Numerous digressions

Hi. Um, my name is Kelly.  I'm not new here, but I've lost my way recently.  Can you ever let me back?

So, while not a planned hiatus, the last year has certainly seen changes with how my journal runs.  I haven't done as many posts, I haven't kept up as well with some of y'all, and facebook seems to have usurped LJ as my main form of communication with people.  Now, many of you I know on facebook, as well as here, but there are many of you with whom I've had very little contact.  Some of you are newer, and some of you have been around for a while on my incredible journey.  (Please, let me pretend it's been incredible at least.)  Well, I'd like to take the opportunity today to say hi to you all again.  I'd like to see if I can't reignite some of the magic that I've found for so many years on this journal.  Some of my best friends today are people whom I've met off of here, so I don't want to just ignore such an incredible avenue for friend making.

In lieu of this, if any of y'all have any questions for me, go ahead and ask.  I'm not good with formal introductions because I honestly feel I'm kinda boring and normal and the like.  Some people may disagree, but this is what I think.  (And it's my journal too, so there!)  There may be aspects/fun facts about me that I really don't think about unless somebody brings it up.  At an rate, yeah, I'm open to fielding any questions, comments, or concerns any of y'all might have.

Now, as far as getting to posting more frequently, here's the first post of a hopefully rejuvenated LJ:

Phew!  I just flew in from California, and boy are my arms tired.

Sorry.

It was a dark and stormy night.

Bah.

Theirs was a New York love, a checkered taxi ride burning rubber, and like the city, their passion was open  24/7, steam rising from their bodies like slick streets exhaling warm, moist, white breath through manhole covers...

Gah.

Ok, so this isn't as easy at it looks.  Perhaps I'll just start with something I know... recent history!!  So, last Monday I worked what has become a normal shift for me, 9-7.  I made my way through the work day and headed home only to be invited to dinner with John, aka DocJohnboy.  I met him and his bf at The Standard, which is pretty close to I-20 and Glenwood.  We ate, drank, and then headed to the back of the place to play bocce.  Yes, this place has a bocce court.  It has instantly sprung into my top ten list of coolest restaurants, it's that good.  So we played bocce and drank, played some more, and drank some more.  Good times.  I ended up getting home in time to get ready for bed and another day of work.  Tuesday came and passed, with the journal-famous trivia.  We came in second place and had an awesome time.  As a side note here, I can't remember how many of you guys have come to visit and I've ended up taking to trivia.  At least the feedback has been positive.

Wednesday came, and it was my day off.  Now, I'm still trying to unpack some of my stuff in the apartment, but what do I do?  I go up to see one of my best friends for lunch.  We talk, do our normal lunch thing, and then I'm off to the mall to look at discs and window shop.  There's more on THAT to come, by the way.  Anywho, so as I'm walking around the mall in the middle of the day, I realize how... "old"...  I am.  Teenagers laughing, being annoying, all those things they do so well, and they're everywhere.  I look at myself as realize how I'm that older guy that they'd make fun of back when I was in high school.  ::sigh::  Not a fun revelation, I tell you.  At any rate, I head home, unaware of the day to come.  When I get home, I noticed a friend of mine was stuck at the airport, so I offered to go visit her and have a drink.  Renee, whom I met, and I know each other from college and she's an awesome friend.  Sadly, she lives in Indiana, but I still get to see her once and a while.  At any rate, we spend about 3 hours just chatting, laughing, and catching up.  Great way to end the day.

::intermission::    ::cue Monty Python intermission music::

Wednesday, Wednesday.  So bad to me.  Yeah, it was a bad day, kind of.  I went to work, and then went to lunch.  At first I though, maybe I'll go to McDonald's since it's so close by and easy.  No.  I then decided to go to Chick Fil A, which was a few miles down the road.  "I'll just go through the drive through," I think to myself.  No. I park and head in to eat.  I text a few friends, eat some food, and go out to my car.  I turn the key and.....

I turn the key again and....

So at this point I have a bad feeling in my stomach.  I call my dad and let him know I might need his services if my car won't start.  I have a 'battery in a bag' or whatever it's called and try to see if the battery needed to be jumped.  After a minute of trying and talking to my dad on the phone, I notice some white smoke coming from underneath the glove compartment.  I swiftly stop the battery in a bag and inform my dad I'd like him to come down.  While he was on his way, maybe 15 minutes, I called work and let them know of my situation.  I was laughed at and just told to come back as soon as I could. Really, so caring they are.  My dad got there and we waited for AAA.  3 hours after I was supposed to be back from lunch, I finally return.  The battery was completely dead, although, in all due respect, it was the original battery in my 2001 Integra.  Yeah, damn good battery.  The only problem with this is that my radio doesn't work anymore since it has the whole radio theft deterrent.  I'm working on getting that fixed.  The OTHER issue with that day was.... I kinda had a date.  I kinda had to move the date back a few hours.  I rushed home from work, really late, and managed to get to our meeting spot right when I said I would.  I abhor being late in case y'all are wondering.  So, yeah... the date went well, and I'll leave it at that.  More to come on that situation, although I'm intrigued because we did manged to talk about algorithms for about an hour... yeah.  Awesome. :-P

