Turkey Goodness

Well, well, WELL! Its been like, four MONTHS since I've last posted! Since that time, I am a married man, have been out of the country, and have gotten new employment. Nothing major.

The wedding was fantastic, as all who were there would agree. Still working on getting all our photos in order and put into an album. Currently I am editing some, and also editing honeymoon photos, which was ALSO a great time. I gotta tell you, NOTHING on this earth beats reading a good book in the shade, on the beach, in a hammock, on a tropical island, with a bar 20 feet away playing 'Louie, Louie'. That is just AWESOME. Anyway, the trip was a hoot, we had lots of fun, and then came back to the cold, cruel 'real world'. :)

Since then, I FINALLY got a job doing pre-press design at a business forms company, so I design/edit all sorts of paychecks, order forms, bills of lading, manifests, etcetera. Its not terribly creative work, nor is it exciting, but it IS steady, and it pays pretty good. Can't ask for more than that, really. I'm going to keep trying at Cartoon Network though, cause you never know.

We're getting ready for Thanksgiving down here. 2nd year with the in-laws. This year, I am deep-frying a turkey. Its gonna be sweet. I have not TOTALLY neglected my northern suburban upbringing, however, and have acquired a DIGITAL, ELECTRIC turkey fryer, as opposed to those gas/open flame ones. Much more civilized. Plus you can do it indoors. Well, I guess you COULD use the other kind indoors, but that would be dumb. I'm looking forward to some fried turkey, anyway.

Me and the wife are looking to be up in MD/DC for a week around Christmas...most likely the 23rd through the 29th. Please feel free to stop by or give us a call or whatever if you're in town then and want to do something fun.

New fun thing for you guys who travel a lot...next time you're on a plane, bring a silver ball point clicky top pen with you, and about halfway through the flight, stand up, scream a random Bible reference and then click the pen top wildly and see what happens. Oh the hilarious possibilities! No matter what, it'll make a fun story. Especially if the Bible reference is something ironic.

In nerdy gaming news, I recently beat Fable II, which was a lot of fun, although the game was awfully short, and am currently playing Guitar Hero World Tour, which has some neat songs in it. They need to get 'Stairway' in there, though. Its key.

Hello there!

Slow going? Yes indeed. If you have been missing posts on here, I have been doing SOME blogging on mine & Behtia's joint website. So go there if you want updates. Other than that, I'll try to blog from time to time on here, but things HAVE been a little crazy in the last few months. I'll be sure and save some good bloggery material from our honeymoon to post on here. Nothing scandalous. Maybe. But its ALWAYS entertaining to go on boats and to tropical islands. I'm sure there will be shenanigans aplenty.

Peace, love, dope.

Guitar HERO!

Yes its true. I AM a guitar hero. I can play three, count 'em THREE guitar chords now. Plus a power chord.

The guitar is back. Its cool. Got it all put together, but one or two tiny things happened...one is that when the truss rod (its a metal rod in the neck of the guitar to keep it from warping and stuff) was installed, it found a weak spot in the wood on the back of the neck and started pushing through...which is understandable I guess. The wood was pretty cheap to begin with, its now 50 years old, and just went through major repairs. Doesn't affect the play at all though. And it gave me an idea for the guitar's name. Its got a hump on the back of the neck...like a hunchback...named Quasimodo! Sweet. So now the guitar's named Quasimodo.

The other issue I'm having is that the bridge is still causing issues. It seemed we were all good, but 2 of the strings were 'buzzing', meaning the bridge wasn't holding them tight, and one kept slipping out. I raised the bridge a bit, but am thinking that's just a temporary fix. Still, its fun to play, and that's what's important. Now I need to learn 'Stairway'...

In other news, mine and Behtia's wedding bands are being made. Having bought a custom engagement ring setting, I knew this would probably be an issue...getting a matching wedding band, I mean...but I just saw the prototypes and they look great! I am excited to see the final product. Mine was created to match Behtia's. Only bigger. I actually have this worry that I'm going to do something stupid like try and play volleyball or work on something around the house and jam my ring finger before the wedding, causing it to swell up and keep the ring from fitting. Is that a normal worry? Considering my track record of dumb injuries before major events, I think it might be reasonable. I have the broken toe before proposing, and the getting of a cut on my face right before senior pictures, to name two. And I've been sick on Christmas at LEAST half a dozen times.

