The Meaty Efreeti

Monday, November 29, 2004

Hey, So the long weekend wasn't all that exciting. Thanksgiving night we went to Maggiano's with J.T, Kristin, and many others, then dropped by The Belv for a few drinks, minus one Ludicrously Hot Bartender who was visting family apparently. Ended the night at Outback Pub talking about Russell. ... Friday night I caught up with N, and many others, at Sam's Pub. Which was good, if a little odd. I'll relate the story to you on the phone if you like. Ended up going home relatively early, played a little WoW, then crashed. Saturday I did B'fast and had originally planned on going out with the Katy Kids, but decided I'd try to save a little funding for my trip to Salt Lake. Yes, my trip to SLC. I booked my tickets today to fly to Salt Lake on Dec. 27th, where I'll catch up with all my peeps for a couple of days, then ride home with Jenny on the 29th or 30th. Thus, I'll be New Yearin' in Denver (of all places), this time around. She starts the new semester on the 3rd, so I have to figure out how to get myself back to SLC that day to catch my flight back home. And speaking of Houston being home, I've decided to stay here. Yes, really. I have another 55 days left on the lease in my apartment, but after that I've decided to look into moving to a house in the Heights. Yeah, I'm shedding my "loft trash" label and goin' domestic on yo' ass. Alert the Yard of the Month committee. And on that note, I'm heading home. Catch you all tomorrow. G'night. j.s.

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Hey all,

Just a quick note to wish you all happy T'giving and such.

I'm doing Maggiano's with some of the fam in the afternoon (where I shall have my customary shot of Wild Turkey on Thanksgiving), and then watch the Midtown holiday lighting...which is always interesting.

Last year the wind blew so hard it knocked people off of scaffolding. Ambulances driving through the crowd...mass pandemonium.
I'm hoping for a return occurrence.

Anyway, I'll catch up with you sometime during the long weeked I'm sure.

Take care,

j.s.

Monday, November 22, 2004

You're kidding...right?

Please?

j.s.

Sunday, November 21, 2004

Hello again my Meatilings,

I'm writing from the Dallas currently, laying in bed at H.'s residence. Overall the weekend has been relatively low-key, centering mostly on a restaurant/bar called "Ozona" and their local Galleria, where less-than-stellar pseudo-shopping took up the majority of the afternoon.
We actually just finished a 4 hour session of Trivial Pursuit where I was soundly beaten 4 games in a row.
And that, as many of you know, is quite a rare experience for yours truly, being the keeper of nonsensible amounts of useless knowledge that I am...

But it's nothing new really since H. used to beat me at Jeopardy! on the (numerous) occasions when we'd skip class to watch it.
Come to think of it, we very well might be the only two people on Earth who would actually skip out on high school classes early, simply to watch Jeopardy!
Hmm.

Anyway, I head back to the Houston tomorrow, where I'm relatively certain it'll be football at D's place and then home to do more laundry and finish up the cleaning that I didn't get a chance to do this weekend.

I know. Glamour, thy name is Jeremiah.

It would seem that Houston's hooks are deeper within me than I'd first thought, as I'm now seriously considering staying here, even if UA:Anchorage accepts me into their grad program.
It's just proving difficult for me to leave the even keel for the heeling storm these days. (Look up your sailing nomenclature if that didn't make sense to you.) Perhaps it's lack of options, perhaps it's that I'm almost 30, or perhaps it's just that I've tired of being a wayfaring vagabond.
Hard to say.
But leaving here just doesn't seem to feel like the right thing to do just now.

We'll see.

I'll have a definitive answer on it by the end of the month at the latest.

Speaking of which, my apartment management company has royally screwed me on the move out. It appears that they require 60 days intent-to-vacate notice rather than the industray standard 30 days.
so now I'm caught paying a 20 days of prorated January that I hadn't expected/budgeted for.

60 days...jerks...

I sleep now.

j.s.

Friday, November 19, 2004

Okay kids, I'm off to Dallas for the weekend to hang out with Heather and have several drinks and such.

I shall see you upon my triumphant return to Houston.

Be sure and water the plants and feed the dog while I'm gone.

j.s.

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

For those that haven't seen it, this is so much the awesome that I can't stand it.

Red Bull Flugtag.

Drinking gallons of Red Bull & Vodka, then hurling yourself off a 30' ramp while strapped to a ridiculous flying contraption sounds like an excellent way to spend a summer afteroon.