Friday came, as did another 9-7 shift. I got home, and for the first time all week, I really didn't do anything.  The relaxing was nice though.  I did, however make up for it on Saturday.  I went out to Alexander park, out nearish Snellville/Lawrenceville, and played two rounds of discgolf.  The rounds were broken up by a tasty lunch at Zaxby's with their wonderful Parmigiana sandwich.  Mmmm.  When I got home from the disc golf, which I need to practice on, I realized I was a red neck.  A REALLY red, red-neck.  I lathered on some of the blue Hawaiian magical healing gel and hoped it helped.  The rest of the day was spent kind of loungin until I went out to see another friend, Micah, and have a few drinks.  We laughed, we talked, and had a good time. 

The next morning I had work at 7am, so I got up early, took my roomie's dog (Austin is roomie, dog is Jay Z) out to the bathroom since Austin was camping.  Originally a friend was supposed to have taken care of these... duties... but I later learned he back out, so in retrospect, yay me.  I went to work, did all my workish tasks and then left 45 minutes late due to scheduling issues.  Basically they changed my schedule to be off Monday, so I had to do all the paperwork Sunday.  After driving home, I headed over to The Standard where the 'Taco Tour' was going on.  A friend of mine has this as her birthday get together, so I wanted to meet up and see everyone.  Made it over, waited for them to get on the Furbus and traveled over to the final destination.  If you want more info on the furbus, google it.  It's.... interesting.  Anywho, after that ended, I headed over to Barry and Rebekah's place for more birthday festivities.  It was storming pretty well at this point, so we all stayed in and watched tv and ate cake.  They let us eat cake!!  After THOSE festivities I headed to the Vortex in Little 5 to meet another friend who was in town. Justin and I have been friends for quite a few years, but rarely catch up since he's in Cincy now.  Perhaps he'll move back to the ATL, who knows?

Today has brought my parents and two family friends who came down to help install a ceiling light/fan.  We installed it and....

See a parallel here?

I'm thinking the outlet is bad, so I have to call maintenance and have them troubleshoot. 

Moving on, we went to Fox Sports Grill for lunch and since then I've been lounging around basically.  Also, I'm hoping our next door neighbors weren't looking out their window for they'd have seen me shirtless and probably nothing else since I'd have blinded them.  I figure as long as my neck is so red, I might as well try to tan the pasty white parts of me, namely my chest.  It'll be a process so we'll see how it goes.  I've never had a GOOD tan, so I've got that working against me.

So now I'm having a hard cider, some buffalo wings, and then it's off to bed for work at 3am. We'll see where my misadventures pick up tomorrow.  Also, at some point I'd like to recap my California trip and post those pictures, but that will have to wait another day.

Hello, my name is Kelly... and I'm home.

 

Trip update to come.  Here's a taste.  Not a lot of pictures, but very pretty, at least to me.  Hope everyone is doing well and thanks again to everyone who hosted or met up with me on my trip.  Y'all made it an awesome experience!

VoicePost 357K 1:51

“Wow. Deleted for badness. Just listen.” Transcribed by: mankelly

Here is just a short little note to myself to think about this idea a little bit more.  This isn't a final idea on any of this, but something I'd like to contemplate.  Any input is welcomed, as I'm really just toying with this.
------------------
I find it plausible to fit people into different groups using dimensions as the key differing item.  Let me explain:

A one dimensional person just sees what happens at that SINGLE moment, and only involving themselves.  Living for now and not caring about others would be a good way to describe them. 

A two dimensional person can see around them, and gauge what's around them, but only at that moment.  They can see others in front of them, but do not delve further than just the fact they are there.

A three dimensional person can also see what's above and below them, if you will, and have a more complete idea of what others are.  They can see something/someone is out there, and that there's more than just what's in front of you, but have no real idea of what the future will bring with respect to things.

A fourth dimensional person can see things as they're happening as well as things coming in the future.  They can also look to the past to see where they've been.  This is a huge step up from the previous people, as they're considering time into equations.

A fifth dimensional person is someone who can distance themselves from their "life" and take a look at things from an outsider's perspective.  They can see an interaction they have with someone, and can see what has gone into that from both parties involved.

