Notival

This morning, Im sitting at work. Haven't been here more than about ten minutes. Just catching up on emails from overnight, when a gnat suddenly flies straight into my right eye. By the time reflex kicked in and I closed the eye, it was already at my eyelid.

Gnats are not very sturdy creatures. Catching one in your eye, immediately followed by your finger rubbing the eye while you think "What the fuck was that?", results in exactly what you would expect. Squished gnat. On the eye.

Fortunately, it was in the corner of my eye and only took a few moments to rub it out. But still, what's up with the Kamikaze gnat?

The unspoken code is now available in paperback form.

I went to Barnes & Noble today and picked up a copy of "The Bro Code." It's a book of rules to live by for bros. With nuggets of wisdom, such as:

Article 81 - A Bro leaves the toilet seat up for his Bros.
Article 118 - When a Bro is with his Bros, he is not a vegetarian.
Article 140 - A Bro reserves the right to simply walk away during the first five minutes of a date.

This last is also known as the 'Lemon Law'.

Words to live by, my friends.

*Amendment VIII
A Bro may toss the Bro Code out the window if Scandinavian twins are involved in any capacity.

Rumor has it that a new expansion came out for World of Warcraft last night. Most of my friends play it. And last night, several of them went to Best Buy or Wal-Mart or both to try to get the new expansion at midnight.

I used to play an online multiplayer game. I quit. Gave it up. Walked away. Never have looked back. I don't want to get involved in another one, and I'm really glad I have stayed away from WoW. It is, by all counts, better in every single way to the game I used to play. But that doesn't mean Im going to start playing it.

My friends are addicts. I do need to find some way to occupy my free time though...

Last week I mentioned that our friend Bill Arpin, known online as Khuul was battling colon cancer. The outlook at the time was not very good, and we were expecting that he would have a couple of months left. As it turns out, he only had a couple days. We received the phone call Friday evening that Bill had passed on.

By the time he was diagnosed with cancer last October, it had already spread to his liver. And it was those tumors which ultimately caused the biggest issues.

I am grateful that Ninsi and I went up to visit him last Tuesday while he was still coherent, instead of waiting for the weekend. His passing felt sudden to me, since it was not expected for several more weeks, at least. If you live long enough in these modern times, you will get cancer. I pretty much accept that. I do not consider 37 years 'long enough', not even by half.

Bill Aprin was my friend, and he will be missed.

It has been over a week, I think, since last I wrote. I've been meaning to. I always mean to. I just often do not do it. As with many things, I tend to think about doing it when I am driving, or otherwise unable to actually do it right then.

Since the last time? Halloween happened. I had a four day weekend for that, and it was very good. Not having to worry about work for a couple extra days really felt nice. It has caused me to already start looking forward to my Christmas vacation which will be for almost a two full weeks. I'll be taking a couple days at Thanksgiving, of course, but not too many.

Tuesday night, Ninsi and I went up to the hospital to visit our friend, Khuul. He has been battling cancer since last October. It is starting to look like he may lose that fight. It is tragic, it is terrible. It is a great many things, and it pisses me off mightily that there is not a god damned thing any of us can do about it. Miracles have happened before, be they of science or nature, and that is what Khuul now needs.

I really do not like thinking about it, but it is impossible not to. Segues are forced, but necessary. So, Ninsi and I are going to see the King Tut exhibit tomorrow night. We bought our tickets many moons ago. And at least twice, we have forgotten when we were supposed to go. I'm still not sure of the actual time, but I think we're going to go around 8 pm. Mummies, gold artifacts, and a cash bar. Nothing bad can come of that...

Insurance. We had a lunch meeting today with the company that employs me. It was just to go over our insurance stuff. Nothing changed. I met with the HR woman a few weeks ago and asked about it then. Our provider and coverage are all staying exactly as they currently are. The only difference is that the amount I am paying for the coverage will go up by about 100%. Yes, my insurance cost is doubling. I expect it to go up on a year to year basis, but I did not expect it to go up by that much. The rate for a me by myself would have gone up by about 200%, but Ninsi is on the plan with me.

Im not going to rehash the arguments about insurance being too expensive. Everyone knows that it is. Especially for people like Ninsi and I that rarely, if ever, go to the hospital. I feel like I am having to pay for every overweight, crack-adled, welfare grubbing, heroin baby drug addict that is out there.

