Happy October Thirty First!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I just got off from work, the majority of my Co-Workers dressed up for the holiday.  Above are the pictures of my staff that came in before I left for the evening...

 

(David<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~waiting for Paul to call me)

 

 

OK, now I really did go to ARCHON 30 this weekend...

Here are some pics I took of the Saturday Night Dance...gotta love competitive girls that shop at Hot Topic...::wink::

 

David<~~~~~~~~danced the night away!

 

 

 

Sunday Sunday...

I am packing some today for my business trip tomorrow.  I am not taking my laptop with me so I will be incommunicada for a week.  I will be back in STL on Friday, so I'll check my email then.  Must remember to put the "Dapper Dan" pomade in my regular suitcase and not my carry-on...must remember...

 

 

David<~~~~~~~~~~traveling fool

 

 

another day, another year older...

Hello Faithful Readers (both of you),

     Yesterday was by Birthday and it went pretty good.  I worked at the store and they had a BD cake for me at the Manager's Meeting and Deborah got me a Spiderman ballon (lol).  Later on Toni brought in some cookies she baked for me, it was a nice day.  I'm off today, not sure what I'm agonna do...  PABLO, EMAIL ME, I HAVE LOST YOUR PHONE NUMBER!  I may go to the STL Mills Mall and hit Games Workshop (I think it's time for the new White Dwarf).  Next week I'll be at my National Meeting in Orlando.  Pretty good agenda, here are the people coming to speak to us, sign books, and perform:

 

JOHN GRISHAM

JEFFREY GITOMER

MITCH ALBOM

JAMIE LEE CURTIS

ISABEL ALLENDE

DAVE BARRY & RIDLEY PEARSON

LAURELL K. HAMILTON

ALICE HOFFMAN

EDWARD P. JONES

DENNIS LEHANE

DIANE SETTERFIELD

OBERT SKYE

ADRIANA TRIGIANI

& musical guest SHAWN COLVIN...

 

I am going to go to ARCHON this year (have marked myself off on the calendar) and I am looking forward to going.  Geoff is also planning on going, Ray is prolly going, and if Pablo would EMAIL ME, I would know if he is coming also...

 

David<~~~~~~~~~~~~41 yrs old

(and steel champion!)

 

 

Pap-pa's Favorite Shrimp Dip

PAP-PA'S FAVORITE SHRIMP DIP...

ingredients:

2 12oz pkgs boiled shrimp

1 bottle of Heinz Chili Sauce

1 cup Mayo

1 bunch of Green Onions

1 8oz pkg Cream Cheese

lots of bags of Ruffles Potato Chips

 

BLEND CREAM CHEESE, HEINZ CHILI SAUCE, AND 1 CUP MAYO AT ROOM TEMPERATURE IN A BOWL.  DICE SHRIMP AND GREEN ONIONS AND ADD THEM TO THE BOWL.  REFRIGERATE AND EAT WITH RUFFLES POTATO CHIPS THE NEXT DAY...

 

(Pap-pa was my Grandfather, I love you Pap-pa!)

I wrote a short little story set in the W40K Universe...

 

 

Auspex auto record day 1:  -no data--

Auspex auto record day 2:  --no data—

Auspex auto record day 3:  -vox recording--

 

I don’t know how long I have been unconscious…when they came into the cell I fought them…they overwhelmed me and I am now restrained…they rub secretions from glands on the underside of their bodies all over my exposed skin…I  am an Agent of the Order of the Emperor’s Holy Inquisition…I will fight  again

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Auspex auto record day 4:  -vox recording—

 

I fought them again today…I’m not sure if my Auspex is functioning or not…I do not know why they are keeping me alive

 

Auspex auto record day 5:  -no data—

Auspex auto record day 6:  -no data--

Auspex auto record day 7:  -vox recording--

 

They are listening in to my recordings…I think they are keeping me alive to study mankind…I am studying them too…I think there is one of the little ones clinging to the top of my cell…I will attempt to use my gifts to dominate it’s will…I will record more tomorrow

 

Auspex auto record day 9:  -error—data recovery successful—vox recording--

 

They have interfered in my natural bodily functioning…i will fight them again

 