I'm sure there are more ways to descibe these, and probably more "dimensions", but this is what I thought up while in the shower.  Meh, apparently my mind is bored.

Quick update while I'm thinking of it.  I went 5 for 5 in the two games last Sunday and got the game ball (and game margarita afterwards).  So far on the season I'm 11 for 11 with 8 runs scored.  I know I won't have a perfect season, but at least getting on base a lot gives the team a chance to score.  I haven't even munted every time, which is nice since, while effective, munting is not exactly a hold your head high and proclaim yourself as one thing.  Dah well.  Kickball Sunday at Piedmont again, hopefully I can keep up my stats and the team can win.

I'm excited to say that I've been approved for time off in June to head west.  As it stands now, I'm looking at LA over the weekend of June12th to 14th and then after that I'm heading to San Francisco before returning home.  Woot for getting back to LA and seeing some more of the west coast.  Next time after this that I head to the far coast, I think it'll be Oregon and Washington, just to see the natural beauty.  Now it's time to start getting ready for a day full of kickball, friends, drinking, and some belated birthday celebrating.  Lata y'all.

I went to Lady GaGa last night and heard the two songs that I have heard of hers on the radio.  They sound almost the same to me, and since one of them was played again that night, but in an entirely different style and at great expense and at the last minute, I heard the songs thrice.    Thrice being the number of times known songs were heard, and the quantity of  known songs heard was three.  Not two, or four, but three.

Getting on with it.

Tribute to Monty Python aside, I did enjoy the concert.  I will admit I have not felt more out of place since the first time I was in an adult store, but I managed to survive both of those just fine.  After some liquid courage, I ventured out with my entrepid friends to the concert, only because another friend was unable to come.  The opening acts played and were alright, although none stood out in my mind.  I'd have called the bands a little off, more in personality and fashion, however that seemed to be the theme of the acts that night. Plus I didn't want to mess with the mohawked angry german.  You know what they can do.

I came back home, and after a short trip out to Krystal, because I was so very hungry, I retired to my bed to enjoy my first good sleep in more than 5 days.  This morning I ventured to work to get my check AND my bonus check, which has made the day very good, no matter what else happens.  Granted, if something tragic happens it would definently change the mood, but we'll, hopefully correctly, assume that no such tragic events will occur. That being said, I'm going out to eat and drink tonight with my friends and enjoy spending some of the hard earned money.

In other work news, I got a lot done at work this week.  I'm actually very pleased.  We'll see how it keeps up, but this split store thing isn't driving my crazy yet.  Although... my home store manager did want me to leave my keys for one of our employees because she doens't have a set anymore... which makes me question HIS sanity.  If I gave her MY keys, how the hell would I get in the store Wednesday morning?  So yeah, not going to happen.  I was also informed that the guy directly above me is not in a good position.  His work, or lack thereof, has drawn much criticism while our store director was out for three weeks.  I heard from various sources that he actually has done less work since both I and the store manager have been gone.  Fun times, eh?  Apparently the line is that if he doesn't shape up, then action will be taken, and soon.  Looking at this I think of a few things.  Could this possibly turn into a promotion for me?  When I come back maybe I could just slide into that spot.  We'll see.  Second off, I have to feel for the guy.  I like him as a person and he has a family and I'd hate to have him lose his job. Yet, whenever I look at the amount of work and things that other managers do, I can never really figure out what he does, and what he does WELL to help the store.  I'm a little torn.   Lying naked on the floor, yadda yadda yadda. 

Lastly, we have severe weather rolling into the area today and I'm excited at the chance of hail and tornados.  Yay spring time in the southeast!  Perhaps if it gets close I'll see about chasing, but I think the majority of the bad stuff will be to the north of the city.

And just now, I had a friend text me.  He was flying into Atlanta to get a connecting flight to go back to Florida.  Well, they diverted his flight to Macon as the Atlanta airport has been closed.  Perhaps he'll get to see wonderful historic Macon.  At any rate, I'm off to follow the severe weather both on tv AND online.  WHEE.

We won 15-2 today, and I had a great day kicking again.  Woot!  Only issue was I slid on the dirt and gave myself a nice series of cuts and bruises on my leg.  Not like it should surprise me I guess.  Anywho, here's the stats, because darn it... I want to win the kicking title this year (ytd is in parenthesis)

3-3 (6-6)
3 runs scored (4)
0 rki (0)

My kickball song, and a good overall song btw, was:


After the game I went off to work and cleaned up a bit.  I have work at 4am Monday again, so I'll be heading in to bed directly after this post.  Um, not much else to report here I guess.  I'm boring, what can I say?

