Sweet Sixteen

August 31, 2016

I’m still here! Just hit a wall. Got a lot of stuff to backdate. Meh.

Anyway, hey, look what day it is…

DAY
100


Round 15 ended with a lot of things looking hopeful, and the final four months of 2015 continued this trend. Then this asshole of a year began and things looked bleak, personally and for the world at large. But things are kind of swinging better again.

Day 5: Nationals game! After walking all the way there from Gallery Place because screw the crowded Green Line platform. Just to see them lose to the Cardinals.

Day 11: Well, that was an annoying day that rendered a lot of the previous days’ hassle pointless. -_-

Day 12: No more delays. Just book them.

Day 13: I wonder if the complication has passed. Still can’t tell.

Day 23: When people send you something liquid in a container that very clearly is not meant to hold liquid. :irked:

Day 26: Top of the World Trade Center, at long last. 😀

Day 31: UK voters, WTF are you doing?!

Day 33: Pizza!

Day 36: I feel so invaded.

Day 39: Well, the switch seems to have taken effect. Anyway, off to BWI to fly to Las Vegas for some reason.

Day 40: M&Ms Star Wars glasses. Your argument is invalid.

Day 42: Flying home across the country on its special night, it sparkled below me. 🙂

Day 43: TSA opened my suitcase and didn’t close the damn outer pocket when they were done.

Day 48: I just booked another one! Also, chili.

Day 49: Dairy Queen and Imagine.

Day 50: Meh.

Day 51: I think I just set something in motion.

Day 58: Republican Party, WTF are you doing?

Day 61: Rewatching Big Hero 6!

Day 69: Something about the Newseum, yucca fries, and a Canadian.

Day 73: Book the damn thing already.

Day 74: Booked! Also, Olympics! 😀

Day 75: Reading “Albus and Scorpius’s Excellent Adventure”.

Day 81: I do not have enough middle fingers for I-95 traffic in the sweltering heat.

Day 82: Connecticut!

Day 83: Yale Peabody Museum!

Day 88: What is this? Is this an Olympic event? Oh, it’s rhythmic gymnastics. I guess.

Day 89: Mmmm, Indian food.

Day 90: Aww, Olympics are over. But Japanese PM traveled from Tokyo to Rio de Janeiro via Mario pipe. Your argument is invalid.

Day 96: Atlanta! Theme is Turner and aquatic life and lovely Olympic park at night. And way overpriced revolving restaurant in hotel I laughed nervously at and backed away slowly.

Day 97: Atlanta still! This time the theme is civil rights, Southern cuisine, and Coke. And back to the gigantic airport to return home.

Day 99: New roof, I guess.

And…

Day 100: Went to dinner with some people but otherwise unremarkable. But a quiet ending to a truly remarkable run.

As these 100 Days of Summer draw to a close in a turbulent year, though leap years have a way of being turbulent as 2008 and 2012 certainly were, I wonder what is in store for the final four months. I have at least two more trips ahead, as well as a couple other tasks. I wonder what will become of some of what complicated the earlier part of the year. I wonder and hope that this year that began so rough can turn around and be pretty great in the end. Sour and then sweet, like that candy.

Well, I close the book on this round of the 100 Days of Summer, to do it once again for some reason on May 24, 2017, in whatever form the world will be in then. And given how things look, “whatever form” is right!

This has been Day 100 of the 100 Days of Summer, Round 16.

That Was Quick

December 22, 2015

It’s the Winter Solstice.

It’s the day of darkness and cold. When the daylight little by little gets longer, until spring comes, and warm weather comes.

Warmer days will come again but they are a long way off, and-

Wait a minute.

Weather forecast over next few days:
Dec 23, 65 degrees.
Dec 24, 74 degrees.
Dec 25, 66 degrees.

Or really soon. Whatever.

Equines, Vines, and Mines

August 31, 2015

Hey, look what day it is. Come around for the fifteenth time and once again it is…


DAY

100

Alright, let’s see, what went on that’s remotely interesting and I feel like sharing…

Okay, none of it is all that interesting, but here it is anyway.