 

 

 

 

Auspex auto record day 24:  -error—system crash--

Auspex auto record day 25:  -error—system crash--

Auspex auto record day 26:  -error—data recovery—error—data recovery—error--

Auspex auto record day 27:  -error—data recovery—error—system crash--

Auspex auto record day 28:  -error—data recovery successful—vox recording—

 

i have successfully commanded several of the little ones that attend to me in my cell…i am going to attempt to dominate one of their warrior caste

 

auspex auto record day 67:  --error—data recovery successful—vox recording—

 

i can hear her now…i understand how they function…i will attempt to communicate with her

 

auspex auto record day 68:  --vox recording—

 

i understand my place

 

auspex auto record day 68:  -system shutdown successful--

auspex auto record day 367:  -vox recording--

i

 

 

 

 

Heading out to a Sci/Fi Con this weekend!

I will have pics to put on later on...

(OK, after listening to my Roomie that Archon had changed the dates of this year's Con to this weekend, I had changed my schedule around so I could attend.  Worrying that my Roomie might get something incorrect I checked the website and the Hotel/Convention Center, and of course the Con had NOT changed it's dates, and I will NOT be attending a Sci/Fi Convention this weekend...)

 

::cussing like Sylvester the Cat::

 

 

Listening to my new CD!

THE LADDER

by Alejandro Escovedo

 

I'd climb a ladder just to see you

I have no eyes but I can feel

Two snakes entwine so I can be you

This ladder climbs from me to you

 

La Bufadora will explode soon

In liquid splendor sculptured trees

Amongst the oads the shapes are shifting

A shift to meld you into me

 

Let's sleep away the pain we suffer

The medicine is in our dreams

Fly away like Caracaras

This ladder climbs from me to you

 

 

(he is the son of the ex-precussionist from Santana and the brother to Shiela E. ::big grin::)

 

 

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

  HAPPY 4TH

     of JULY!

 

 

heheheheehe

 

 

 

   I WIN ZULUS!

 

 

I went to the Missouri Botanical Garden to see the CHIHULY Exhibit yesterday

    I went to the Missouri Botanical Garden to see the hand blown glass exhibit by CHIHULY.  It was my first time ever to visit the Garden.  While going down the stairs to the bathroom in one of the buildings I ran into my stepson.  He said something weird to me, I don't remember what it was though.  I think he was kind of taken aback at running into me there.  I was speechless.  He has grown so tall and he has lost a lot of weight, he looks great.  On the way back upstairs I said "Hello" to him and his Dad before I went into the Cafe to buy some bottled water (it was a hot one that day).  I didn't quite know what to do, so I tried not to make a big deal out of it and slipped past him and his sister as I continued on my walking tour of the Garden.  I saw them two more times that day.  I never was facing the right way when I went past my step daughter so I didn't get to say hello to her, I wish I had.  They are great kids, I miss them.

 

 

DAVID<~~~~~~~Family Man (without a family)

 

and for the record, AOL is incompetent...

    After work today I drove to the STL Mills Mall (David<~~child of the Eighties) to see The Omen,  I slept thru it.  I popped into the Games Workshop (David<~~UBERnerd) and picked up the new White Dwarf and a "Fallen Giant" Template.  Suffered thru the mediocre service at Tony Roma's Ribs (David<~~loves their Onion Loaf) and watched all the un supervised High School dropouts act the fool and use vulgar language at the top of their voices.  On the way home it started to rain and that tends to point me toward melancholy so I jotted this down...

 

What will the 'Half Full Man' do,

and how can he hope for more?

When all his dreams are dashed,

and hope is poured out on the floor?

 

     My Roomie has a keg and invited his cousins over to drink it with him.  I waved at them on the back porch as I headed to my den.  Now I'm pecking away on my laptop and chewing on my pen...

 

 

 

David<~~~~~on a Saturday Night (what a player I am...)

