May 2005

May312005

Mark Felt is Deep Throat

I was at home again today and largely kept myself amused with CS: Source. Dad told me this morning that I was fired from my job with his company due to an incident which occurred a week ago. There was an interesting bit of news today, the indent of deep throat, arguably one of the biggest mysteries of the 20th century was revealed today after Mark Felt, former number two at the FBI outed himself as the secret informant in a Vanity Fair article. Later in the evening I walked over to Bianca’s house to have a look at her Mom’s computer that was acting up. The problem was laughably simple. Since I was already there I stayed to help her set up a digital camera and photo printer. She also shows me some picture of her family while I was there. I was home shortly after nine.

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May302005

Memorial Day

Dad was home today as the offices were closed for Memorial Day, although Mom worked today. I was at home all day and managed to keep myself amused through the day.

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May292005

To Hattiesburg and Back

Dad and I left the house at 10 this morning to go to Hattiesburg this morning for the Conference USA baseball championship game versus TCU. There were heavy clouds between New Orleans and Mississippi. As we approached Slidell, we encountered some pretty fierce rain. We rove through that for what must have been 45 minutes until we hit a pretty sharp barrier. Instantly, there was no more rain and the roads were dry. We reached Hattiesburg shortly after noon. We got a parking spot close by the stadium and ate some food we brought with us. After that we walked to the stadium. A rain delay had already been called when we got there. We went inside. Dad spoke with some ushers he acquainted himself with in the last couple days of the tournament. Shortly after walking in, it was announced that RADAR indicated severe weather approaching and patrons should “calmly take shelter.” I guess they were serious because the metal construction of the stadium made it one behemoth of a lightning rod. We left the stadium and went to Applebee’s, where we were to meet up with a couple friends of Dad’s. We got there just before it started raining hard, sideways. There was even a bit of hail. We sat at the bar, got a drink and waited for dad’s friends to arrive. I was about halfway through my first drink when the power failed with quite a bang. Supposedly, lightning struck a power line or transformer a stone’s throw from the restaurant. I didn’t see the lightning, but I did see the rather impressive light show coming off the power lines. Along with a heavy dose of sparks, there was what I can only describe as moving balls of plasma or electricity that moved down the power line towards the restaurant. This unusual phenomenon occurred four times, one after the other. Even after seeing my share of tornado specials on the Discovery Channel, I’d still never seen anything like it. We remained at in the dark at Applebee’s for a little while afterwards. I got another drink and sat with Dad and his friends after they arrived. We left at 1:45 to go back to the stadium to see if there was ay word on whether there would be a game today. We were at the stadium for about an hour. I sat in the car while Dad walked around or whatever. Bianca called me about a computer problem while we were waiting. Word came that the game was cancelled and TCU and Tulane would be co-champions of Conference USA. That being the case, we just went back home. There was more rain on the return trip. I wasn’t too back during the first hour of the ride but it was heavy for a good part of the way. I didn’t do too much this evening outside of playing a game on the computer.

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May282005

Saturday

Dad and my brothers left the house early this morning to see Tulane play in the conference tournament in Hattiesburg. Having been out rather late last night, I was unable to get up in time to leave at 6:30 in the morning. The whole day was rather quiet. I watched Sideways this afternoon.

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May272005

Another Crash

I took the bus downtown this afternoon to meet Khadijah for the evening. She was in town for a few days so we agreed to see each other some evening. I left the house around one and took the bus to the library where she wished to meet me. She was coming from a friend’s house in Kenner. I sat in the library for about 45 minutes after depositing my check, reading a couple magazines. While I continued to wait, I decided to walk up the street a bit and say hi to Ann at the bookstore. I visited with her for a few minutes before returning to the library. I took a seat again with a book, Khadijah arrived a short time later. We walked down Canal St. to the Sheraton for a couple drinks and talked for a while. We talked to Roxie on the phone a couple times while there and we agreed to meet her on the other side of the river to go to a movie with her in a couple hours. We left the hotel sometime after four and walked through Canal Place briefly until it was time to take the ferry to meet Roxie for 5:30. By this time our plans had changed to riding with Roxie to meeting a mutual friend of hers and Kali’s at the mall. While on the boat, I realized I left my wallet in the Sheraton. Khadijah stayed on the westbank side to meet Roxie and explain the situation while I went back across to retrieve my wallet. I called the Pelican Bar while on the boat and they said they found a wallet. I was quite grateful to have not lost it but pretty mad at myself for misplacing it… again. This particular act of stupidity set us back about a half hour. We drove to Oakwood and arrived at about 6:30. Kevin was at the little arcade in the food court. He had to be at work for seven so they didn’t visit for too long. The arcade had San Francisco Rush 2049, my all-time favorite arcade game, so I played that for a little bit. Roxie was unable to join Khadijah and I for the movie this evening. Since Kali had to get back to Kenner this evening, we opted to have dinner in the Quarter and see something at Canal Place. Roxie dropped us back at the ferry landing and we went back to the eastbank. We ate at Hard Rock Caf� since it was close by and neither of us had been there in a while. The waiter was very nice, in that he spoke to us a good bit. He explained that they recently renovated the restaurant with all new memorabilia lining the walls. I just got a hamburger and Khadijah got this mac-and-cheese dish with chicken that was pretty good. As soon as we walked out of the restaurant, Khadijah said she wasn’t feeling well and needed to sit down for a bit. We stopped in Tower Records for a little bit. I had a look at the jazz records while there but I didn’t buy anything. After a short while Khadijah felt better and we walked the rest of the way to Canal Place. We got there at about seven, half an hour before the movie started. We saw Crash. This was my second time seeing the movie. Khadijah would have preferred something a little fluffier but there was nothing else of interest playing and I kinda wanted to see this one again anyway. After the movie, Kali caught a cab back to her friend’s house in Kenner. I walked back towards Canal St. to find my own cab. When I reached Canal I decided to have a look around inside Harrah’s just ’cause I can now. I walked around there for a little while, observing the variety of patrons while my sinuses started hurting due to the smoke permeating the air. With my curiosity satisfied, I walked out and caught a cab home.