Who's with me? =]

j.s.

Monday, November 15, 2004

Hi.

I think I'm done wallowing in self-pity now.

I think.

There's still Alaska after all...
And if that one doesn't work out it could be time to give B'more a second shot while I still have my apartment there.

The whole UC:Denver thing stung a little though. Mostly because I sent them "samples" of my writing and it still wasn't enough for them to overlook my lack of undergraduate English credits.
It seems 24 are required, and that figure lies etched in two stone tablets that hang above the door of their department.
I even emailed the Dean of English there to plead my case. She somehow managed to resist succumbing to my pleas, threats and sexual favor propositions.
My transcripts simply did not bear the holy number upon them. And I was thereby banished from the garden of Englishly delights, forced to wander lost through the intellectually barren, Nod-like land of Texas.
She did however suggest that I get in contact with their undergraduate English department.
Mmhmm...two semesters of contrivance, during which I have to delude your current grad students into thinking they have something to teach me about English cognition and writing?
Right.
I'll see you in Cocytous first, my intransigent chum.

Oh, and along those lines I'd like to thank whoever it was who sent the "genius is often misunderstood" text message...though I'm not entirely sure who you are.

So, now let's move onto a weekend recap thingy k?

Ahem.
World of Warcraft.
The End.

No, not really. Although it took up a decent hunk of my Friday night.
Wonderfully inexpensive diversionary activity that one.

Saturday I breakfasted, and then hung out with Mom most of the day since she was in town. We ran by the Galleria, where I bumped into the guy from the modeling job "interview" at Jet Lounge. He was quite busy trying to lure teens into the fold of his little modeling coterie, but he did take a minute to spew mighty amounts of insincerity upon me. And I, in turn, did my best to conceal my revulsion at having applied for a position somewhere that would hold a "model drive" in a mall.
All told, an unpleasant happenstance.
Moving on.

Saturday night I dropped by J.T. and Kristin's place, had a couple of beers, and turned down an invitation to The KFH's soiree, instead opting to go out with the old high school friends that I'd met at the Pixies concert last month.

Went to Rice Village, had many drinks and a good time.

They also mentioned that someone I've been quite smitten with for over 10 years happened to be out at a bar in Katy that same night. Yes, her.
And, despite repeated efforts in varied states of inebriation, I simply couldn't seem to convince them that we should go back to Katy to go out to a bar.
Imagine!

It's okay.
It's enough to know that she's beginning to orbit again. And that eventually said orbit will succumb to entropic decay and she'll become powerless before the mighty pull of the whirling stormy red eye of Jupiteremiah. (I rule you.)

So...

Sunday I was terribly hungover, and spent the entirety of the day at D's place intermittently watching football and playing WoW until early this morning.
Much headachey mirth was had.

And now, I'm getting ready to drop off some stuff at Kinko's for work and have dinner with Mom before she leaves town.

Talk to you soon,

j.s.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Dear Jeremiah,

Each year, the Graduate Committee reviews many applications to the English Program. As you know, selection for these programs is competitive. Because the record did not meet the admission requirements, we regret that we are unable to admit you to the Graduate Program in English.

Best of luck with your future,

University of Colorado at Denver

How cold-hearted is the "best of luck with your future" bit?
Not only are they sending a rejection letter, they also have to swing a swift, pointed-toe kick to the ribs when you're down?
"Yeah, I don't think so simpleton. You're simply not of our intellectual criterion. Sorry, no grad school for you.
Oh and good luck with the rest of your life you imbecile...you're going to need it."

*sigh*

...

j.s.

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

No matter what I try, I can't seem to get to bed before 1:00 in the a.m.

And if I do somehow make it home with spare time to just lounge around, I end up reading for hours on end before I realize that it's very late and that I should've gone to bed long ago.

Although it's infinitely worse to have nothing to do or read, so I guess I shouldn't be complaining.

K, well I've gotta run to Fry's to pick up a new printer for the office, and D. is picking up EQ2 there today so's I'll be havin' a gander at that lil' bugger this evenin'.

I, however, shall be playing the WoW.

And if any of you so inclined would like to join me, seeing as the open beta has been announced and is in full swing, I'll be on server #5 in the CST group.
Name is "Yard."

See you there.

j.s.

Monday, November 08, 2004

NaNoWriMo Word Count: 8677

Plausible plot count: 0

Sigh.

Hi there.