 

 

 

This I Believe

Family.  Love.  Fossils.  Art.  Stories.  Poetry.  Myself.  Lemonade.  Zydeco.  Dancing.  Autumn.  Cherry dipped cones.  Humankind.  Comic Books.  Musicals.  Forests.  Scary Monkey's wearing a Fez.  Celtic Music.  Air Conditioning.  Separation of Church and State.  New Wave.  Photography.  Sex.  Work.  Wargames.  Travel.  BBQ.  Wingtip Shoes.  Flat tops.  Harry Ramsden's Traditional Tomato Ketchup.  Calvin and Hobbes.  Herpetology.  Ireland.  America.  Bluegrass.  History.  Nasa.  Mythology.  Jazz.  Tolkien.  The Watchmen.  Snufkin.  Matching my belt and socks.  Shrimp Cocktail.  Candlelight.  The sound of crickets.  Blues.  My Claddaugh ring.  Butterflies.  Marlin Fishing Caps.  Science Fiction.  Adam Ant.  The Circus.  Sobriety.  Friendship.  Vidalia Onions.  Boston Terriers.  Morality.  How beautiful most women are when they think no one is watching them...

 

 

(David on a Monday night and I'm talking to my Dad on the phone right now)

 

Here is a sketch I did in High School of Jenny Renner one of our Cheerleaders...

 

 

A bubblegum update:  I left the Bubblicious in my car and the heat cause some kind of chemical reaction and made the gum inert.  I shoved the entire rest of the pack into my mouth but it wasn't even bubblegum any longer, it just had the shape of bubblegum and the color of bubblegum...

 

(David on day two of his three days off in a row...)

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

     Why chew one piece of Bubblicious Bubble Gum when you can shove TWO pieces into your mouth!  That way both pieces lose their flavor at the same time and you can make your jaw hurt from chewing way too much gum, ::points to the side of my head:: "Logical!"

     I just got back from FIRESTONE (notice that I did NOT spend any money at DOBBS).  I bought a new tire and now my car doesn't shimmy any more.  I was kind of getting used to the Latin Highway Rhythm.  I also stopped at AutoZone and bought a new set of hubcaps (they were more expensive than at Wal-Mart but I'll be damned if I spend any money in the Evil Empire).  Please don't get me confused with a "Car Guy".  My buddy Pablo can appreciate this, it took me three trips out to look at my car before I figured out what size of hubcaps to buy.  I also bought some bubble gum there and I am still chewing the flavorless oversized lump right now...

 

David and I am so NOT a Gearhead...

 

 

I write because it makes me feel better to set things down...

 

an audience of one

 

the ceiling fan

skips a pattern

of shadows

across the face

of my digital clock

it flashes

the incorrect time

in an attempt 

to follow the beat

all is quiet

in my room

my laptop

hums to itself

I have a song

dancing

through my head

a catchy tune

familiar lyrics

I stare blindly

at the stacks

of things

I have accumulated

they don't look

as attractive now

just stuff

gathering dust

their stories fade

lose their meaning

did I really

go there

did I really

breath that air

or is it

someone else's story

I tap out the beat

on my keyboard

and try

to put it all down

so nothing else is lost

I perform for

an audience of one

 

David Austin Smith May 2006

 

 

(it's 1:13am and I'm not asleep)

Supposedly they are making The Watchmen into a movie...

I took an online personality test to see which of The Watchmen characters I mostly resembled...

I tested out as The Comedian (I'm not sure if I should be flattered or if the World should be afraid)

 

Here are some links that deal with The Watchmen...

 

http://theory.lcs.mit.edu/~wald/watchmen-index.html 

http://www.capnwacky.com/rj/watchmen/chapter1.html

http://www.angelfire.com/comics/mooreportal/watchmen.html

 

 

 

::big grin::

 

 

DAVID<~~~~~~Tattoo Snob!