Day 4, late birthday cake gathering for me at work, later Trapped Forever by Metro because I didn’t have the exit fare

Day 6, aaaand trying to drive down a very narrow DC street resulted in me destroying someone’s side mirror, clearly going into DC is a bad idea in general.

Day 7, Rush concert! Three hours of music… but they didn’t play Freewill. Sigh. Afterward, Virginia said “oh, going into DC has been nightmarish? challenge accepted!” So in the middle of the night I was stuck in construction traffic on the beltway for THREE HOURS!

Day 8, a bunch of weird backyard games, but stayed in Maryland, so no driving issues this time!

Day 9, gahhh, jury duty! County is making me miss work… for like two hours. They let us out at like 11am and I was still able to go to work. Cool.

Day 13, mmmm, free donut!

Day 14, AMERICAN PHAROAH [sic] WINS THE TRIPLE CROWN!!!!!

Day 21, took little brother to Sugarloaf to climb rocks to his heart’s content.

Day 22, yay, rained out barbecue!

Day 25, parents clearing out stuff from old storage trailer, better not throw away stuff I want to keep!

Day 26, work picnic! Oh, and my headlight’s out.

Day 27, trying to get a blood test and get my headlight bulb replaced on the same day was a bad idea.

Day 29, Nationals game!

Day 35, Inside Out!

Day 39, family left town on a train and left the Wii with me, woohoo!

Day 42, ‘splosions and chili!

Day 43, Team USA wins World Cup!

Day 45, wow, there’s this overgrown vine slowly conquering my backyard… Better start yanking it out… Hey, we have an air conditioner! I remember that thing.

Day 47, Donkey Kong Country! Fuck yeah!

Day 50, cleaning up a lot of crap, finding a lot of old crap I kept for some reason.

Day 54, crap, I think my laptop is having issues.

Day 55, loud tapas are loud!

Day 56, Minions!

Day 57, family left again… but took the Wii with them this time. D’oh!

Day 61, power outage at work! LOL

Day 64, so hard to pick out a new laptop.

Day 68, LOL another power outage at work

Day 69, hey, my car hit 69,000 miles today! What timing!

Day 70, Crash Bandicoot!

Day 75, oh, wait, my laptop does still work, Chrome was just eating its RAM for breakfast.

Day 77, hey, it’s 8/8 and I opened an 8 in Minesweeper! Think I’ll bingewatch Sense8.

Day 80, making travel plans.

Day 84, zoo!

Day 86, eep, I’m in trouble… I can fix this.

Day 87, yay, I fixed this!

Day 91, all the numbers!

Day 94, time for car maintenance… going to take a while, I’ll need to take a *shudder* loaner car! I hate the loaner car! I want MY car!

Day 95, a bunch of very expensive car work later, finally rid of loaner car and got my own car back!

Day 97, shit, my other headlight is out now.

Day 98, stuff that should have happened a long time ago.

Day 99, mmmm, yummy Greek salad.

And finally…

Day 100. Crazy work day and a mysterious intermittent rumbling sound at home. And chicken wings.

Alright.

As these 100 Days of Summer draw to a close, I see that so far 2015 has had a lot going on, which will be gone over on New Year’s Eve. But it’s got four more months to work with. And I’ve got to post on here again because this thing has been kind of neglected.

Goodbye to another 100 Days of Summer. It all starts up again on Day 1 of Round 16 on May 24, 2016, in whatever form the world will be in then. Who knows!

This has been Day 100 of the 100 Days of Summer, Round 15.

Let’s Go 2014

December 31, 2014

Well, that was something. Another year gone. Time for another recap!

