Drunk.

I'm drunk right now.

Well...
It's the downslope, not the height of my intoxication. I had two fairly heavy screwdrivers, or worse, maybe they weren't. Regardless, I had a signifigant quantity of alcohol in a short period of time and I acted like an ass. Fortunately, what I am told (and I was not anywhere near drunk enough to not remember what happened, I was just very loose) , nothing I did was obnoxious, or irritating, it just got old after a little while. So, thankfully, I didn't actually make a bad impression on anyone. And, it shoudl be said, I've not done this in a really long time. And I also wasn't drinking alone.

It's some hours later now. I went to bed early, at least for me. Not later than 10:PM. I woke up around an hour ago. It's that paradoxic effect where you are very alert, and not at all tired, after having slept immediately following moderately heavy drinking. It's the dehydration. So I'm drinking copious amounts of water in an effort to both get back to sleep, and avert a hangover. I've never really had one, not like I've seen in others. With the raging headache, sensitivity to light, etc... I just feel really acidic. It's been so long since the last time this happened, I'd actually forgotten the consequences of getting drunk. The physiological ones anyway.

By far, the potentially worst consequence of this drinking episode, however rare, is going to be dealing with my dad. He experienced a computer failure tonight, and tomorow he's going to expect me to make everything better, very quickly. He opened an e-mail with a virus in it. Now, we have redundant systems in the office, so he'll be alright, but no ammount of anti-virus software can protect him from opening a bogus e-mail...if the virus is nasty enough. If it's not a total killer virus then the antivirus can clean it out and fix things, provided the worm hasn't irrevocably corrupted something, which it may well have.

I appreciate that if I bring the result of my drinking into work with me, I'm responsable for that. However, if, say, I'm just a little slowed down, and otherwise functional, or perhaps I need lots of water or an asperin, but my work isn't impeeded, I won't stop hearing about it probably ever.

It's one trait my parents both share. If you screw up on their time you never hear the end of it. Oh, in the end I'll be OK. I've even got an excuse to make sure I get the heck out of the office well before late afternoon, I have a paycheck to deposit. But I've managed to ramble on again in yet another post...

I suppose I should get to reconstructing my pay record for him. If I manage that it'll counteract any hedache I might or might not have tomorow.

God willing.

Alexi

Happy Birthday to Me

I'm 24. I was gone the entire week leading up to the big day (arrainging housing in Buffalo), so I really didn't get to organize anything. I'm invinting a bunch of people over to the house, and who knows who will show up....and when. Dissapointingly, Carrie has not returened my calls. I still have her Christmas presents...But that's a dance we've done before. I may have really lost contact with her this time. Which would suck.

Anything else....lets see...

The Buffalo trip was great. I learned that I'll be living within a ten minute drive of where Buffalo wings origionated, and more like a five minute drive from the place that everyone told us did them even better. A place called, "Duff's". My dad and I split an entire basket of wings. Damn good.

OK, well, I'm off to bed. I have to get some movie times and then crash out till around 11:AM. Ciao.

OK, so my car got jacked up

Because the attempted car thieves succeded in popping the drivers side lock and breaking the cover off the ignition. So it's being repaired down at the garage as we speak. The upshot to this is that while it's in the shop, my car insurance is paying for a rental. The rental just happened to be a really nice one. In short, I get to drive arround in this:



A 2005 Chevy Malibu. Except that mine is black =)

Something I'd like to wash my hands of...

I'm not exactly sure how to describe this, except by inventing a word. The word will have a definition of no less than a paragraph, but we need a word to describe this situation.

The word is: Denveresque.

What does this new word mean?

This story had been written on before in this blog, and I've neither the stomach nor the desire to do the entire thing over, so I'll speak in broad strokes.

Denver is a real person. Denver has serious issues. Denver, is very, very popular.

There is a large group of people (perhaps twenty) who think he is the salt of the earth. And he is...at least in context. He throws a very big party every year to which people from all over the land fly. They plan their vacations arround it. It's a big LAN party, and lately, it's been all XBox, because they're easy to transport.