Just a quick update post. 

Kickball was Sunday afternoon.  I ended up going 3 for 3, and scoring a run.  I made a few good plays in the outfield as well, so all in all I feel I had a great first game of the season.  I do, however, see me getting hurt at some point during this season.  We play on an actual baseball/softball diamond, and the dirt is pretty hard and un-forgiving.  I'm going to have to buy some sliding shorts/compression shorts as well as getting something to keep me from tearing up my knees if I go and dive for a catch.  At any rate, bedtime for this guy.

In other news,  getting older stinks.  I never used to be this sore after outdoor activities.  Boo.

The last few weeks, nay, months have seen my posting here decrease substantially.  This is not a conscious effort, and perhaps just shows how fragmented my mind has become lately.  Instead of doing posts on here about my life, current events, and whatnot, my recent posting activity has been limited to one or two liners that are posted on facebook.  By no means am I abandoning this journal, but it is somewhat concerning, at least to me, that my thoughts have become... how you say, less meaningful?  Before it seems like my thoughts had a myriad of angles, small crevices where doubt could creep and that allowed me a deeper look into things.  It seems like the extent of my thoughts are good, bad, evil, stupid, and simply "grah".  Am I worried that I feel I'm becoming less articulate?  Somewhat.  It seems like today's society is trending towards this though, with twitter and facebook doing a great deal of the thought sharing.  In all honestly, it seems like most one or two line thoughts simply aren't incredibly meaningful.  They may be accurate descriptions of things, but there's no insight.  For me, this journal provides insight into who I am, and why I act the way I do.  That being said, please don't confuse my frustrations with my "posting" activities on here.  I am not looking down on people for using twitter, or facebook, or any of these other networking sights that allow you to make a snapshot comment about what's going on.  I'm just particularly unhappy with the trend my posting experience has taken.  Hopefully things will change as I start to enter, what I believe to be, my time of year.

In other news, I attended the Billy Joel and Elton John concert here last Saturday night.  It was wonderful, and despite being somewhat predictable, it was an awesome show.  Anytime you can have two of your very favorite artists together along with some great friends, that's just going to be a great time.  I was very happy that John played "Love Lies Bleeding/Funeral for a Friend" as his opener, especially when the much older couple next to me asked me what they thought he was starting off with.  He had just played a few sound effects, but I was correct, and felt like I belonged, if that made any sense to y'all.  Billy's only surprise was playing the song 'Zanzibar' which I don't think I've heard him play at a concert before.  I love the song, so that was a treat for me.  John also had another song, 'Madman Across the Water' which I've since been playing a lot on my computer.  I had the album by the same name, and hadn't added it in here yet, but since adding it, I'm glad I did.  It has some good music on there.




The song above is one I've been really liking lately.  That's it.  Just thought I'd share.

Kickball starts up this weekend and I'm looking forward to getting back into some sort of physical activity.  I recently weighed myself and came in at 160lbs, which is about as much as I've ever weighed.  Maybe this is just "winter weight" and it'll come off during the course of the spring and summer.  Yes, I know, my frame is supposed to carry something around this weight, but I've always been slim, and I still have a fear, albeit irrational considering how I am, that I'll end up getting very overweight.  I haven't really changed my eating habits because of this fear, so it's not anything that should concern anyone, it's more just being cautious.  Yes, I'm lame.

Also, I had a friend come down from the cold North, and I enjoyed the beginning of this week immensely.  Also, since I hadn't really mentioned it on here, I'm actually off all this week.  I took something of a spring break and am trying to amuse myself with friends, family, and fun stuff.  We'll see how it goes I guess.  Getting back to the visit,  I did my normal Atlanta visit tour of Stone Mountain, Jones Bridge Park, downtown attractions, and then over to Sweetwater Conservation Park and then various fine, and not so fine, dining establishments.  It was a lot of fun, but it's hard to be off and not really traveling anywhere.  I should start considering my summer endeavours, but for the life of me, I can't. It still seems far away and it still seems like there's a lot of uncertainty everywhere.

Lastly, I'm leaning towards getting some artwork for my apartment, even though I don't really need to spend the money.  I can put the money to better use, for sure, but I'm just really kind of wanting this picture.  It doesn't make sounds, it doesn't move, but it's just a pretty scene that I really enjoy.  Another thought had me blowing up the picture below (which I just took yesterday) and making it into the wall-art for my apartment.  Thoughts?  Comments?




I'll leave this for now, as I really should do some stuff around the apartment that I've been putting off.  Hopefully, March Madness does not distract me too much.  I hope everyone has a great day and a good rest of the week.