January: Viewer Discretion Is Advised

-Better change my address after lots of laziness.
-Ooh, possible job. All the way in Frederick, though.
-Mmmm, almond cookies.
-Why does Downton Abbey have a viewer discretion warning? There’s never anything racy or violent in it…
-Oh. That’s their way of saying “trigger warning” I guess.
-Cat ran away! 🙁
-Volunteering at WES. Because unemployed and bored.
-I made chili! 😀

February: Backwards N Thing

-Making chili and guacamole and cookies for Superbowl.
-Prep ran long. Did I miss kickoff?
-Aww, I missed a safety?!
-Winter Olympics in Sochi!
-Ooh, US women’s hockey is about to take Gold against Canada…
-FUUUUUUU- They remembered they’re from a country whose capital is Washington DC. :irked:
-Didn’t get other suggested job, but got interview for another one with same company but much closer location!
-And I got it!!! 😀

March: 37 Cents Per Ounce

-Ski night!
-French brunch thing.
-New job!
-So many trainings and SOPs to read.
-Lego Movie!
-More snow!

April: Existentialism

-Huh. The lab doors unlock each other.
-Brookside on Easter Sunday!
-Philosophy discussion lunch. Followed by fajita dinner. Fun day!
-Hendrik and Sasha visiting DC! 😀

May: Next Door

-I shouldn’t have said that.
-Where’s my birthday cake? Everyone else got a birthday cake.
-Oh, I finally got it a couple weeks later. Okay.
-Trip to New York sounds great… just not with my family. :irked:
-Wow, hotel room right above World Trade Center site.
-Good thing I came. My family couldn’t steer themselves around this city for anything. 🙄
-Holy crap, this sauce is spicy!

June: Councilmanic

-Netflix!
-Kingdom Hearts!
-What do you mean my voting registration address wasn’t changed with my address change? They said it was!
-I hate provisional ballots. They’re as good as not voting at all. :irked:
-World Cup!

July: This Fruit Salad Is Spicy

-Fruit salad has no business being spicy
-Dinner with Pam!!!
-How to Train Your Dragon 2!
-I think I’ll go to… Ugh, it’s too hot to drive anywhere. Stuck in so much traffic.
-Memorial service for dad’s aunt with lots of distant relatives I never see.

August: Red Trail

-Welp, I’ve gotten myself addicted to GeoGuessr again.
-Smithsonian with little brother
-Every Simpsons ever!
-Nats game! 😀
-Finally successfully went to Calvert Cliffs for Day 100.

September: Photospheres

-Mmmm, Middle Eastern Bazaar…
-Perfect 25000 score in GeoGuessr!
-To Baltimore with little brother! To Aquarium and other stuff!

October: Wild Pitch

-Nats are in playoffs!
-And lost badly. Sigh. :irked:
-Winter Festival rehearsal time!
-There’s a trick-or-treater dressed up as the Eleventh Doctor!

November: Windmill

-Sugarloaf climb!
-Auction night! I’m a devil! 😀
-A drunk devil.
-Big Hero 6! I’ve seen a lot of movies this year.
-Wait, why aren’t they playing Christmas Canon much in the Christmas music lineup this year? :irked:
-Almond cookies! Trying to get it just right.

December: Give Us Hope

-Shoulder hurts.
-Holiday potluck at work. I think I’ll make hummus.
-I put a lot of chopped parsley into the hummus. Now it’s green. It looks like guacamole.
-Got to bake lots of cookies for Cookie Walk!
-And dress rehearsal.
-And Washington Ethical Society’s Winter Festival. I’m Pandora! And my little brother’s a prince!
-And I get to pull the Hope banner!
-Cookie Walk! There are my cookies! 😀
-Trans-Siberian Orchestra! Damn, Verizon Center is packed!
-Dinner with Victoria!
-Time for Christmas shopping. Oy.
-Running around at work giving Christmas chocolate to coworkers!
-And finally… Christmas Eve. And Day.
-For New Year’s Eve, saw Mockingjay in movie theater.
-And now I’ve posted an entry every day in December!

With 2014 about to be in the books, it leaves a few things dangling. Though I suppose every year should, what with the arbitrary nature of when we determine when a year ends and a new one begins. The next year could prove very quickly to be great or another let-down. I guess, of course, that remains to be seen. We’ll see if I have more to say this time next year. Or at least something more interesting.