Denver is also, very possibly, the single most vendictive person on the face of the Earth.

The thing of it is, not very many people get exposed to his vendictive nature. In fact, only a few ever do. But the people that get it, never see the end of it. They are Enemies of Denver for life. He simply does not forgive, anything, ever. Which is an odd thing to be factoring in, considering that much of what he refuses to forgive, is not anything which was actually inflicted on him.

Confused? I don't blame you.

Five years back, whilst playing a video game online, a friend of mine named Chris, made a...social misstep. The probelm was that it wasn't one he could have known he was going to make. It's the old situation we all dread, where everyone is laughing at a joke, except the one person you happen to be aiming it at, and you are never forgiven for it.

The game had an interface much like a chat room. Everyones name appears highlighted in their particular color, and the text shows up when you type it. Very common. So....in this typical, everyday game, the guys got a little rambunctious just sitting around. So, for whatever reason, they were shooting lines back and forth from the Kevin Costner movie, "Bull Durham". If you've not seen this movie, it has a fair ammount of adult humor. But it's the kind which flys over a kids head, so it's non-offensive mostly.

There they are, shooting it back and forth, and Denver logs into the game. Chris, his good friend no less, asks him (assuming it cannot possibly be taken seriously) "Denver. Got any naked pictures of your wife? Do you want any?"

This drew a big laugh....from everybody but Denver. Denver said not a word, he logged out of the game immediately, and did not come back. This, was a harmless joke. And Denvers reaction would be a mystery to litterally everyone...untill three days ago.

Fast forward a few years. Chris has been forbidden from ever coming to Denvers house, on account of the comment. He has, in fact, been allowed to come over once since then, after several very sincear apologies, in which he explains the situation, and makes it abundantly clear, it was not meant seriously in any way, shape, form, or intent, and then he gets banned again, this time forever. This presents a problem to Chris, as the only gathering of this online group of friends that everyone goes to, is Denvers. Which means that Denver has effectively banished Chris from our group, the Geezers from Hell.

Now, not very many people know what has happened. And, naturally, if Chris speaks openly of it, he is in for a world of pain. How? Like I said, Denver is popular. And this is where it gets really ugly.

Denver did the same thing to me a few years back. Except in my case, Denver was volcanically offended at a post on an old blog of mine. The post was written in response to a report made to me by a friend of mine, where in he told me that the Christmas service at a Catholic church, which he had gone to because he had not yet found any church in town that he liked, somehow had nothign to do with Christ. Instead, the entirety of the service had been about the Virgn Mary, or as we Orthodox call her, The Blessed Theotokos. Now, don't get me wrong, she ranks above John the Forerunner in importance, but a christmas service ought to be about Christ. So I lambasted the Catholic church in it's person of this particular parish, and said that they were engaging in Mary worship, idolatry if you will. I still back this position, in the case of that particular church.

Denver is a self-professed 'Ex-Catholic'.

Denver went on a two and a half screen ranting angry post on our message board. The post was laced with profanities. This is impressive considering that he had to take the time to type them out, as this was not a voice conversation. Which means that he sat there, at his desk, and typed in the word fucking, no fewer than eight times.

Denver is a self-professed 'Ex-Catholic'.

Furthermore he read the offensive Blog posting, on a blog of mine which was no longer linked too from the message board in question. This means that he was not casually clicking on a link, he had bookmarked it.

This is odd considering that during his rant, he went on at length about how angry my Blog makes him on a regular basis. Which raises the question, "Denver, why were you still reading it?"

To shorten an already lengthening story, I was in hot water for a while. I did not know the discussion thread was even happening, untill the board moderator referenced it to me in an unrelated post. So, imagine my shock, when I go to this thread, which is already three days old, and I hear Denver screaming for my head. What's worse, he's not alone. Now, it should be said, I did have my defenders. There were people asking, "Why does this upset you so much?" and "Why were you reading the Blog if it pissed you off so much?" and "It's just his opinion man, you didn't have to read it, so he doesn't have to respond to you here if he doesn't want to."