I have to mention, if all the estate settlements, lottery winnings, real estate deals, and court winnings that I am offered in my e-mail were real, I could now afford to buy say, Eastern Europe. I am sure I could afford Russia by the end of the month, too. That's right...I would acquire through lottery winnings and my dead 7th cousin's estranged uncle's vast estates AND over the internet what Napoleon and Hitler were trying to do by force over the course of many years. I would then buy controlling interests in other parts of Europe and Scandanavia, plus the British Isles, and I would call this empire 'New Caucasia', so that when I fill out forms and applications and have to check off 'Caucasian', it'll actually make sense. But the nation would be open to all races and whatnot...so putting 'Caucasian' on an application wouldn't work, anyway. Seriously, does that bug anyone else? Shouldn't white people be 'European Americans' or something? Are we allowed to go raise a stink about that? For continuity's sake, we should either all go with colors or all go with '(continent)-American'. Just my opinion.

Time for foodening. Later.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Or more accurately, twas the day before Fliven spends lots of money. Either way. Tomorrow I go to pick up my fully-repaired guitar, and I'm already on e-bay looking at another one! Insanity. I'll post the photos on Facebook. For those of you not on Facebook, too bad. You're missing out. I have many random photos, a small portfolio of my work, my Brothers Grimm (a comparison photo will be forthcoming soon between my in-game character and my actual person) folder, and other fun things.

Also, mine and Behtia's custom wedding bands (part 1 anyway...they do wax ones to begin with, kinda like a rough draft) will be done tomorrow, or so I hope. They were supposed to be done today, but I haven't heard from the guy yet.

In other news, Grand Theft Auto. I am a BAD MAN. Do I steal cars from old ladies? Yes I do. Do I drive recklessly and run over pedestrians? Yes I do. Do I gun down complete strangers for cash? You betcha. But you have to draw the line SOMEwhere, so I never cut in line at the hot dog stand, nor do I hit anyone who has a classic ride. Bikers are punks, though, so I hit them whenever possible. Also, given the choice, I let people live. I'm a sociopathic murderer with a warped sense of vigilante justice. What cracks me up is that my brother Charles bought and played this game the day before he was to preach the Sunday sermon at church. I wonder if I should tell the senior pastor...

If you're bored, I found a funny commercial from a number of years ago that makes me laugh...go to YouTube and look for 'jiggly batman'. It has Batman singing the JigglyPuff song. Always makes me smile.

Long Days

What is it that makes a day long or short? Is it entirely the perception of the individual? Whatever it is, today is a LONG day. The last hour has lasted approximately 1.3 light years, in my reckoning. What makes it worse is that I got up at NOON. I've only been up for 8 or so hours! Ridiculous, right?

Today is dad's birthday. He is 62. Which got me thinking. His dad was in his mid to late 40s when he got MARRIED. And Dad was born in what, 1946? And a second child...so, I'll have to check, but lets say they were married in '43. There's a VERY good chance that I have a GRANDPARENT who was born in the 1800s. How old do *I* feel now?!?! I'll check the dates to be sure and re-post this. 3 generations spanning 3 centuries. Scary.

Umm...not a whole lot going on since Saturday. I've cleaned 2 out of 5 rooms in preparation for Behtia's visit, but have the next 2 days off to get the rest done. My car will NOT be needing washing, as we've had tons of rain, but I did clean out the interior. Does sword cleaning count...? I did that too. Noticed 2 or 3 burrs on my 'swashbuckler' that need sharpened out. I'm toying with the idea of selling it, but can't bring myself to do it yet. Maybe I'll start posting the others on e-Bay and see what I can get.

Off to see if florists carry lilacs. I need to get some for mom for her birthday. I do it every year.

Wads of Cash for the Masses

Sold my Eddie Izzard tickets. I know, gasps of shock, but it was the best idea. I got, for $200 worth of tickets, $385. And that's a good deal for the people buying them at this point, too. What does that mean? That means that I made a $185 profit. I can give my siblings, who originally had tickets for their gift, a big wad of cash, take them to dinner and to see Iron Man, and it will COST ME NOTHING. BOSS. My fiancee was a little disappointed, but we're going to run around outside looking at gardens and stuff, and go furniture shopping, and look at wedding bands, so I think our docket was fairly full already. Plus I promised to do an opera or a show later this summer/fall. And I've seen Izzard live, twice, so its not the end of the world to miss this one.

Peace out.

Cause its been awhile...

I really have no specific reason for blogging. I have about an hour to kill until my eBay auction ends. Which DOES bring up a good point...if people don't want other people scalping tickets, quit making it so darn PROFITABLE somehow! Tickets I bought for $50 each are going on eBay for FOUR HUNDRED. EACH. That's outrageous! That's what, like a 700% increase? Insane. I would be loathe to pay that much for tickets, but I am GETTING that much for the tickets I am selling, so it works out even.

