Yeah, yeah, I’m lazy and careless.

January 25, 2004

So, what’s been rattling though Andrew’s head in the last week that he hasn’t cared to share? Honestly, not all that much. There, I said it. I’ve been leading a boring life recently. I guess I can start at the beginning, though.

Sunday I went grocery shopping, which was good because I hadn’t been since before the big ice storm, and things were beginning to run a little dry around the house in certain areas. You know that feeling, how your cupboards can be full but still have nothing in them? Well I guess they were mostly full of my Mom’s stuff, though. I also rented a few movies at Hollywood Video–nothing I’d seen before, either. I watched the first flick, Underworld, that night, and I have to say, I was more impressed than I expected. Underworld is retelling of sorts of “Romeo & Juliet”, i.e., two blood-enemies with one on each side who falls in love with each other. That’s been practically done to death, I imagine, except in this case the battling “houses” were vampires and werewolves in moder society. Anyhow, it had a few weak points to it, like that some of the acting was bad in places by some of the principal characters, but overall I enjoyed it a great deal.

The second movie I rented was The French Connection which I’m certain that many of you saw like 20 years ago. It’s something that people have been telling me I’d like for years, and so I figured why not? I know that it has one of the best car chases in cinema history, I like the two stars, and it won a bunch of Oscars. Well, I did enjoy it, but not as much as I thought. I was expecting something more perhaps? I disliked a few things about the movie, but it was a good flick. And the car chase? Good premise, but I honestly have to say, I’ve seen better ones in movies I’ve watched recently. And that includes Bullitt, which was made five or so years before The French Connection.

Harkening back to the days of my promoting The Shawshank Redemption and having everyone who reads my site say “Uh yeah, we all knew it was an incredible movie. Why hadn’t you seen it yet?”, I also rented American Beauty. I don’t think I need to say much about this movie, and frankly I’d rather not tarnish it with my comments. It’s certainly not the best movie ever made (though it’s up there), but it’s one of the most powerful films I’ve ever seen, and I’m proud to say that it moved me.

What else has been filling my time? I did some work this week and got my first after-trip assignment completed, though I had to wait for a bit to get further instructions. I couldn’t work last Monday, naturally, since it was a federal holiday and I needed to call various city halls around Oregon, but I got essentially everything I needed to do done. Yay me. I’ve also been playing my game quite a bit. I know, I know, you don’t need to say it. The weird thing is that I’m starting to develop two callouses on my fingers from the position I hold my mouse, and it’s a very strange sensation to not only feel them growing on the bottom of my fingers but to feel a callous on the TOP of my fingers that I’ve had since the 6th grade subsiding. I remember when I first got it, and I couldn’t figure out what it was. Someone told me it was a wart, but that didn’t seem right. I eventually discovered that I held my pencil or pen in such a way that it pressed right up against that spot, and so as long as I did a lot of writing, I kept the callous. I lost it in the two years I took off between high school and college, but then it came back again my freshmen year. Now that I’m out of school for good (probably), I’ll probably lose it for good since my days likely won’t be spent holding a pencil.

But how sad is that? Developing callouses (I think that’s what they are, at least) from a video game? I’ve gotten BLISTERS in the past from a video game, on the insides of both my thumbs, and it even scarred for awhile, but never a callous. Oh well, I guess it can’t hurt. Well, it does a little bit before it’s fully formed. Or maybe I just have something embedded in one of my fingers that I can’t see, I dunno. I’m enjoying my game, so it’s all good. Thanks again, O sister of mine.

This week will probably see some work being done once I get a new assignment or further details, as well as a trip to Denver for a much-needed vacation. No hold on, yes, I’ve been out of work for the last eight months, but that’s no vacation. Yes I can sleep in late if I choose. Yes I can stay up late if I choose. Yes I can watch TV if I choose. But I’m still at home. That, my friends, is no vacation. It’s very strenuous having nothing to do. So I’m going to Denver to visit my friend Heather for a few days. I’ve never seen Colorado in the winter before, and while I’m not hoping for a winter wonderland from the days of yore (I’m pretty much assuming that any snow will be piled up and pretty dirty unless we drive out into the wilderness), it’ll probably be prettier than the fogginess that is Portland. That and I’m looking forward to seeing Heather, naturally. She remains my closest friend even after graduation, and since she’s been out of the country (in Puerto Rico, though) for the last few months, it will be good to see her. I’m flying standby, too, so that oughta be interesting. Flying standby is like trying to ice skate uphill in some ways: it’s a slow, sometimes painful process doing something that is normally very easy and painless, and a lot of the time is spent on your butt, maybe even where you started. Andrew’s Analogy of the Day for you.

Well I’m afraid that’s about all I have on my mind for now. Well not really, but that’s about all I want to talk about with you folks. Hopefully I’ll write again sooner than NEXT Sunday, but hey, you don’t really want me to write post after post of “Still playing my game….” or “Did more work today….”, do you? Didn’t think so. Until next time, then.

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