Upgrades are good

I'm now capable of many hundreds of millions of geeky calculations per second. It's great -- Strongbad's mouth black is now in sync with the sound, menus fly, and boring compiles take less reading time. ( Actually geek numbers available here. Non-geeks can skip this. )

Now that this computer has pimpish qualities, I can get some nice shit done. I can also put off upgrading for another year or two -- not bad for a $100 in equipment.

Oh, and Dismemberment Plan never sounded better.

I finished Fight Club. My buddy Anthony from Buffalo (there are two guys at work that go by the name Anthony, but the one from Buffalo is using his middle name) stopped me to say "don't fuckin' tell me, 'book's better'n the movie'. I hate hearing that crap."

"Nope. They're equally motherfuckin' good. The book goes places the movie wouldn't've had time to tackle, but the book was made to be a movie." He liked that answer.

Take the assignment about picking a fight and losing. You figure that's about mere mimicry when you see the scene in the movie. Instead, Tyler is explicit in the book about letting another person take out a gallon of misery on you, giving that person the release from beating you up.

Oh, and the book gives you a much stronger hint that the Turn will happen.

Off to bed I go. I am confident about my faster world. I just hope people at work will hold their shit together a little longer.

-ishkabibble, Ps/d

Writing update, Friday One

Anthony (the one from Medford, not Buffalo) and I have been trying to sort out some plot and character ideas for the Skeer project. He's wicked good making plot lines solid. We've been fleshing out the antagonist. Once I have my breakthrough on him (or her -- nah, the bad guy needs to be a guy in this story -- oh wait...), y'all will have an update.

I don't want to do the Friday Five, but I'd love to see some comments. Thus I present the Friday One: Describe one cheap meal you've had that blew your mind. This can go in the bad direction, but I'd love to see some positive answers.

Quick example: one day in 1998 I had spent ten hours on trains and buses, trying to get from Utica to Northampton. This trip by car would've taken less than three hours (this was one of the trips that led me to buy a car). One and a half of those hours had been spent pacing a side street in downtown Springfield waiting for a ride that never happened. I'd just been staring at the flow of traffic heading up I-91 during Springfield's rush hour, seeing a river of lights flowing in both directions.

When I got off the bus and found my location, I was famished. I dropped my gear with some new friends standing in front of the club and ran across the street to a pizza joint. I was scared to cross the street -- cars were zooming way too fast to respect a crosswalk. I figured I was toast. So I started walking. An express bus came barreling around the corner. I could tell it was an express bus because I could read the sign as it slammed to a stop in front of me. They took these crosswalks seriously.

I walked into the pizza joint. I saw these amazing slices -- artichoke hearts, chourizo, and so many other flavors I'd never heard of in Utica. I ordered one plain slice and one with grilled chicken and mushrooms.

I ate the plain slice first, because I knew I'd devour it. I then had time to luxuriate on this second slice. The mushrooms were entire caps, each larger than the sizable chunks of chicken. The spices (rosemary, oregano, garlic) moved with the food to keep me trapped on the joy of this slice.

I think the place was called Pinocchio's. I should go back sometime.

-your turn, Dante