The poing being, I was excluded from Denvers gathering as well.

So what this all adds up to, is that if you have the unfortunate occasion to step on Denvers toes, you are, very permenantly, Fucked. And pardon the use of the word, but it is appropriate in this sense.

Denver is popular, as I said, because he does this big party. Also he is very (very) public about all the charity stuff he is involved in. So he is untouchable. I cannot attack him or his credability. And he can do so to me with impunity, if I do something to give him an excuse.

But why? Why is this man doing these things?

Well, what do we know about him? Some fairly interesting things actualy.

Denver is short. What? Short? So what? Well, aparently some men do not handle being short very well. I got myself muted by him on XBox live for making a short joke. Seriously.

Second: He is a house-husband. Now, I'm not saying this is an unacceptable position for a man, I think it could be really cool. But I will say that it might just (theoretically) undermine ones sense of masculinity... maybe...just a bit.

Third: Third comes the piece of information that he himself leaked, in what is one of the more astonishing posts I've ever read on any message board.

Denvers mother died. This is a sad event and I do feel very bad for him. What I do not feel is sympathy. Why? Well, honestly, it's hard to feel sympathy for a man who (instead of just talking about it) contrives a discussion thread (as far as I can tell) so that everyone can tell him how sorry they are.

Here was his threads title: "Where I've been"

He had, in fact, been gone for two weeks. Popular though he is, we had not sent out the search dogs yet. In fact, the supposition that he "owed" us an explination for his absence is absurd. I can see starting a conversation on an excuse with the hopes that it will go where you want. And I can see wanting to talk about it, but not wanting to come right out and say it. That's just human. So I won't hammer him for that.

But I will quote him.

While he was praising his mother, he took the opportunity to praise...himself:
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"My mom was a good gal who through her character taught me to respect women and mothers. Being a lone woman in a household of 5 boys (raising 4 of us months at a time while my dad served in the Navy), teaching us boys how to cook, clean and exercise manners and kindness...if she's not Upstairs doing the meringue, there's going to be at least one peeved off son.

[A fine bit of prose, but how in the world does it segue into this?]

I make no apologies for being protective of my wife and the other women in my life. Make an obscene gesture or speak an insulting statement towards any of them and I'll smite thee and not just a little."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The second bit of text came out of nowhere. It did not reference anything said by anyone...at least, not in that thread.
Now. To the outside world, this may simply seem to be...a non sequitor. But to the informed...it goes a bit deeper.

Remember a few paragraphs back up? When I told you about the harmless comment? And the banishment that resulted from it and how we couldn't figure it out?

This guy took the opportunity, in the middle of a thread about his mom being dead, to take a shot at Chris for something that happened five years ago, and give himself a gold star at the same time.

And yet...everybody loves him. They all think he's the toast of the town. Because most of them have never been on his bad side. Now, more disturbing still than all of the above, is how the threads on this message board sometimes turn into (and I'm being litteral) the defective support groups as pictured in the beginning of the movie "Fight Club". I'm serious, the discussions sound EXACTLY like that. And, need I remind you, it's not in person. Where emotions make you say things quickly. It's TEXT. You have to actually sit there and write it out.

And at the center of more than his share of these sad little e-group hugs, is Denver.

He's great to his friends, and horibble to his shit list, and you are either on one or the other. Nobody is in between. And he is large and in charge of this group at the moment, nobody wields more influence than him.

And so I coin the term: Denveresque.

Denveresque describes a situation like, or similar too, the one described above. Where one person is running everything, and has two faces. One of limitless charity shown to anyone from good friends down to loose aquaintences...and one of permenant punishment and vengance to those who just happen to accadentally cross him the wrong way.


Alexi/Web

So my car....

Got broken into and nearly stolen. They tried, but only succeded in ripping out the ignition, or at least damaging it. It may be that the damage is only on the surface, in which case I thank God. Or it may be that the ignition needs to be replaced. It didn't look amazingly bad, but I did see broken springs, you know, the little tiny ones that are incredably important no matter where you see them.

