5
 
 
(click the picture above for the high definition video - but also click YouTube for me!)
 
10:29 AM, Saturday, August 16th, 2008:
 
Well newcomers are getting a well-rounded dose of Journey-life this month. Goofy song, infuriating locked entries (ETA on their unlocking about 2 weeks) and now, my favorite - RANDOMS. WAHOO. Randoms (and all of 'em are housed here if you enjoy this) are simply my way of puking out all I've digested since the last randoms. Things that aren't full entries but I just gotta get 'em out. So - let's get goin':
 
Oh, and I'm giving them titles now. As much as I hate you skimmers, I certainly love to help you don't I?
 
1) Mental Phone Midgets
 
Why, when your battery is low on your cell phone, does it insist on actions that further deplete said battery? It's this sort of built in hypocrisy in life that makes me postal. My Razr takes it to a whole new level. I'm a vibrate man myself, and when the battery is low - it insists on vibrating - one loooooooooooooooooooooooooooong 4-5 second beep which I pick up out of habit, then see "Low Battery". Well it's fucking low now isn't it? It's like telling you your health is low in a videogame - by STABBING you in the face. Or a doctor telling you your leg is broken by beating it with a tire iron. It's beyond frustrating... and there's probably a really simple way to change the long vibrate to a quick "dot" vibrate but why mess up the random? :)
 
2) Speaking of Mental Midgets...
 
John Edwards. Johhhhhhn Edwards. I have preached about politicians for years and how we shouldn't judge them in the bedroom or with their relationships - but when Edwards defended the affair by mentioning his wife was in REMISSION? That blew my ever-lovin' mind. I mean this guy is making Spitzer look like a champion of the poor and downtrodden because he paid his whore so well. And the whole "...but I'm not the father"/two days later she says "no paternity test" turn of events is just soooooooo bad. First of all, pull it out brother. Like, I don't want to get graphic here - but just deposit your money elsewhere. You're cheating on your cancer-stricken wife, the least you can do is a pearl necklace. <---so funny. I gotta say, be on suicide-watch for this. I know people with his ego usually don't go down that path, but he's literally losing everything by the minute. It's one of the more astounding political falls I've ever witnessed.
 
3) Barack and Forth
 
My fellow online political junkie friend is recently realizing how much politics suck - a point I tried to make to him in early January as Barack's star was shining. If you're a newcomer to the political scene, I'm sure it can be heartbreaking to watch someone you believe in - proceed to straight up flip and flop all over the place as he runs to the middle. And although it was always expected, even I've been a little surprised at just how poorly some of the choices have come off. The FISA deal was just stupid. His vote changed nothing, it was always gonna pass - and he pissed off everyone involved. That was completely political and rookie in every sense. The drilling flip-flop was actually a little more legitimate and in the interest of compromise, but still - handled poorly by his campaign through the media. He's making rookie mistakes and is nowhere near as far ahead as he should be. I still can't see McCain winning (no matter what the polls say even the night before) because not one thing about the current administration is a positive and they're gonna have no choice but to move away from that negativity. And speaking of negativity...
 
4) The Clinton Convention
 
Barry, grow a pair. There's no way in hell you give Tuesday night to Hillary, with a speech by her daughter before hand - then give a prime-time slot to Bill to boot the following night. THEN give her the role call vote overshadowing you again Thursday night as well. Bill should introduce Hillary on Tuesday - and that's IT. Period. The convention will be completely dominated by the Clintons - and then your ass is gonna be in a football stadium in a spectacle that's gonna be completely seperate than the first 3 days. Not good planning. The inmates are running the asylum...and you better pray your ass stays clean in the next 10 days because you've now actually given her an opening to take you out. I don't believe it will happen, but playing to the "Clinton Catharsis Crowd" looks incredibly weak. Everything I hate about liberal political correctness. Awww is your sewlf-ewsteem huwting? Bare-wee can hewlp youuuuuuuuu. Christ.
 
5) It's a Dog Eat Cat World
 
(sigh) I don't know how instinct didn't make it clear to these creatures. I'm not sure how the loud barking sounds of two animated dogs didn't clue them in... but the pups have managed to kill not one, but 2 cats in the past 2 weeks. Such a shitty way to start your day - I can't even begin to tell you. The first involved me walking outside to a black cat ('round a year old) who looked as if it had literally been licked to death. Like they both licked all the "play" out of it. It was all matted down and positioned very neatly in the middle of the little ramp I made for Roxy to get in and out of the house (yes, she's fat enough to require a handicap ramp). I yelled: "Jesus...Christ", stepped back into the kitchen and the pups knew immediately they were bad. The sheepish ears, the tail wagging... all I could say was: "Yeah, that's not good." And then 2 days ago, I actually hear the ruckus, run out and seperate the pups from the cat (literally having to whap Cebe to get her to break her attention) and thought I saved the kitten who I proceeded to put on the front lawn. Nope. Dead the next morning and rock hard so she clearly bit the dust moments after. The hardest part is that you can't help but feel like a parent of bad kids. Heh. But with the set-up at my house (the ability for the dogs to come in and out of the house at will) they're inevitably gonna have "outdoor" instincts. Unavoidable. They chase birds, squirrels... whatever the hell manages to be stupid enough to jump in... and unfortunately that means cats. :( Anyway, the whole "family" has been nowhere to be found since dead-kitty-on-the-lawn told them: go elsewhere. So this should be the end of Pet Cemetery for a bit.
 
