O Solo Gringo

I'm back from Ixtapa!

Not a bad trip all said and done. The primary goal was to (finally) get my open water certification for scuba diving, which I managed. I liked the second day of diving (I just about threw up on the first) and if nothing else gives me something to do when I'm on my next vacation.

Last time on a beach I was riddled with angst, despair and loneliness (and turned 40). This time I just read all my books, got a tan instead of a burn, didn't drink nearly as much and just chillaxed. The days were filled with sitting on the beach, the night with, well, TV. That may sound like an odd thing to do, but since I don't watch TV at home, it (sorta if you think about it) makes sense on vacation.

Despite that, I think vacation nights would be much better bringing someone along. Traveling solo is usually undertaken by those who are outgoing, adventurous and make friends easily. In other words, the opposite of me, at least in that regard. I'm still going to do it, because lying on a beach and swimming in the ocean is relaxing and as I tend towards the hyper-tense, I need that sort of thing.

And next time I'm bring more books. I went through one just on the trip down there. Oh, and actually use the Spanish-language software I bought so it doesn't take me a week to figure out "On y dos" doesn't mean hello.

Coincidence?

Got an email from Spike today after an eight months communication blackout. Which is weird because I was wondering what she was up to the other day when I was reviewing the blog.

I was actually pleasantly surprised. I think it has been about a year since we first met (or maybe off by a couple of weeks). Anyways, I'm wondering if she was doing a bit of a year-in-review herself. The note was brief, indicating that she had an interesting few months but "didn't want to bore you with the details".

Since I'm a nice guy I told her to bore away. Which kinda sounds like I'm encouraging her to make a career change to excavation or something now that I think about it. Anyways. I gave her the quick update (I've been working), asked her how the dogs are and that's about it. Should be interesting to see what she has to say but even more so, when she actually says it.

Would I see her again? It would depend on her of course. I still like Spike. She's one cool dudette. And with hindsight, I think we share a common personality quirk: too independent for our own good sometimes. That's about it really. Cautiously optimistic. Any kind of optimistic for me is progress.

We last left our hero.....

I may be updating this again. But first I need to buy a new suit. Not that has anything to do with the blog itself but I still gotta.

Then again, I may not, depends how bored I am.....

Let me explain. Or rather, let me ramble and there should be a nugget of info or two in the verbal dross.

On Friday I was IM chatting with a co-worker, let's call her Chefette (again, a fake name to protect the innocent. Which probably means I'll have to cook up something for all my co-workers). We were discussing some stuff that happened over a group lunch (sushi) and somehow the conversation turned to writing. She complimented me on my writing ability (paltry at the moment) and asked if I had a blog, so naturally I referred her here. A little reluctantly as I mentioned I had taken a hiatus.

So, I went home and started reading the old entries. It is a classic writing trick: put something together, then put it a way for a while to get some distance. Pick it up again then cringe at spelling mistakes, mixed metaphors and general lack of any literary ability whatsoever. At least that has been my experience.

And there are some cringe worthy entries here. But there is also a pattern.

This entire endeavor was undertaken with two goals in mind:

1. Keep writing, no matter how innocuous the subject material.
2. Keep a kind of on-line diary so I could go back and see what my life was like "back then"

"Back Then" I'd say I was pretty depressed. A litany of "I'm sick, I'm bored, I'm stressed, I'm horny" were the obvious main themes. Up until about a year ago.

With hindsight almost as good as my 20/15 post-surgery peepers, I think it is fair to see that my lack of satisfaction at work (balls out full-of-hate at times) was more of a contributor (facilitator?) than I had previously thought. Physically, stress kills you immune system, so the string of cold after cold makes sense. The lack of motivation as well. And the boredom. And the frustration with everything Ad nauseum.

I'm doing pretty good now.

I am sick at the moment, but that's really because of the fact that I work for an airline. Haven't had a cold since last winter (although my stomach is still trying to kill me). Boredom is still a factor in my life but not as much as it had been. I'm getting out more (i.e. I'm getting out) and even though we just went through hell on a big project at work (with some additional infernal influence for the next while) reading what I had gone through in previous jobs really put it in context. It wasn't bad at all, all thing considered.

So I'm headed to Ixtapa the week after next (finally getting the darn SCUBA cert). This trip I'm actually going to do some of the things to get me out of the hotel bar: surfing, jungle canopy tour etc. Of course I may not, but only if I find something else to amuse myself. Oh, and I'm bringing SPF 60 and a paint roller this time.

The question of course is: am I going to keep this (Random 0) rolling? I don't know. It depends on whether or not I have something to say. Contentment after all is the absence of conflict, which drives almost all narrative. Not much of that around here.

Of course, next year I'm finally buying a house, so I'm sure that will add some pandemonium in my life. In the meantime, when I feel I have have something to say rather than just report, I'll come back here.

Mosey

This is probably going to be my last blog for a while. Really, you should have seen it coming: the posts have been increasingly infrequent and shorter. To be honest I haven't had much to say lately.