I fear to put a key in it and test it out...beause what if I break it even worse than it's already broken. Oh well, nothing I can do about it till Monday anyway. That's when I get my parents van for a little while, and they get the rental car provided by the insurance company. I'm not quite 25 so I can't drive it myself. I don't know why they selected 25 as the magic age for being allowed to rent a car. I know twenty-five is the average age when men's testosterone drops sharply, but the rule applies to women as well. Who knows, maybe it only applies to both so they can't be sexist.

Alexi

Love thy Neighbor

OK, so check this out and tell me what you think.

The situation unfolds as such: My brother is seventeen, nice kid, very, very well liked. Over the years, my sister and my brother have been the target of the occasional TP attack on the house. Harmless stuff except that the cleanup can be a drag. I learn that TPing is not something you do to people you hate, aparently it's a friendly joke you pull on a friend. Makes sense because it is fairly benign.

So in all the years we've lived there, were the only ones that ever got hit, with the very occasional exception of the local highschool PE coach who lives just down the street from us. Nobody has ever missed our house and hit an innocent bystander by accadent.

So, last night, my brother throws a party. It goes very well, and aside from my brothers former girlfriend being flirted with openly by another friend of his (who has a girlfriend), nothing was even a little bit out of sorts. Good clean party, nice kids highschool kids, etc...

Now, I cannot, for the life of me, remember clearly wether or not the neighbors hosue across the street was unmolested when I left. It could have been, but I don't remember that being the case. But I will say this, and back it up. None of the kids who were there seemed to be the TP type. They just weren't pranksters, with the exception of my brother. Beyond which, as far as I could tell (and I was there to oversee for just this purpose) none of them ever left the house except when my brother went to buy hotdog buns.

Also...nobody there knew the across the street neighbor in so far as I could tell. No reason to do anything to them. So I drive up this morning to go into work, and their yard is quite thouroughly TP'd. A few hours later, an unfortunate thing happened.

The neighbor whose house it is, comes over to our house, rings the doorbell. I'm neck deep in papers and so is my dad (whom I work for), so I ask Mom to get the door, she does.

The neighbor lady proceeds to tell my mom (in a bright, happy neighbor voice) that their yard got TP'd. And she knows that we've been hit numerous times before, and she knows that there was a party here last night (all in the same, chipper tone of voice). Then she proceeds to remind my mom that her son is only four, and he's even now out cleaning up the TP from the yard, and that she has an ailing grandmother that's living with them, and she really doesn't have the time to deal with this...

Never actually asked for anything. Never actually said what she wanted. Everybody's seen this, and we've all probably done it before at some point. Wanted the other person to feel guilty, to be embarrased because we ourselves have been inconvienenced. That being said, the entire idea ticked me off. My mother went through the roof. Actually stormed across the street and started an argument over it. She was furious at the insinuation, or more accurately, the assumption. That simply because her son was a teenager and our house had been TP'd before, that we were automatically responsable for her house being TP'd. When she initially came over to our door, my mom brought up the fact that in all the years it'd been happening, nobody had ever, even once, hit someone elses house by mistake, or design.

Now, weather or not it was personal, or their house just got hit at random by some maurading prankster, we'll never know. What we do know is that it was not the work of anyone at the party, because...they never left untill the very end. They might possibly have come back later...but why? Why hit a random neighbor? But this is almost totally unimportant really. The annoying thing was that she came over, and did the "I'm going to insinuate and blame but not actually come out and say it becuase I've been inconvienenced and I want you to know I think it's your fault" schtick. Cowardly. Or maybe just childish. Which would be nicely ironic considering that her beef with us was motivated by something which she doubtlessly thought was "immature".

My mom was upstairs, after it happened, rueing into her Blog about her less than adult behavior. She told me that she wished she'd just asked, "OK, What is it that you want?". Because, she pointed out, when someone is going off on one of these kicks, that question stops them cold. Because they don't actually want anything, except to make sure that you know that they blame you. When my mom went over, and had her words, she then started cleaning up the TP. The husband of the hosue told her, "Oh no, that's OK you dont' need to do that", to wit she replied, "You came to me!"