It's a Monday, and I'm glad to be here.
The weekend was a bit tiring, and by Sunday it'd stretched me to near anorexic proportions.
And just so you know at the outset, this entire post will simply be a memory exercise to see if I can actually put these past couple of blurry days into some semblance of chronology.

Friday...hmmm.
I know there was a filthy oxygen & hookah bar early in the evening, whose DJ had a penchant for Eminem, House of Pain and Kris/Kross.
And they served gin and tonics in plastic Dixie cups.
The horror...

That bar was quickly vetoed and we went over to Dean's, which is always a good idea when looking for easy and relaxing libations.

A mad dash for 80's music happened around 1:00 or so, only to be turned away at not one door, but two at 8.0's since they were "closing."
Upsetting.
I even knew someone at the 2nd door and he still couldn't let us in.
("I could let just you in man, but not 4 other people too. We're not allowed to let anyone in after 1:30. I'd get fired. I'm really sorry.")

Not a huge loss, since it was only Drink/8.0's...
But still, being turned away at the door isn't something I'm accustomed to. And, I can assure you, it doesn't go over well with me at all.

So we wrapped things up at the Belvedere with a final Tanq & tonic from JtLHB, then headed back to my apartment with the promise of additional booze and Trivial Pursuit 90's Edition.

Later, I became sufficiently creeped out by the unsettling advances of a little girl who came out with us. ("Tell me what you're passionate about Jeremiah...tell me...")
Fortunately the night was called shortly thereafter due to general weariness, and everyone went home.

Saturday I did Fountain View, then hung out over at D's place for hangover convalescence, where I just wrote and played WoW for most of the afternoon.

At around 6ish I took my Gram out to dinner, then picked up J.T. and went over to Knuckleheads for a couple drinks afterward. Very tame stuff.
I was supposed to go meet some friends out at Engine Room, but I got kind of settled for the evening at Knuckleheads and skipped out on it.
(Which reminds me, I need to call them to apologize for not showing up...)

Anyway, K. arrived at Knuckleheads at some point, and we all ended up playing TV Trivia for a couple hours, drinking, arguing, laughing about it, and then we all went home.

Er, well not "home" really.
I ended up crashing out on the couch at D's place since we were planning on watching football the following morning anyway.

Which leads me to Sunday, when I watched the early game with D, the late game with Dad, then met with Mom, D. Melissa and +1 Sean at Brother's for dinner, after which I watched the Baltimore game back on the couch at Mom's.
And went home later and crashed.

And now...
Now I'm comletely exhausted all over again after having to recall all that useless tripe.

I can, however, say with near absolute certainty that I am not doing a goddamn thing tonight.
I am going home, putting on some Portishead, and having a bath.
After which I shall put on a pair of comfy jeans and a maybe a t-shirt (maybe not), and do laundry while writing on my couch.
This I shall do until 11:00 at the latest, when I will close my laptop and go to bed and sleep for days on end.

I'm very excited about this prospect.
I can't wait to get started.

Talk to you later.

j.s.

Friday, November 05, 2004

Strangely, after the debacle of the election, I'm feeling better than I have in a few weeks.

Everything I've been upset about has started to fade this morning, and I'm sliding back into the comfort in just being me again.

You know, I don't suck nearly as badly as some would have me believe.
Sometimes I take myself for granted.

Anyway, I have end of month stuff at work, new computers/server that I have to figure out how to set up, NaNoWriMo is in full swing, and I've succumbed to the demonic temptation that is World of Warcraft Beta.
So overall I'm pretty busy.

I'm still awaiting word back from schools as to whether or not I'm going to be a graduate student come January. I've been told that the Univ. of CO has "already passed the application and paperwork on to the Dean of Graduate Studies."
Which I can only assume is a good thing, since if there wasn't a chance of my being admitted then they probably wouldn't have bothered him with it.
We'll see.

Regardless, many of my apartment leases are up in December, so steps will be made in one direction or another, of that I'm certain.

But for now I'm going to get back to work.
Will talk to you soon.

j.s.

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Thank you America for showing up in record numbers at the polls this year. You've given me a glimmer of hope that people can actually be bothered to remove the taproot that's grown from their ass into the sofa and go out and face their responsibility as Americans.

All that being said, I'm now moving back to personal notes.

"You have chosen...poorly."

As per my discussion last night at Late Night Pie, it seems that myself and the people I consort with are simply not indicative of the majority of the populace of this country.
Sometimes, quite blissfully, I forget that.