6) Locked in Knots
 
The 3 locked entries this month are fairly exciting news that more than likely won't specifically be a break, but could very well lead to more and more contacts within the TV world. It could still actually be the break, which is why I've documented it so much, but these are the situations where you just can't go 'round spouting every detail publically. Not because you don't want egg on your face, but because you don't want to "name drop" no matter how innocent it is. Lesson learned when I met a guy who dated Nora Dunn back in 2000. I mentioned it just as a "how cool? Loved SNL during those years" and he was pretty pissed. It never occurred to me (no offense to Nora) that saying that could be perceived as a way to "look cool" or "name drop"... to me it was just like saying I saw some celebrity at a coffee shop or some shit. So again, I'm being cautious, but rest assured the story will be open soon and it is a doozy. It's an incredibly exhilarating time right now and I can't stop smiling...
 
7) No Baby in the Basket
 
Heh. I take great pride in my entry titles, especially the locked ones - but wasn't aware that any of you would actually jump to the conclusion from last month's locked entry that someone dropped a baby on my doorstep. I mean, who the hell could that have been with? Considering my last name isn't Edwards... and when in holy hell would I have had time to cheat on Donna? Sweet hell. Anyway - I'm sure you can surmise now who showed up on the doorstep and you just have to let your imagination go for a bit until I can tell the story. It is very temporary, quite the dent to an absolutely extraordinary summer for me personally, but the right thing to do.
 
8) Lying Cripples Love
 
I choose the term "cripple" very specifically. It literally handicaps love. It is the antithesis of love and it erodes the foundation every, single, time. I unfortunately got caught in the middle of a very dishonest situation and my own love couldn't heal it. Nothing I could say or do was going to stop the dissolution of friendships and I'm actually quite hurt by it. I want desperately to just scream "the truth" at the top of my lungs but ironically that would be disloyal. It's just hearbreaking. I pray those involved come clean at some point and everything is open again, but I'm not holding my breath. Lying's a hole that's nearly impossible to get out of. I love you both.
 
9) Read your History Books
 
While we're on the subject of complete downers, hello World War 3? Jesus - any question now why you don't commit troops to war without a good reason? When other shit happens - now we're all screwed. This Russia/Georgia situation has "oh fuck" written all over it. At this moment there's still a chance it kinda fades away - but we are dangerously close to an all out World War. If I were Ahmedinijad and really planned on nukin' Israel? Now would be the time. And instead of being pulled into the World War (a la WW2) while we tried to avoid it - we cast the first stone... for absolutely no reason. All moral high ground is evaporated. I can't be the only one laughing at the audacity of us scolding Russia's actions. (sigh). And don't start with "the hijackers cast the first stone" because Iraq has dick all to do with 9/11. Enough with the history rewrites.
 
Ahem.
 
10) The 2056 Olympics
 
It's my hope that on the final Olympics of my life (I die July 13th, 2057), the nationalism will be almost comical. We will be so much of a "one-world" that the Olympics will be no more "national" than competing against someone two streets over. I don't hate my country at all - I certainly root for them... but it's sad how much nationalism actually hurts our world. I just don't seem to have that bone in me that can feel better than others...based on where I live. And so much of The Olympics is so "meaningful" to people. We are so much more than our countries. And it really does come down to money and size. We're a rich country - we will win more gold medals. Duh. Our training facilities are second-to-none... but we're all just humans man. The only argument I'll ever take part in when it comes to this area is the black vs. white athletic argument. I've said all along that it doesn't take a genius to understand that if you select an entire race of people based on size and strength and bring them to a new land and have them only breed within their own race? In 400 years those are gonna be some bad mutha-fuckas. And it's just the ultimate karma for all those slave owners that their descendants hold sports figures in such high regard. Love that shit.
 
11) Size Actually Doesn't Matter 
 
So that big-ass screen? It isn't that big anymore. I mean - I certainly don't want bigger... but i'm pretty amazed that it no longer "wows" me. I'm now so accustomed to watching things on something that size that I actually pay attention to the content. I do still marvel at the clarity of some of my HD-DVDs and Blu-Rays... but it has nothing to do with size anymore. And it's funny, when you think about it - if you watch a movie on a 22 inch screen - your memory of that movie won't really have a border. You know? So making it 120 inches doesn't change that much... having said that - no way in hell I'd ever go smaller so I guess size matters a LITTLE bit. LOL. Point being though, I am now completely ho-hum about a 10 foot fucking movie screen in my house. Even typing that blows my mind. :)
 
12) The Journey Begets Art
 
Nothing like having an entry of randoms ready to go and then being completely lost on what the video should be. Of course that's when the "kid" in you comes out and you just make things happen.
 
So I guess, this is a mix of all the feelings within this entry. The joy from the past 2 months has certainly been hampered, losing the friends as well, throw in the huge opportunities and it's just a weird place. But it's exactly as the entry says: Random. That randomness is what keeps everyone wondering: "What's gonna happen next?".

 

And as long as you're still curious, this keeps goin'....

 

Adam