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May262005

…at home

I was at home all day today. I didn’t get up early at all, rather late actually. I did a few loads of laundry and cleaned the house up a bit. I played counter strike for a while and finished watching The Aviator in the afternoon. Late in the evening I watched The Woodsman, a compelling film, although I didn’t see any real plot resolution.

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May252005

Tuesday

update to come

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May232005

Crash

I got to work for 9:30 this morning. There wasn’t much in the line of ‘work’ to do except for a little filing and a couple of reports left over from Friday. By 3:30 I was pretty bored and left the office to go downtown. I made my way to the Sheraton after depositing the paycheck I’d been holding onto for well over a week. Bianca met me there around five for dinner and a movie. We went to Huey’s Diner, a little place I’d been to once before and intended to visit again. Between lunch a few hours earlier and the snack mix at the Pelican Bar, I wasn’t very hungry so I ordered their small lasagna dish. Bianca had a hamburger. After dinner we walked to Canal Place and wandered around for a while until seating started for the 7:10 movie this evening. We spent some time in a little watch shop while Bianca and I talked to the lonely clerk running the store. We took our seats in the theater around seven. We saw Crash this evening. I was under the impression this was a movie about a car accident, but in fact it was a bold and compelling look at racism in modern society. It’s a remarkably well-made and thought provoking film. After the movie we walked to Jackson Square to a nearby Haagen-Dazs, a little ice cream place that eluded us the last time I was out with Bianca. They were out of bananas so I just had a milk shake. After that we walked to Virgin Records as I felt compelled to buy a CD this evening. I ended up getting Astral Projects latest release, The Legend of Cowboy Bill. I recognized the cashier from my recent film class. We caught a cab home. The driver had no charge slips so I just paid cash. I didn’t do much after I got home this evening. I went to bed around midnight.

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May222005

Sunday

I managed to get out of bed with just enough time to get dressed for church this morning. I had a bit of trouble staying awake though. I was at home the rest of the day. I played counter strike for a little while. I also watched Chapelle’s show in DVD while folding some T-shirts in the afternoon. I watched Desperado this evening. I was kind of interesting but not especially enjoyable. Later in the evening I cooked some seasoning for red beans tomorrow and talked to Khadijah on the phone for a while before going to bed at one.

