New Car Pictures! Now Lupe Can Shut Up.

There are a few more pictures, if you really care that much. Click here!

A Strained Departure

I can only apologize to myself for not keeping up on this.

It's been such an exciting week.

I'll post pics of the car, I promise.

Dissonant Complacency

What does it take to be truly happy?

It's an interesting though, happiness. What is happiness? When is anything ever enough. As humans, I don't think we're capable of complete happiness. There is always a desire for more. A bigger house... a nice car... more DVDs... more friends?

What's your addiction?

I take happiness in any form.

It's been interesting, being married, because you get to understand life from the other side of the fence. Growing up, what you understand of love is passion. When passion fades, what you normally are left with is two young broken hearts.

I think I had dated for long enough to know what I was looking for in a companion, and I think I was mature enough to understand that marriage doesn't survive on passion alone (though it's certainly nice to have). What you need is Satisfaction. And Understanding. The Satisfaction that you have everything you're going to need in a companion. And the Understanding that no one else will put up with your shit the way she does.

So, while you wonder whether or not you can do any better, the answer is no, but your catch is pretty good to begin with.

Wow, that felt good, I haven't sworn in a post in a while...

Dedicated to Jake, who came and fixed the malfunctioning Muratec F-300 whilst narrating his life to me.

Perpetual Insomnolence

I don't really know how my wife puts up with my sleep schedule. Before I had met her, sleep did not come often, and it did not stay long. I was sleep's bitch.

2 hours here, 4 hours there. A total of 25-30 in the week. It wasn't a bad way of life. I was always a little tired, but overall, I was fairly satisfied with my way of life. Sleep came second to enjoying the times of the day that most people take for granted and spend snoring, or kicking their partners.

I used to like to think of the myriad of possibilities of things I could have been doing at that time, sitting there... wide awake, believing that I might actually fuel enough motivation to get away from the tv/pc and do something constructive. Not by choice.

I'd rather have been sleeping.

I've been married for 2 months now. In my new house just the same. Exhausted all the time. Not because of marriage or the house. But because of the schedule I run. The job I have. I used to work from 1pm to 11pm or so... Now I work a 7 to 4:30. Where I used to go to sleep at 6am and wake up at nine, I find myself in bed and tucked in by 10 pm.

I sleep almost twice as much as I used to, now.

What does that mean? Am I healthier?

Or am I just wasting my time?

Undeniable Outcome

We're buying a car. It's cool, we can afford it.

Not a bad looking one either. It's a funny story, though, if you get in to it.

About a year ago... I was looking at a new car. I started with the Yaris. And I test drove it. It's got some pickup, but overall, the sedan version of the Yaris was not comfortable with me. It's extremely roomy on the inside, however, if you're afflicted with LTS (Long Torso Syndrome), like I am, the Yaris is not the option for you (your head will hit the front support beam).

I was slightly disappointed, since I had absolutely convinced myself that this was the car for me. Great gas mileage, low price, nice features package (not great, just nice). It took a couple of days, but eventually I ended myself at a Honda dealership looking at the lovely Honda Civic LX Coupe. It's a great ride, quiet and luxurious. The back seat is no place for anyone over 16 or 180 pounds to enjoy, but I never have people in my backseat. It's a fast car, too.

This was the car for me... that or the Mazda 3. Well, all and all, I didn't get what I wanted for a trade in on my car. I chose to forgo getting a new car at that time, and got by with my car.

Now... a year and 12,000 miles later...

I find myself with my wife... at that same Honda Dealership looking at a new 07 Honda Civic EX Coupe. Ain't life funny?

Opposing Indentification (Dedicated to my friend Lupe)

I've recently become aware of a phenomenon which I have termed "New York City Syndrome".

You might be aware of it. You are definitely aware of it, if you have any friends from or living in "the city", but not any city. The City. New York City.

Much like our own "United States Syndrome", or "USS" (where we have come under the belief that all countries outside of England, France and Japan are third world and desolate, impoverished and violent), New York City Syndrome, or NYCS, is the believe that all land outside of the 5 boroughs and Staten Island is a post-apocalyptic wasteland, akin to movies like "Mad Max" or "Judge Dredd".

Also, extreme followers of the show "Sex and the City" can become immersed in NYCS or Remote NYCS, these are often the most severe cases, as they have only fabricated experiences in "The City".

You can help a sufferer of NYCS by bringing them to a more rural area for a period of more than 72 hours and allow them to drive.

Suffers of remote NYCS must be brought to the city for a period of no less than 3 weeks, and made to commute 5 days a week 2 times a day, then brought back to their home town. You, too, can help an NYCS sufferer.


I've provided an example dialog to help you to identify individuals who suffer from NYCS:

(In this example, there are two individuals: Bob, who is from Minneapolis and Tim, who is from New York City, and therefore suffers from NYCS.

"Hey, is this Tim?"

"Yeah, who am I talking to?"

"Hey Tim, it's Bob!"

"Oh, Bob, how the hell ya been?"

"Good, good, say listen, I don't mean to bother you but my wife and I are going to be in Trenton, New Jersey on business. Do you want to meet for dinner at that little Mexican joint in Newark we used to go to every weekend? You know, the place with the tequila taco special?"

"Uh... sure... wait... Newark? Isn't that outside of The City?"

"Yeah, Tim, is that a problem?"

"Well, Bob, I don't really leave The City if I don't have to... it's just.. a thing, but hey, know a great Chinese place on Mott Street in Chinatown, how does that sound?"

"Fine, I guess. I'll call you when I get in, then."

"Great. So Bob, how's married life?"

"Good. Find a woman yet?"

"No, it's been a difficult find. I bet I could a find a nice girl if I moved to Minneapolis... that's right next to Chicago, right?"

A Parable of Human Intuition

Ever read the book I, Lucifer?

I'm almost done with it. It took a while. My brother harangued me about it constantly until I simply extracted the book from his hands. It lay on my dresser for months after that, docile, a scarlet reminder of a promise that I had left unfulfilled. I had flirted with the idea of actually reading the thing. A page here, there, on the can. The book never got my attention. It was too obnoxious, which I'm sure was the point, but that doesn't make it any more readable.

I moved, and finally said to myself, I said, "Self, you have to get down and just read this fuckin' book." So I started. It's been hard, the book itself isn't terrible, it might even be good if I could get past the voice that Glen Duncan uses to write the book in. The name of the main character "Declan Gunn", get it? Glen Duncan? Declan Gunn?

Ok, not that clever. The book is trite, Lucifer says "It's not my fault." Blah, blah, blah...

But the book brings up an interesting thought: Do we need the justification to do something wrong, or is it simply enough for us to believe that we will not get caught?

Don't think about the big things, try the smaller things. Sure we'd all have liked to have hurt someone... or rob a bank, that's just life. But really think about it.

Would you have stolen something... A movie, or a CD or would you have urinated on that cop car, that day the party got busted at the frat? Had sex with your friend's significant other?

You couldn't justify these things until after you did them... until you were asked for an excuse.

What would you do if you knew you could get away with it?

UPDATE: Just finished the book, and I'd say the last 10 pages out do the first 250. Justify them, maybe not... but definitely better.