Life is not fair, I get that. That doesn't mean it still doesn't piss me off, though.

Went out last Thursday to see Cruxshadows play. Seems like they used to come through Dallas right after DragonCon. Not two months later. They are probably much busier these days though and hit more cities in general.

Friday night we went out to Panoptikon as we have been doing lately. I was talking to a girl there and she and her husband are from Tulsa. So we talked about Tulsa a little. On the drive home, I realized that I actually knew that girl when I lived in Tulsa. When Namweenae and I were still dating, this girl at Panoptikon was often our waitress at Pepper's. We never saw or talked to her again after she quit working at Pepper's. But somehow, even after almost 14 years, I remember her, and what her husband does, and her birthday. My memory is not as good as it used to be, but apparently the old information is still sitting around in there.

Saturday, I made some damn good french fries. Reptile, Zero, and Dre came over for dinner so I did a little cooking. Today, Im just exhausted. I slept well Saturday night and Sunday night, after not sleeping at all Friday night. But I think I still have some catching up to do. Got to get well rested for the upcoming holiday weekend.

Yes, I am a better cook than you.

This morning was the first time in three (work) days that I did not see the same Lamborghini going the opposite direction of me on Beltline. Since I saw him at the same time for a few days running, I figure he is either just getting off work, or on his way into work.

Either way, Im left wondering who the Hell commutes to work in a Lamborghini? Maybe he was a banker that had to get to work early because everything is falling down. Maybe he's just a douche that won the lottery. I can understand driving it to work every now and again. But not for an everyday commute.

When I lived in Florida, I saw the same Lamborghini every now and then. I think the guy that owned it used it as his regular driving around car. I can't imagine it is so fantastic that I would want to sit that low all day long. Maybe it is a fantastic car. Maybe if I had one I would drive it around as an everyday thing. So, I really shouldn't judge. Let me win the lotto and I'll recant if need be.

I'd rather have a Tesla anyway.

Did a lot of driving this weekend. About 750 miles from the time I left work on Friday.

Ninsi and I went to McAlester on Friday. Then Saturday she and I and the Squid loaded up and drove out to Foster, OK. Which was about another 200 miles away. Prosper was having her wedding there. It was nice. We stayed about two hours then drove back to McAlester. Sunday, we finally made it back home around 5 pm, just in time for me to catch the second half of the Redskin's football game. That was about the only football I managed to watch all weekend, with all the other games taking place while I was in the car.

We had completely forgotten that Cruxshadows was playing this Thursday night. I kept forgetting they were playing altogether. But when I did remember it, I was thinking that it was next Thursday. The day before Halloween. Im still planning on going. But I also have a happy hour for work this Thursday, so I may have to adjust my plans a little bit.

With Halloween falling on a Friday for the first time in years, Im expecting next weekend to be quite the bacchanal celebration. I need to start getting my costume in order...

Ive been meaning to make an entry before now. Just keep forgetting.

Ninsi and I are heading up to McAlester for the weekend when we get off work today. She can't leave early, so it will probably be 9 or so before we actually get to my mom's. And then tomorrow, we will be driving to a small community in Western Oklahoma to a friend's wedding. Prosper could not have picked a more remote location. It happens to be where her parents live, and where she grew up, but it is still way the Hell far from just about everything.

The Squid will be going with us. Im sure she's quite excited about the 6 hours we'll be in the car tomorrow. Hopefully we will get back to town in time to go see a movie or something.

I have several printers at the house. One laser printer and a bubble jet and an couple ink jet. They all work. The Epson I got for free (after rebate) last year, and it ran out of ink about a month ago. To refill it would cost me about $100. And I could go buy a new printer for much less than that. I was trying to find some cheaper replacement cartridges for it at work, and one of the guys said he had a new printer he did not want, because it came free with his PC a couple months ago. So, yesterday, he brought me the printer. New in the box. Never user.

So I hooked it up last night and will use it until it runs out of ink. Then I will have to decide if I want to buy a new cheap-ass printer, or pony up for ink. In the meantime, I have at least three printers to dispose of somehow.

Anyone want a HP III Laser printer? Free to good home...