     There are tattoos that I have seen that I like.  But honestly most people do not think for themselves and just do what the person standing next to them is doing.  If I had a dime for every chick with a tattoo on the small of her back I could retire.  In my mind tattoos have traveled from "Biker" to "Punk" to "Trendy" to "White Trash".  Please keep in mind that I have had my tats picked out for a long time now and I had a subscription to "SkinArt" for the first year it was published.  But I don't have any tattoos on my body.  It is a permanent addition.  They don't come off with rubbing alcohol...  We have an entire Generation that look like two year olds that have gotten a hold of a permanent marker and scribbled all over themselves.  It is especially sad for the women.  They now have a permanent fashion accessory that they can't take off, there will come a time when they want to wear something and they won't be able to, or want to go somewhere and they can't because of their tattoo.  And just think, pretty soon we will have 60 yr old women with blue fuzzy tattoos like the WWII Vets have.  ::shudder::  One of the good things about women and tattoos is that if you ask to see them they will whip out their boob or undo their jeans to show you, that's kind of nice.  I haven't gotten my tattoos because I'm not convinced that they will look so good on me.  I don't want to be trendy (remember I took out the earring in my left ear when all the other guys got their ears pierced). So I don't know.  I dated a girl that had some plants and flowers that started on her lower back and ended up between her shoulders and it looked great, but she also had a pumpkin tattooed on her foot ::shrugs::  David<~~has been to a tattoo convention.  All the female managers I work with have tattoos (except the oldest one and she is planning to get one soon), but NONE of the male managers do...  I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I graduated High School in 1983 and I witnessed the madness that was the fashion craze called Clogs...  Ugliest shoe in existence and it makes a girl sound like a cow coming down the hallway (at least the Crocs aren't loud).  So what is my opinion worth?  NOTHING.  Do what you like.  The world needs another Tweety Bird peeking out of some woman's cleavage...

 

(still sick and i'm in an ugly mood)

 

 

this entry is best viewed in a box and not full screen...

David<~~~~~~~SICK!

 

 

Today is my day off, the only one I have this week...and I'm sick as a dog.  I must have been a wicked person in my previous life...

 

david and i'm not feeling so hot...

 

 

 

 

 

It's 1:11am on Sunday morning

I closed tonight.  I stopped at Uncle Bill's for some pork chops and hashbrowns.  I finished the book I was reading.  My boss suggested it to me.  I was the only person in the restaurant that was eating by myself.  There was a huge family gathering with about 12 people gathered at the three tables they had pushed together for them.  A group of 7 High School students was dressed up, they were eating an early breakfast after the dance.  An oriental couple sat at the front of the restaurant.  She had on a billowy black dress, and wore black strappy high heels on her feet which were attached to very shapily legs.  The people in the smoking section kept the entire place smelling of smoke.  I am going to make a broad statement that is none the less true, "All smokers are litterbugs."  My waitress was named Jen.  She used to wait on me all the time when I ate there regularily late at night.  She would ask me what I was reading and she once set her foot up on the seat I was sitting at so I could see the tattoo on her ankle.  When I left the restaurant I put a quarter in the gumball machine, then put another one in too.  I was hoping for a pink bubblegum ball.  I got a blue one and then a green one.  It's ok, they were filled with "Nerd" candy, lol, how appropiate.  I'm listening to Bruce Springsteen's 'WE SHALL OVERCOME The Seegar Sessions."  Folk, Traditional, and Bluegrass music, I love it, his voice is perfect for folk.  I hauled some of the books I had recently purchased into the house:

THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak (this is a great book about a girl in Nazi Germany narrated by Death)

DOC HOLLIDAY THE LIFE AND LEGAND by Gary L. Roberts (if you liked the movie Tombstone you will love this book)

RAVENOR by Dan Abnett (Sci/fi...David<~~~~~getting his "Nerd" on)

E.E. CUMMINGS COMPLETE POEMS 1904-1962 (bought this one because the cover had a coffe stain on it and I didn't want to see it wasted)

 

from the song Mrs. McGrath...

"All foreign wars I do proclaim, Live on blood and a mother's pain, I'd rather have my son as he used to be, Than the King of America and his whole Navy!"

I just lost the poem I was working on

I was writing a new poem on my journal and AOL just ate it...

 

(grumble grumble, gonna go eat a hambuger now...)