He was embarrased. He'd let his wife go over and do her adolessent complaining, but when my mom actually called the bluff and went over there to do something about it, he flinched.

Exactly what her theory on why we were somehow responsable for her house being TP'd was, is a little unclear. She seemed to just intimate that becuase we had a teenage boy living in the house, a house which had been repeatedly TPd, that it had to be related to him. That perhaps his friends had TP'd her house just to be mischevious. Not a bad intellectual leap, but she had no evidence, and only nebulous speculation as to motive, but regardless, it got her to come over and whine about it. The logic of her argument ran thus: If some gang bangers do a drive by shooting, but miss the guy they were trying to kill and hit me by mistake, I get to blame the intended victim.

I suppose who I ought to feel sorry for is her, the neighbor lady. I mean, what kind of person does that? It's toilet paper, not toxic waste. So your house got TP'd, what happened to just fixing it yourself? Not that we'd have been above helping. In fact, if she'd just come over and said, "Look, we got TP'd last night, it's never happend to us before, so I'm pretty sure it had something to do with your party, I'd appreciate it if you'd come over and help us clean it up" we'd have jumped right to it. But her solution, was to walk across the street, and let us know just how inconvienenced she was by it, and how she didn't have the time to deal with something like this, as though we were somehow to blame, but did'nt actually have the balls to actually say it.

May I ask a question which I really, really, really do not mean in a sexist way? Why do women do this? I'm serious. I'm not saying that men never do, but I've seen women do it way more often. Why the prevarication? Why not just say what's on your mind?

So what would have been the Christian response to that situation? If she'd come over and been rude about it, turning the other cheek would have been the response, which would have meant being meek about it, and going and cleaning up the TP without complaint. If she'd been honest, and forthright, the same response would have applied. But how do you respond to someone who whines?

What is the Christian response to deliberate childishness from an adult? It's times like this when I wonder if some of the rebukes the Apostles get in the four gospels, when they were actually occuring, didn't have the tone of, "Idiot. Here, I'll spell it out for you." I think they may have. And here is the reason. When someone comes to you and behaves this way, it's not a misunderstanding. It's also not an assault on anything but your patience. So there is no other cheek to turn. The best solution, and please, someone who reads this Blog comment on this bit here, is to simply tell them they're being childish, that you refuse to dignify it, and close the door.

The reason my mom didn't have this kind of grown up, mature reaction? Simple.

The woman is a housewife. And I'm not talking about one of those, Uber-hard working ones who really, really does have a backbreaking job. Such a person would be a lot more worldly and less shallow. She's a former cheerleader, got married got pregnant and stayed home kind of girl. To boot, she lives across the street from her sister: Identical same story, right down to the matching uniforms. (note: this description is not a steriotype, it's litterally true of these two women)

Women like this can drive my mother insane, their very existance is distasteful to her. This is because she busted her ass and got a masters degree. But just living this life, however, is nothing to her....until the perky little former cheerleader turned stay at home mommy who's never had to work, comes over to her house and passively agressively whines about her house being TP'd.....and how she doesn't have the time to deal with something like that?

Well...lets just say that while I condemn my mothers reaction, I certianly understand it. And I condemn it precisely because what she said later was right. If she'd really wanted to stick it to cheerleader-mommy girl all she'd needed to do was ask, "OK, what do you want done about it?" She probably didn't have an answer.


So I ask you faithful readers (no pun intended) for your comments and advice. My honest opinion is that the proper response would have been to tell her how childish she was being, and make that the end of things. But I don't know.

God forgive me my ignorance.

Gadzooks.

A full month! And then some!

Ok, for an update. I made my first mistake with the Buffalo thing today. When I sent in my paperwork so I can be an employee of the university, I forgot to send in a photocopy of my passport. Thankfully, an expired one is OK. Anyway, they say this will cause my paychek(s) [no joke, that was how it was phrased in the email] to be delayed. Hopefully not by much. Anyway, we'll see.