Looking through my posts, this whole blog thing has been, for lack of a better term, a way to vent (although still going for the funny) and frankly I don't have much to vent about right now. Life is okay. Not grand but not too bad either. So really, I don't feel the new to spew digital vitriol on a semi-daily basis anymore.

Of course, there's still the day-to-day little nuances that make me red in the face but I can only complain about traffic, the inconsistencies of upper management, the vagaries of dating in my middle age (Dark Age?) so often before even I'm tired of hearing it. You were probably sick of it a long while ago.

Maybe this is a healthy step for me. Or maybe it's just that feeling of contentment and safety that occurs right before the escaped mental patient sticks a knitting needle in your eyeball. Hey, I said I'm content, not an optimist.

So thanks to all who checked in on a semi-regular basis. Here's hoping some of my life's follies made you laugh, maybe made you think (long shot) or at least gave you a two-minute diversion now and again.

I may be back though. Life (and blogging) is like that.

Cheers!
Moby

Song & Dance

Alright, I'll get to what I promised in a sec but first a rant (you knew that was coming).

Steam: ever since Capa sung the praises, the Steam online games store has been insinuating itself into my gaming habits. With the good stuff coming at half-price if you wait long enough and some decent casual games coming in at under twenty bucks, I've found there's no need for me to go to the video game store. It wasn't a great need in recent times as the number of PC titles on the shelves there have dwindled to a mere handful but none the less.

However I recently picked up Puzzle Quest: Galactrix which is of course the sequel to Puzzle Quest. Now, after I got the original title I ranted that it cheated. And it does. But once you get past that (which took me a while) it's not a bad game.

Galactrix on the other hand possesses a new, enhanced version of the cheat engine which makes it such a frustration to play it's aggravated my Turrette's Syndrome to "driving on the Deerfoot in rush hour" levels. So it got uninstalled. Without going into any detail, let's just say that if a game developer has to resort to the kind of bald-face, obvious, cheating-like-a-bitch cop-outs to make a game seem challenging, I hope they all get laid off and have to go dumpster diving for hospital trash for a living.

Ahem.

So, last week. I finally managed to get the weekend scuba boot camp done sans dreaded-disease. It was good. Not great but good. I do want to actually try out the whole schtick underwater because a ten-foot vat of chlorine may not give the same experience as a coral reef. With that in mind, I'm attempting to snag a last minute deal to go somewhere tropical the following week but things look iffy. Not that there aren't places to go, but the phrase "cost based on double occupancy" is damaging my calm. I could get the services of a high-end escort and fly both of us to a five star resort for a week at the same cost of me going by myself. Seriously. I know that a hotel room is the same cost if it's one person or two but the savings of a flight and a bit of the food etc should shave off a bit. The fact that in some cases it was actually less money if I booked for two people rather than just myself really steams me.

Sorry, that was another rant.

On the bright side, David Byrne was amazing. Four encores. An amazing performer without a doubt and always money well spent. I also was dragged out by Kiki to a local band performing at a wonderful little dive. Their repertoire is pretty much classics from the sixties to the eighties but that ain't a bad thing if you're looking for music your familiar with. That's the whole appeal I think: the crowd there was composed of folks who heard it all when it was fresh and new (and I'm starting to trundle int that bracket) but they seemed like they were having a blast, which is what it's all about really.

I was the designated driver (and Kiki owes me for that) but it actually fit my mood quite well and I had a good time. Of course I always wonder at Kiki's motivations: she has all these single girlfriends and tends to make a point of "he's not with me". Which I pretty much translate as "look ladies, fresh meat". Not exactly a bad thing but I still ain't looking, so I hate to get their hopes up. And yes I need to get over myself.

Stay Tuned!

The final resolution! Underwater wackiness! The Former Head of Talking Heads!

But right now I'm too busy to go into any kind of detail. Soon, my precious....

Steamed

Another week and no news. On the thing. You know. The lump. So that's good, but there's still the "discomfort" I'm experiencing. And I think I may have figured that out as well.

I've been working out lately. Well, okay for the past ten years, but the past year I've been running. So follow along Moby's Patented Spurious Logic (Patent Pending):

1. First, the soft fatty tissues on my inner thighs started to be used up, reducing the radius of my upper thighs: therefore I bought new (smaller) pants.
   
2. I started growing muscle beneath the fatty tissues, thereby expanding said radius: therefore things got tight.
   
3. The, er, subject on the side where "my ears hang low" is where I'm feeling the pain.
   
4. Ergo, I've been compressing one of my boys every time I sit down. Thus the swelling.

Let me guess, too much information. Well that's okay because I'm going to consider the matter closed as soon as I go buy some parachute pants.

I had totally forgotten that I had tried the demo for Sins of a Solar Empire a while back. But I tried it again anyways. Still don't like it. But since Steam just put Left 4 Dead on at half price, I'm downloading it now. Zomb-Aid, biatches!