We’ll see.

Happy New Year!

Cent Jours Quatorze

August 31, 2014

On “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey” earlier this year, a show that reaches unheard of heights of what one can ever imagine awesomeness can be (appropriately enough), Neil deGrasse Tyson condensed the life of the universe into a single year. In this cosmic calendar, the sun was created on August 31. That’s today! You know what else today is? That’s right…

DAY
100


It’s the last day of Round 14. So let’s recap.

Day 1, I’m off to New York City. Sound familiar? Well, this time I got dragged along with my family. Got a cool hotel next to the new WTC, though. Amazing views!

Day 2, still in NYC, terrible service at restaurant and mad dash to Penn Station to catch train home.

Day 15, Triple Crown Winner? Come on, California Chrome…. Nope. -_-

Day 21, sweet! World Cup games on big screen at work!

Day 23, Kingdom Hearts!!! Expert mode this time. 😀

Day 32, my voter registration wasn’t updated when I changed my address six months ago! I need to vote in the primary but don’t know where! Grrr.

Day 37, Frozen sing-a-long at WES… I WANT TO SEE FROZEN AGAIN!!!! So picked up a copy of it right afterward. Got How to Train Your Dragon, too, because why not?

Day 42, ‘splosions!

Day 48, me: “Wow. This fruit salad is spicy.”

Day 49, How to Train Your Dragon 2 in movie theater! Toothless is adorable!!! 😀

Day 50, think I’ll spend the midpoint at a state park on the Chesapeake… or not, it’s too damn hot outside and the beltway is backed up because of course it is. Back home. Try again some other time. And start replaying Kingdom Hearts 2.

Day 57, Planes 2 with little brother.

Day 64, very old grand-aunt’s memorial service and distant cousins.

Day 78, National Air and Space Museum with little brother! And flight simulator.

Day 90, EVERY SIMPSONS EVER!!!!

Day 93, Nationals game!

And finally…

Day 100. A WES platform with lots of pets! And afterward, some unfinished Day 50 business, even though the day was even hotter but at least no beltway traffic. Calvert Cliffs! After a two hour drive and then a two mile walk. Very nice. 🙂

I think my memory is getting bad since I’m just not remembering much for these recaps. Or less of interest is happening. Or I’m getting more sensible about what I share publicly. Or I’m realizing this is a whole lot of Shit Nobody Cares About. There was also a conspicuous lack of any NYRA activities, namely an Annual Meeting. I need to do some interesting stuff.

Oh, well. As these 100 Days of Summer draw to a close, well, I guess I need to do more interesting stuff. See you for the fifteenth round beginning May 24, 2015, in whatever form the world will be in then. Probably about the same.

This has been Day 100 of the 100 Days of Summer, Round 14.

Lucky Thirteen

August 31, 2013

Once more, it’s been ten days times ten, and here we are in yet another…

DAY
100

Alright. So Round 13 is just about in the books. Let’s review.

Day 1, fourth day on job. Yay employment!

Day 9, “Screw work. Let’s build a fort!”

Day 19, worst sushi ever… but with Victoria!

Day 25, fun day of baseball, pizza, and video games with little brother!
Continue reading “Lucky Thirteen”

Gelukkig Kerstfeest

December 25, 2012

It began with some gift gathering and organization. Eating some cookies.

And, look at that, it’s snowing outside!

And after some wrapping, some Christmas TV, and whatnot, scraping off the car.

Christmas Eve.

Sushi!

Off to late night church. The usual.

Except for some weird “riu riu chiu” song they sung.

And at last… Silent Night.

I might have shouted the third verse for some reason: “RADIANT BEAMS FROM THY HOLY FACE! WITH THE DAWN OF REDEEMING GRAAAAAAAACE!”

And stepped outside…

o snap, it’s a foggy Christmas Eve!

And the last of the wrapping.

And cookies and hot chocolate!

Bed.

In the morning, a bizarre AC/DC parody of “My Favorite Things”.

Also, the Christmas tree fell down last night and is propped up against the wall.