What else is going on...um...work sucks. I really am starting to hate it there. The work is fine, but the people are just starting to get on my nerves. The management is incompetent, and my coworkers are either lazy, annoying, or dumb; or some combination of those three. Thankfully, I'm only going to be there for another 2 months. Then its time to move! I will miss the DC area a LOT. But I do enjoy setting up a new apartment...and I'll be with Behtia all the time, which I'm looking forward to immensely. Plus I'll get to hang out and bond with my in-laws. Me and Behtia's sister's husband, Jimbo Baggins, are talking about chores such as splitting logs at the cabin. A suitably manly bonding experience. Also, as I understand it, my future father in law and I, and perhaps Jimli the Dwarf, all like listening to ABBA. My own flesh-and-blood brothers do not. Of course, I despair of the music tastes of everyone in my family with the exception of Mom, who likes classics such as Simon & Garfunkel and so on.

Ok, 45 minutes til auction end, what else can I talk about...umm...Behtia is coming next week. We've got some stuff planned like the Eddie Izzard show, of course, trip to Ikea, maybe see IRON MAN (Na na nanana...nananananana NA NA NA), couple other things. Hopefully my guitar will be fixed when she's here so we can share in the victory of a quest well completed. Then I can serenade her with song. Chicks dig serenading. It would help if I could play more than 2 chords, though. Speaking of things chicks dig, I ordered the chainmail neckties for the wedding, and they should be here in a couple weeks. Awesome. The armorer gave me a discount for being a long-time customer. I would have bought them anyway, though. Cause they're awesome, and I want to share these with my bretheren. I'll tell you the virtues of a chainmail tie:
1. Not a clip on, but is on a chain around your neck, so doesn't need tied...much faster to put on.
2. Always at the same length, so you don't have to retie 4 or 5 times to get it the right length.
3. Doesn't have an extra skinny tie end that will flap around.
4. Does not blow higgledy-piggledy in the wind. At ALL.
5. Will not wrinkle.
6. Will not get stained...whatever it is you can just wipe off.
7. Matches ANYTHING.
8. Versatile...can be worn casually, formally, doesn't matter. Good for all occasions.
9. Forget tie clips. You can use refrigerator magnets.
10. Chicks DIG chainmail. Its a thing. I have had literally dozens of women, most of them strangers, walk up to me, ask about my tie, and then ask if they can touch it. If a woman is a foot away from you, holding your necktie, it gives a fairly good 'in' to get to know her, yeah?

Ok, 30 minutes left on my eBay. This is turning into quite a long blog post. Umm...so after the Rock Band 'Brothers Grimm' got its first gold record, the band has slowly parted ways, perhaps forever. Right up until we get a 'where are they now' special. Or a reunion tour. On the upside, I've achieved the rank of Sergeant Major in RainbowSix Vegas 2. I kick butt. Charles is all about the sniper rifle and stealthy kills. William is all about explosives and traps and the element of surprise. My strategy of choice is to get a big fricken machine gun with lots and lots of bullets and just shoot everything. You go with what works for you, I guess.

Today I cut open my finger on a piece of wire. Little safety tip from Uncle Fliven: don't cut your finger open on a piece of wire. It HURTS. And BLEEDS. I was replacing 2 of the leather straps on my rucksack and was using a thick gauge wire to widen and smooth the buckle holes I had just made, when the moisture from my hands made the hand slip through the wire. Could have been worse if it had caught all my fingers, but it didn't. Just caught my thumb on the way by. Which means my record remains of never having been cut by a sword, despite being a sword owner for 20 years, and only been cut by a knife once, despite being a pocketknife owner for 23 years. Plus working in a knife and sword store for 2 years. This must be my mutant power or something...invincible to cutting implements guy. Sweet. Now, if we want to talk about wire, cans, saws, pencils, rocks, paper, cats, and sledgehammers, that would be a different story. The good news is that I got the rucksack fixed. Its the only thing I own with the strength to be able to adequately store and transport my 50 lbs of chainmail. Which they do NOT have at Target. So we couldn't register for matching sets. Lots of other neat things, though! I'm excited.

15 minutes left. Does anyone know where I can find the opening theme to Contra? I want to use it as my ringtone. Or possibly Double Dragon. Never mind! I found it. Awesome. Now whenever anyone calls, it'll be like I'm playing Contra. If I input the code do I get 30 free minutes...?

Only a few minutes left. I'll sign off now.