much and it’s just great.

I have a lot of great memories with her. We have our moments of being down and out, but we are so electric together at other times. Maybe that is the only way it can be so good? I don’t know. What I do know is we have fun, she’s good for me as well as good to me. She makes me be a better person and want to do more, but she also accepts me as I am and takes such good care of me. I could go on and on . . .

So this young blog with it’s sporadic posts (total of five to date) is getting a name change and another makeover. It’s not about terms & conditions because there aren’t going to be any on what shows up here. Be forewarned, this blog can and will be random. It’s me. I won’t define it. Maybe I’ll visit more often if it feels like home.

First post

I know, real imaginative Title and first post. Tough. I’m a little burned-out right now, but wanted to get something down. I couldn’t decide on a name for my blog, but settled on “The Daily Grind” because it alludes to my passion for coffee, my day-to-day and I think it sounds cool. At first I was going with “Fresh Start” because I started a blog elsewhere (which I won’t be importing or linking to) and, for various reasons, decided I needed to start a new one on a different site. I might have to change it again. I think it’s a bit of a ripoff, honestly.

Okay; it’s definitely a ripoff. I just searched on Google for it thinking it was a local coffee shop (edit: It is . . . and more). Turns out it is some big chain, and there are other blogs with this title already. I guess that just speaks to how hard it is to do anything original anymore. Not that I was trying. I was being lazy. But think about it . . .

I’ll change it to something else when I think of it. If you want to know about me, look at my profile (edit: Or check out my “About” page). I’ll fill in the blanks later.

Look

Yeah, I know the look of my blog is kinda’ lame, too. I wish I knew how to write code and do a sweet, custom look. I’m sure it’ll get better. You might think I’m a pretty negative person based on my description of this blog as being about things I hate. I guess I should just admit it right now . . . I’m a hater sometimes. Oh, well. It’s something I’m aware of, I’m working on and I should be unapologetic about it.

UPDATE: I’ve changed the look, the name and the description/subtitle thing, so my comments about negativity above aren’t relevant. See? It’s just that easy to change perceptions! And I don’t think I’ll be doing a custom page any time soon, as I don’t have the code-writing skills and it’s not important enough to actually pay for. Perhaps if people ever actually read my blog . . .