 

 

 

 

::does the Cabbage Patch::

    I stopped by my Dry Cleaners on the way home from work today.  I had dropped off my Marlin Fishing Cap to be cleaned.  It is still really old and falling apart, but I love it.  It is now khaki and black vinyl as opposed to "sweat stained" colored.  The original cap I bought for myself when my first fiance and I toured New England to celebrate her graduation from college.  One of our stops was the LL Bean Factory Outlet store in Freeport Maine.  I have always been a sucker for unusual hats.  As a kid I had an Australian Bush hat (the brim turned up on one side and had mosquito netting tucked away inside), in High School I had a ball cap that read "Go Big Blue", and in College I wore a black Greek Fisherman's Cap and an orange Preppy Sun Hat (that had two buttons on it: One of a Cow thinking "No Nukes" and the other of a Nuclear Power Plant thinking "No Cows").  AnyWHOOOO...  I turned a corner and there he was, hanging on a wall with his brothers, on sale.  LL Bean had a sign up explaining that Hemingway popularized it when he lived in Key West, there are photos of Pappa wearing it on his boat "Pilar" when he went deep sea fishing off the Keys.  John Wayne also wore one in his movie "Hatari" (a rip off story of Hemingway in Africa on Safari).  The orgin cap was named "Bill" of course and is now retired and living out his Golden Years framed behind glass hanging on my wall.  Ever since I began wearing Marlin Fishing Caps I feel weird wearing a normal sized ball cap, they feel tiny on my head.  The only normal sized cap I feel OK in is the General Dynamics cap my Dad literally took off his head and gave to me to wear when I was visiting him on the Ranch in Texas.  ::shrugs::  I have my cap back now and I am a happy camper...

 

David on Monday evening (and I have it on right now)

 

 

A goat's tale...

     Last Saturday I was off, it was a rainy day and I was bored...so I went to the Zoo.  I took my camera so I could snap some pictures, my book so I could read when I ate lunch, and the rain coat that I wore when I toured the UK so I wouldn't get wet.  The pictures I took are included in my Webshots album and above.  Let me tell you a story...

 

     When you first arrive at the Zoo you can purchase a "Zoo Pass" that allows you to ride the Zoo Train, the Carousel, see the Insectarium, attend the Children's Zoo, get a bag of popcorn free, and get a free souvenir pen and pencil.  A pretty good deal all around.  I bought one.  Eventually I made it to the Children's Zoo.  I always go, they have excellent exhibits on frogs in the main building.  They also have a petting zoo... ::grins:: David<~~~~~goat scratcher from WAYYYYYY BACK!  In the yard they have pygmy goats and some beautiful pigeons in a coop.  So I am walking around petting goats, talking to goats, scratching goats between their horns, trying not to step in goat poop, you know the usual stuff.  I am fussing over a fat little goat when one of the older nannies gets interested in me.  She keeps walking around to my left and is obsessing over something on that side.  I'm thinking is she chewing on one of the cords dangling from my raincoat?  There is nothing on that side except for my book in my pocket.  So I spin around fast trying to see what she is doing and I'm just quick enough to catch her yanking my bookmark out of my book.  I bought it at work, it's a cloth bookmark woven to look like an oriental rug.  Presto, Chango, just like magic the goat makes the bookmark disappear.  A kid nearby yells to the Petting Zoo attendant, "That goat just ate something".  I worry that this might cause blockage in the goat or something so I spend a bit of time trying to get my bookmark back, but the goat is really determined to keep it.  The attendant eventually gets a wet and slimy bookmark out of the goat's mouth and puts it on top of a fence post to dry for me.  I tell her that I don't need it back.  I also notice the other "trophies" that have been rescued from the clutches of the Petting Zoo yard, quite an impressive collection...

     This is a metaphor for life really.  Sometimes as you go about your normal day things happen.  Goats try to eat things.  Do you get mad at the goat?  It is only doing what goats do...not it's fault, it can't change it's behavior, it doesn't have a choice.  You just let it go, not worth the trouble.  Just go about your day and have fun at the Zoo...

 

David on a Sunday ::winks::

 

 

I figured out who the annoying guy is...

The person who was putting the "Hate Speech" on my journal is the BA Stalker.  He hangs around in the room and harrasses everyone and makes up lies about the room regulars.  I guess it was my turn.  It is a shame that there are people out there with such miserable lives that the only attention they get is when they act the fool.  So from now on I will not say it's name and will keep it on iggy, that's the worst thing you can do to attention craving people like that.

 

David on Thursday