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May212005

Jeff's High School Graduation

After rolling about of bed sometime after 10 this morning, I got ready to go to Jeff’s graduation this morning with the rest of my family. We arrived shortly after noon for the ceremony which started at one this afternoon. The event, which took place at Northwestern’s basketball stadium, started with the lengthy entrance of the 170 graduates and 50 some-odd other people. The local high school band was there in front of the stage, playing the few famous bars of Pomp and Circumstance repeatedly. I remember thinking it would have been far more interesting had they played the Sir Edward Elger piece in its entirety as it a lively piece of music on the whole. Anyway, the entrance out of the way, the speeches commenced. There was a pretty length intro by the principle. The keynote speaker, whoever, also spoke for a while. These two men spoke for over a half hour and made almost no mention of the graduating students before them. Instead they rambled about the history of the school and all the faculty, and such. They even introduced a large number of board members who were seated on stage. I found all this to be strikingly inappropriate, as a graduation is about the students, not merely the staff the board of directors. I’m sure I would have been rather offended had I been wearing a cap and gown today. The Louisiana School does not have a valedictorian and salutatorian in the traditional sense, although three selected students gave speeches. I don’t like being further critical, but all of the speeches seemed to compare graduating to D-Day, rather melodramatic in my opinion. The phrase “blood, sweat and tears” was used in one speech. Maybe they were talking about P.E. and paper cuts. With most of the showmanship out of the way, the presentation of diplomas began, and proceeded smoothly. Our seats were directly behind what I guess was the best place for pictures. Parents swarmed in front of us with there digicams fighting to get shots of their children. The seating was a good distance from the stage so I would imagine few managed good pictures. I didn’t have much luck myself. There was another short speech afterward, caps went in the air and the graduates made their exit. We met Jeff a little while after the ceremony after he had a chance to say goodbye to his friends. My parents agreed to take Jeff wherever he wanted to get something to eat. He chose this burger joint near the school he was rather fond of and they did have good hamburgers. With stomachs full and causal clothes on again, we made our way home. The car was considerably more crowded this time, with an extra body and a bunch of Jeff’s stuff. I tried my best to sleep through it but I had no success. We arrived home sometime after nine. I went to bed not too long after as I was rather exhausted after the long car ride.

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May202005

Road Trip

With two days of clothing and a load of needless crap in tow, my parents, Andrew and me drove up to Natchitoches for Jeff’s high school graduation tomorrow. The ride up was uneventful and mildly unpleasant as most car trips are. About 45 minutes in Dad remembered he forgot his belt so we stopped at the Tanger Outlet Center in Gonzales briefly so he could buy one. That and a couple of gas stations were out only stops. After making our way in town we stopped to drop off some clothes and empty boxes to Jeff for his stuff at his dorm before going to check into the hotel. There was some sort of recognition ceremony for Jeff’s graduating class that my parents and Andrew went to this evening for 7:30. I elected to stay at the hotel and maybe go get something to eat or even see a movie. Unfortunately there is no sort of public transit or taxi service in Natchitoches. That turned out not to matter anyway as I left my wallet in the car so I couldn’t even have a pizza delivered. There was nothing on TV by the hotel had wireless Internet so I was able to amuse myself, although I was pretty upset about leaving my wallet. Andrew and my parents returned sometime before nine. We had dinner at a nearby restaurant before coming back to the hotel. Later in the evening I watched part of a movie on my laptop and later stepped out of the room and sat by the pool while speaking with Khadijah and Bianca on the phone for a while before going to bed around one.

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May202005

Unproductive

Having gotten home rather late last night, I was lucky to be in no hurry to wake up thins morning, and I didn’t until 11. I was at home most of the day, playing on the computer and whatever. I folded some laundry in the afternoon while watching Chapelle’s Show on DVD. This evening, Dad and I went to a baseball game that never took place. There was some surprise rain uptown this afternoon that got the field wet. The game was delayed one hour but it was later decided that the field was unplayable. We made it all the way to Turchin before learning this. With the game postponed we went back home, stopping for a few groceries on the way. I played counter strike later in the evening before going to bed at a half decent hour.

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May182005

21

Today marks my 21st birthday, sort of a big deal I suppose. Unfortunately, my birthday was yet again tainted with disheartening circumstances the same circumstances as last year actually, when Jessica broke up with me on my 20th birthday. Even so, I was in comparatively good spirits considering. I stayed home from work today as there wasn’t much to do. I did spend an hour trying some reports from dictation I brought home yesterday. There were only three but it took a little while because I was watching The Hustler on TV at the same time. I spend the remainder of the afternoon playing video games and talking to Khadijah intermittently on the phone. Later in the evening, my parents took me to the Palace Cafe for dinner. There was a 20 minute wait when we arrived so we sat at the bar. Our table was at the windows on the second floor. I had the rib eye steak and mom and dad both got fish. We had white chocolate bread pudding for dessert. I was too full to finish it although I must say this restaurant is one of very few that gets the portions right on. We took mom home before Dad and I went back out to see Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith after stopping at the Boot for a drink. The Elmwood Palace showed the movie on something like 12 screens at 12:01 in the evening. In short, it was very entertaining, although there were a few cringe moments. While the action was great, I doubt Lucas could write a meaningful greeting card. The ‘tender moments’ were painful. We drove home after the movie and arrived sometime after three.

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May182005

Long "Work" Day

I had to get up unseasonably early this morning to make it to ‘work’ with Dad for 8:30 this morning. No actual work was involved though. Shortly before noon, Dad took me to the mid city office after stopping for lunch. He had to go have to the west bank office for a while. I didn’t really have anything to do at the other office either and spent the workday trying to amuse myself no easy task. Dad arrived back at mid city at 5:30. We left for the day after six. We had leftovers for dinner that remained from grandma’s. Later in the evening I played CS: Source for a while and watched The Final Cut.

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May 2005

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