But when I do, America unfailingly unbuttons the metaphorical trenchcoat and exposes itself as the grotesque, hairy, fast food plumped and atrophic body of ignorant backwood lemmings that it truly is.
And that gently reminds me of why it is that I hate you all.

Best of luck to you.
You're going to get exactly what you deserve these next 4 years.
And I for one am sick of shouldering the embarrassing global guilt-by-association that I endure as a result of residing in the same geographical locale as you bucolic half-wits.

Piss off.

j.s.

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

A Simple 'How Not to Vote' Primer

Don't vote simply to win.

If your conscience says "Vote for Bush/Kerry/Nader/BinLaden," then go do it. I'm tired of people saying "I don't like either of them, but I'm going to vote for XXX simply because none of the others have a chance of winning."
This is not about winning.
It's about an opportunity to drop your ostragon into the Bag of America and tell our society who you want to see sent packing. And the more of us who become disenchanted with the current system, and make our dissent heard within the construct of the system, the more the politicandroids will have to pay attention to that growing collective din.

Don't listen to people who tell you that your state isn't a swing state and that your vote won't count.

Florida was expected to go to Bush in 2000, and look at how close that was. (No I'm not going to argue that with you again...) Every vote counted. Yours will be counted too.

Don't vote simply because you "belong" to a partisan group.

Neither candidate really cares about you or what you'd like your little soiree to be. They simply want the job. They want to be in charge. And when you yank that lever, and the curtain shuts on your polling booth, neither they, nor your family, friends nor co-workers are in there with you. Your decision is yours alone.

Don't vote because you believe the President himself can "protect" you.

One man in D.C. cannot watch over you and your family.
You're an adult. Protect you and yours as best you can.
Thank a local cop sometime instead.
They're doing more to keep you safe where you live than the President could ever do.

Just vote with the future in mind.

Draw a little picture in your mind of the place you'd like our country to be in the next 4 years, and then consider which person is most likely to get closest to that image.
And think about November 3rd.
Will you be content with having had a hand in electing whoever the new President is? Or will you have a "my God, what have we done?" voter's hangover? It can be a extraordinarily exciting day, or a day for utter apathy.
Up to you.

Oh, and for you familial types it might not be a bad idea to go out to dinner with your spouse/kids/friends and such after voting and debate what you liked/disliked about your choice, and what you liked/disliked about the other candidate. Talk about what you want for our country, and what you don't want, etc. It's also an excellent time to teach your kids about their civic responsibilities and voice...
It is a day for such things.
But that's neither here nor there.

All I'm really asking is that you take the time to go out and vote for someone.

j.s.

Monday, November 01, 2004

In comes November, all dripping sleech, darkness and wind.
And yet it's still somehow nearly 80 outside.
So moist and humid that I can almost see the mid-air viral breeding.
Ick.
This is truly an awful place to live.

It was an interesting weekend, as they're wont to be. We'll skip right over Friday however and head directly into Saturday night, when I became sick of lounging around my house alone and decided to go out to The Belv for a celebratory Red Sox drink with Jenn the Ludicrously Hot Bartender.
Which I did.

Ran into [The Girl from the Party] there, which I found interesting given her much-touted disdain for both The Belv and its patrons.
Apparently her friend knew JtLHB, so she'd been cajoled into coming there to see her.
She and I had a few drinks, talked for an hour or so, and just caught up.
Was nice actually.

Ended up leaving the Belv and heading over to Red Star, which was an absolute madhouse, for a quick drink before heading back to my place.
(Was trying to find J.T and Kristin there but as it turns out they'd already left earlier.)

Sunday I went over to D's place to watch the early game, then we drove over to Olive Garden to meet up with Gram, A. Kim, 'Liss (Happy B-day!) and Sean the +1, and James and Cindy.
Moderately hungover and exhausted, I was as congenial as I could muster.
Which, to be honest, is below average at my best.

Went back to D's place afterward, watched the late games and napped on the couch. Woke up at around 8, just before D got home.
We had dinner, chatted about matters of both grave and little import, watched some really awful movies (Funny Farm and Bad Boys II), and then I headed home.

Enter Monday.
The first day of Nanowrimo, and I haven't written a thing yet.
Think I'm headed over to Diedrich after work to write for a little bit though.

And now enters work, and exits The Miah.

Talk to you later,

j.s.