LOL awesome

The brand new train didn’t work.

Until it did on a different track. Weird.

Mario games, old and new!

And the feast. The feast of roast beast.

Unremarkable. Unwavering from last year. For the most part.

I guess that’s a good thing. It is a good thing. Nice to have some things be somewhat constant.

I don’t know. I’m not interested in thinking too hard about it.

Hope you all had a good one!

Day of Many Things

December 20, 2012

What I refer to as a “Day of Many Things” is a certain day of the year that, on seemingly every year or most years, that date somehow ends up significant in some way. I don’t mean days that have built-in annual significance, such as birthdays or Christmas or something. I mean days that otherwise are ordinary but through a lot of coincidences, it keeps being important, even in the most minor ways.

Today, December 20, is one of those days for me. Ten years ago today I took the GRE (verbal 370, quantitative 770, woo!). Five years ago today my grandma became ill from what killed her a month later. Four years ago today I found that ageist fye store. Eight years ago today I came down with a cold. Plus a bunch of other things.

Plenty more days throughout the year are like this. March 20. May 12. May 21. August 30. September 6. October 16. November 18. Those are the main ones, I think.

Yeah. Just days that it seems something or other that’s somehow important or at least memorable happens most years. Be it an appointment, discovery, first time meeting someone, fun activity, tragedy, disappointment, a very strange occurrence, or something else.

I’d add that I got the name from a card in the game Munchkin, but I’m worried that would push the dorkiness of this over some sort of threshold and endanger the universe.

Take Action

December 13, 2012

We have to take action!

When there is some horrible injustice, there’s no shortage of people tweeting about it saying things like “maybe this will finally spur people into action!”

Alright, alright, I’m good and angry! So… what action exactly am I supposed to take now?

Hmmm. Seems they usually haven’t thought that far.

Or they have, and the “correct” action is to give a certain entity money or to vote for a particular candidate or party. Because that will solve everything. Somehow.

Which makes all the talk of activism, rebellion, or bettering the world out to just be an advertising scheme.

Of course, a lot of social problems really don’t have anything close to clear solutions. Or at least no solutions that the average person would really be able to take part in, because they don’t have the authority, the means, or the technical knowledge. In which case it sometimes is the right thing to do to just support those who do know what they are doing, or at least make sure they are pointed in the right direction.

But in truth, taking action against some injustice or other social ill ends up not being as exciting or glamorous as is often believed. People envision big protests or other stunts, when really these should only be done under certain circumstances, and contrary to common assumption, these alone do not change anything, even if some exceptionally large ones are memorable. Taking action involves a lot of leg work, repetition, and dead ends. And strategy, lots of strategy. Taking action, even after a crapton of work over the course of years, tends to yield very slow results, depending on specifics.

But you’ve got people angry and wanting change RIGHT NOW. And these people have very different ideas as to how to create that change, and they only end up releasing that anger on each other, despite being on the same side, over tactics, leaving said social ill unaltered.

Believe me, I know. I’ve been guilty of every bit of this on several counts! 😛

By the Dozen

August 31, 2012

Like every year so far this century, it began on May 24 and ends today on August 31, for today is…


DAY
100

With Round 12 coming to an end, let’s review!

Day 3, meeting Kathleen in Georgetown, finding place to park. Finding expensive parking meters. A nickel gets you a minute and a half. It says that. Make that finding world’s most sarcastic parking meters.

Day 9, Victoria has come to DC! We welcome her with dinner at Full Kee in Chinatown.

Day 10, to LGBT poetry slam with Kathleen at Busboys and Poets. Girl who won was quite awesome.

Day 13, uh oh, Kathleen needs to go to ER! Going to be a late night.

Day 17, charades! Well, more a game of Taboo we’re calling charades. Sort of both.

Day 21, first board meeting in almost five months. Passed a corporal punishment position paper at last. Then a whole lot of staff issues. And a repealed bylaw change that was foolishly done in closed session where no one could see it was being done. Ugh.
Continue reading “By the Dozen”